McKernan hits King, Dems on budget trouble

AUGUSTA – Maine’s last Republican governor told delegates to the GOP State Convention on Saturday that either independent Gov. Angus S. King or Democratic majority leaders must call lawmakers into a special session to resolve a potential $180 million revenue shortfall.

While emphasizing the need to elect one of two Republican gubernatorial candidates vying for the party’s nomination in the June 11 primary, former Gov. John R. McKernan emphatically disagreed with King and Democratic leaders who prefer to take a more deliberative approach to resolving the looming budget crisis.

Portending McKernan’s comments, Senate President Rick Bennett, R-Norway, said last week the Legislature “should be called back into special session sooner rather than later to address this emergency.”

“The difference between having a Republican governor and not having one is that if there were a Republican governor, that governor would be joining Rick Bennett in calling for the Legislature to get back to business and figure out what they’re going to do about this $180 million shortfall that they have to address over the next 14 months,” McKernan said.

Appearing on stage after a formal presentation to many of the 1,400 delegates by his wife, U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, McKernan said that in tough times, states have budget shortfalls. In an unusual public criticism of state Democratic leaders and the King administration, McKernan pulled no punches in assailing the state’s response to the budget crisis.

Ready-to-rumble Republicans responded with thundering applause.

“What the public ought to be asking is: What are our elected officials doing about it?” McKernan said. “Responsible public officials like Rick Bennett [and the gubernatorial candidates] are doing the right thing in saying the Legislature better get back in there and start figuring out how they’re going to serve the best interests of the people of this state by making sure that we have a balanced budget and don’t go and raise taxes as they find the best way to address this problem.”

McKernan experienced his own budget crisis in 1993. According to GOP insiders, the governor was forced to sign off on a variety of short-term remedies proposed by Democratic majority leaders that included tax increases and refinancing arrangements of the Maine Turnpike and state retirement system that were later assailed as “gimmicks.” Democratic leaders have longed maintained that the 1993 “temporary taxes” that were repealed during the King administration were agreed upon by both parties.

King told reporters last week that he planned to rely heavily on the state’s $104 million Rainy Day Fund along with a combination of other administrative austerity measures to close $90 million of the capital gains tax shortfall by June 30. The governor and Democratic majority leaders in the House and Senate would prefer to track state revenues and the stock market’s performance over the next few months before determining whether King should solve the problem unilaterally or a special legislative session should be called.

McKernan’s remarks, along with those offered by gubernatorial candidates Peter Cianchette of South Portland and Jim Libby of Buxton, closed the GOP’s two-day convention on an energized note. Earlier on Saturday, Snowe spoke at length on the GOP’s national agenda and how President Bush has provided decisive leadership during and after the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last Sept. 11.

“We are in this for the long haul,” Snowe said of the United States’ war on terrorism. “There will be no video-game victory, no solution without sacrifice. For we cannot allow the forces of darkness to take root in the fertile soil of this new and promising century. We have no choice if we are to remain the authors of our own destiny – a destiny that has no room for an ‘Age of Terror.'”

Other speakers featured during the final day of the GOP convention included the party’s 1st Congressional District candidate Steven Joyce of Saco, who is unopposed in his bid to defeat Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Allen of Portland. Allen, whose liberal views are frequent targets for Republican snipers, received his share of abuse from Joyce.

“He’s a man who votes against national security spending to protect our borders and let’s say good-bye to a man who votes against America’s businesses – large and small,” said the former state lawmaker. “Let’s say good-bye to one more left-wing extremist.”

Senate President Bennett, the official host for the event, said he was pleased Republicans had finished their business on time and without the rancorous division on issues like abortion and gay rights that have marked other conventions in the past. He was also impressed that nearly a third of the delegates to the convention were “first-timers,” a distinction he said reflected new vibrancy within the party.

“I think that on the critical issues of the day, here in Maine and nationally, and particularly on the war on terrorism, that there are more issues holding Republicans together than there are those that separate us,” Bennett said.

The conclusion of the GOP State Convention is only the beginning of what promises to be an unusually active political season this year in Maine. Democrats have scheduled their state convention for May 31 and June 1 in Augusta. Maine’s third official party, the Green Independent Party, will hold its state convention June 22 and 23 in Brunswick.