GOP balks at bond package

AUGUSTA – State House Republicans were in no mood Thursday to dicker with majority Democrats or Gov. John E. Baldacci, who is trying to build bipartisan support among lawmakers to place a $40 million borrowing package before voters in November.

Though they didn’t back the bond package, GOP leaders in the House and Senate gave a grudging nod to the administration’s plan to present the bond proposals to the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Aug. 17.

For the governor, even that tepid concession was worthy of praise.

“The glass is half-full,” he said. “I think the commitment [from Republicans] to work together to bring this to a conclusion is encouraging. I would have liked to have had more encouragement, but we have to look at this as a process, recognizing that by the end of this month we have to make a decision.”

If the panel reaches bipartisan consensus and Democratic and Republican bosses get on board, the governor would like the full Legislature to vote on the bond questions during the week of Aug. 23 when the Senate will be casting confirmation votes on a number of appointments.

The bond package would need yes votes from two-thirds of the lawmakers in both the House and Senate to pass.

“I’m looking for a unanimous agreement from leadership and bipartisan support from the committee,” Baldacci said. “We need two-thirds to pass this. I don’t think the citizens want us spending $60,000 a day for a special session if we don’t have this nailed down as much as we possibly can.”

Although quite a bit of nailing remains, Senate GOP Leader Paul Davis of Sangerville and House GOP Leader Joe Bruno of Raymond didn’t show up to Thursday’s bond meeting with hammers in hand.

Instead, they came close to walking off the job site after they were convinced the governor was trying to pressure them by inviting the State House press corps to a portion of what they had presumed would be a private conference.

Bruno and Davis said they were under the impression their meeting was with Baldacci; House Speaker Patrick Colwell, D-Gardiner; and Senate President Beverly Daggett, D-Augusta.

When they walked into the governor’s Cabinet room, they were greeted by several commissioners, whose departments are relying on the bonds to draw down federal matching funds for public land, clean water and transportation projects.

In addition to the unexpected presentations from the department heads, the GOP leaders were surprised to find a half-dozen reporters from the state’s largest news-gathering organizations seated around the room.

“We already knew everything in that presentation, there wasn’t anything new – we had heard it all before and it wasn’t necessary,” Bruno said. “They did it because the press was in the room and they were trying to get [the press] to buy into their arguments.”

Baldacci opened a portion of the meeting to the media after reporters asked if they could sit in on the discussions.

“These things should stand the light of day,” the governor said.

Baldacci originally offered a $55 million bond proposal that would provide $30 million for the Land for Maine’s Future Program; $11.75 million targeted largely for the Waldo-Hancock Bridge, but including about $2 million for port and ferry improvements; and a little more than $13 million for environmental upgrades with an emphasis on water-quality improvements.

Republican leaders balked, preferring a land bond in the $15 million range to bring the entire borrowing package down to around $40 million.

The governor’s latest counterproposal provides $20 million for the land bond; $9 million for transportation projects and $11 million for the environment and the economy. The $40 million in state funds would leverage $78.4 million in federal matching funds.

Bruno and Davis said Thursday they remained convinced there was nothing in the governor’s bond proposal that could not wait until next June and that the timing was wrong for a special legislative session at the onset of the fall elections.

Republican strategists, still angry about the governor’s decision to bypass them and approve a Democratic majority supplemental budget this year, claim they see little reason to give Democrats another perceived victory by going along with the less-than-urgent need for a bond package.

“There’s no deal here,” Davis said. “We have surpluses, we need to take care of the [Maine Municipal Association] proposal [for additional municipal tax relief], we need to prepare for the Palesky tax cap vote and other things.”

“There’s a lot of reasons not to come in [for a special session],” Bruno said.

Colwell and Daggett said they were committed to achieving two-thirds support in the House and Senate for the $40 million borrowing plan in order to place the proposal before the voters.

“The Appropriations Committee is the appropriate place to work through differing interests,” Daggett said. “I was sorry we didn’t have more of a commitment toward an agreement today.”

“This bond package is about access to our forest lands and coast lands and it’s about jobs,” Colwell said.