McKernan draws fire for student loans loans

AUGUSTA — Republican lawmakers jumped to the defense of Gov. John R. McKernan after Democrats accused him Friday of misrepresenting the facts about how much money his administration has provided for student financial aid.

Republicans returned charges that Senate Majority Leader Nancy Randall Clark and House Majority Leader Dan A. Gwadosky were distorting McKernan’s record and engaging in “election-year posturing.”

Clark, D-Freeport, said the administration has not proposed any legislation or funding sources to enable him to make claims that student aid is available to anyone who needs it to go to college.

“Not only has the governor failed to increase the amount of money available for student aid, but he has tapped vital student aid dollars to balance the state’s budget,” Clark told a news conference in Portland.

Clark labeled McKernan’s claim that he has made more money available for student financial aid as “patently false.”

Willis Lyford, a spokesman for the McKernan campaign, called Clark’s assertions “the biggest pile of double talk to come out of Augusta for a long time.”

Lyford said that Clark and Gwadosky “ought to hang their heads in shame” because they voted for the budget that shifted funding for student aid and cut proposed spending for the University of Maine.

State finances have been a fundamental issue in Democratic U.S. Rep. Joseph E. Brennan’s gubernatorial challenge to McKernan. The state faced a potential $210 million budget shortfall earlier this year before a series of funding cuts and revenue increases were enacted to balance the budget.

Gwadosky said a $2.7 million increase in the Maine Student Incentive Scholarship program fails to give the complete picture of educational funding changes in the state.

Gwadosky, D-Fairfield, said revenue shortfalls have caused a net decrease of $6 million in funding to the University of Maine. In addition, he said, the Guaranteed Student Loan program, Blaine House Scholars program and Medical Compact program have lost a total of $1 million in funding.

“By my count, that leaves Maine students $4.3 million in the hole,” said Gwadosky.

In a prepared response, Sen. Barbara A. Gill, R-South Portland, said that the number of Maine students attending medical school has dropped, so less money is needed for Medical Compact program loans.

“The important point to remember is that every student who needed money got the money they were entitled to,” said Gill.

The senator said the cut in the Blaine House Scholars program was interest only from past savings, adding, “No student who participates in the program will lose a penny.”

In the Guaranteed Student Loan program, funds that had been set aside for a bond offering in the secondary market were cut because there was no need for bond sales this year, said Gill.

Even though the university suffered a funding cut, it is still receiving more money than it did during the past biennium, Lyford said.

The spokesman said that Brennan as governor in 1981 had proposed eliminating the Maine Student Incentive Scholarship program, which received $2.7 million this fiscal year. The program was reduced by 70 percent under Brennan, said Lyford.