Baldacci to address state tonight

AUGUSTA – In his first State of the State address, Gov. John E. Baldacci will be scrutinized tonight almost as much for what he doesn’t say – particularly on the topics of property tax relief and his choice to head the new state human services mega-agency.

The 7 p.m. speech is expected to run about 45 minutes and air live on Maine Public Broadcasting television and radio. In what could be the equivalent of sweeps week for Maine political junkies, President Bush’s State of the Union address will follow at 9:01 p.m.

“I guess we’ll just have to be the warm-up act,” said Lee Umphrey, the governor’s communications director, who added the date was set by the Legislature a month ago when the president had scheduled his address for Jan. 27.

Democrats speculated that the change in plans at the White House was made to avoid sharing media time with coverage of the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary, also scheduled for Jan. 27.

Although the governor is expected to place a heavy emphasis on working together with the Legislature to close budget deficits in the current two-year budget cycle and on the prospect for statewide economic development in the coming year, he is not expected to spend much time on property tax relief.

Administration officials confirmed that efforts to find a compromise with supporters of the Maine Municipal Association’s proposal for increased school funding by the state are going nowhere. Last November, voters cast the greatest number of ballots for the MMA initiative in a three-way contest, but failed to reach the majority needed for approval. The MMA’s Question 1A now will stand alone on the ballot during the June 15 primaries.

Umphrey said the administration and lawmakers, who supported an opposing measure in June, are still hoping to find common ground on the issue with officials from the MMA and Maine Education Association after the Legislature adjourns in April. Until then, discussions among the parties have ended.

“The governor will talk about tax reform tonight as it relates to regionalization, but discussions on property tax relief are pretty much in park for now,” Umphrey said.

Another announcement administration officials had hoped to make tonight concerned the identity of the new commissioner to head the merged departments of Human Services and Behavioral and Developmental Services. State House sources have speculated for weeks that David Flanagan – the former chief executive officer for Central Maine Power Co. and a 2002 independent candidate for governor – will be Baldacci’s choice to implement a top-down restructuring of the financially troubled human services agency.

Flanagan said Monday he could not discuss whether or not he had been offered the position, but acknowledged that whoever assumes the task would have to be prepared to take on a formidable challenge. He remained “open-minded” over whether he would accept such a position, if it were offered to him.

“I’ll consider just about anything that any serious person wants to talk to me about, but I wouldn’t draw any conclusions from that,” Flanagan said.

According to those close to the administration, much of the governor’s State of the State address will touch on the successes of the last year when, with broad legislative support, Baldacci was able to close a $1.2 billion gap between projected revenues and continuing expenses in the state’s two-year budget. He will attempt to use the legislative track record as a road map to solve current budget woes resulting in a number of Medicaid services being targeted to close a new $109 million gap that has opened.

Baldacci is expected to reiterate his determination to solve Maine’s financial problems without a tax increase that would affect all taxpayers. In the process, he will emphasize that the decline of manufacturing jobs and restructuring of Medicaid programs are not phenomena peculiar to Maine. He also will strike recurring themes over the need to consolidate regional school costs wherever possible and to increase postsecondary education options for Maine graduates.

The balance of the speech will focus on how Maine is positioned to seize new opportunities for economic development that could be spurred by Baldacci’s Pine Tree Development Zones initiative and through research and development bonds approved by Maine voters.

The message will be watched carefully by Republicans hoping to regain a majority in the Maine Senate this fall. Debra D. Plowman, a former four-term state representative from Hampden, plans to run for an open state Senate seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Betty Mitchell of Etna, who is retiring because of term limits. Plowman said she hopes the governor and the majority Democrats in the Legislature will attempt to get a handle on state spending priorities and extend greater consideration to Mainers who cannot afford new costs associated with some of the proposed Medicaid cuts.

“Much of this is directly related to the governor’s refusal to reconsider the Dirigo [health insurance] program,” she said. “We can’t afford Dirigo. They’re already $100 million in the hole at DHS for Medicaid and there’s $53 million worth of Medicaid money sitting in the Dirigo account. Meanwhile, people across the state are expected to take different medications and shop around to comply with this program.”

But state Rep. Matt Dunlap, D-Old Town, said that while Republicans are free to pursue their political ambitions, they should think twice before whacking the administration too hard.

“I think any administration is subject to criticism and this administration is no exception to that,” he said. “But I would hope that the people who are ratcheting up the rhetoric for the elections have taken a few lessons from history about how Maine people react to that. Negative campaigns do win elections, but Maine people aren’t stupid and they can tell the difference – and they don’t like them.”