Candidate stokes ‘Two Maines’ fire Democrat Hall seeks less funds for north

AUGUSTA – A Democratic state senator seeking re-election to his midcoast district is cranking up anxiety levels by promoting funding cuts to state programs in northern and eastern Maine as a way to reduce taxes.

Sen. Chris Hall, D-Bristol, confirmed Friday that during campaign speeches he has proposed scaling back funding for road maintenance in northern Maine, a region he has described as “full of empty roads that need to be plowed [with] … an aging, poor population who rely on government health care services… [and communities that maintain] small, expensive schools.”

The senator also characterized the state’s tax system as a “pump for taking money out of prosperous southern Maine and spending it in northern Maine.”

Hall’s remarks threw fresh fuel on the raging “two Maines” debate which pits the sparsely populated, northern, eastern and western expanse of the state against the geographically smaller, but wealthier and more densely inhabited southern counties.

A British native who has resided in the United States for more than 30 years, Hall gained statewide prominence in 2002 as the victim of a negative campaign ad developed by Republicans. The mailer featured a picture of Prince Charles with the message that Hall had in some way condoned adultery.

Later that same year, Hall triumphed by a scant nine votes in his hotly disputed Senate race. The outcome effectively handed control of the Maine Senate to Democrats, who have since held an 18-17 advantage over Republicans.

Now, two years later, Hall is waging a competitive battle for re-election in District 20 against Dana Dow, a Republican Waldoboro businessman with family ties to the Presque Isle and Island Falls areas in Aroostook County.

District 20 includes some of Maine’s prime coastal real estate in communities like Bremen, Westport, Southport, Friendship and Boothbay Harbor.

Hall said Friday the five counties along Maine’s shoreline from Camden to Kittery are the counties that contribute the bulk of the state’s taxes.

“The other 11 counties are net takers out, so to speak, or net gainers,” he said. “I think we need a balance in the state that reflects the realities of where our population is today. The pattern of state spending is still locked into the population distribution of 50 years ago.”

While he doesn’t exactly want to toss northern Maine overboard, Hall said the Legislature must do a better job determining how to provide state services to the population.

In areas where population has declined, Hall favors a consolidation policy to achieve tax reductions.

“The reality is that things like small schools in areas of declining population must be looked at real hard,” he said. “The debate we have not yet had in Maine is the extent to which we should be trying to subsidize – or keep alive – declining communities.”

Singling out Millinocket and Lincoln, Hall said that with state-of-the-art paper machines operated by as few as five people per shift, the “downsizing of employment and therefore those communities is inevitable.”

“What is the obligation of people in the growing part of the state to keep subsidizing (both towns)?” Hall said. “Every Mainer has a right to the same basic services, but when the provision of those services is loaded toward northern and eastern Maine rather than the growing parts of the state, then we need to look at equity.”

Dana Dow said he could hardly believe the kind of divisive course of action advocated by his opponent.

“Hall would let northern Maine fend for itself,” Dow said. “I think his statements are ridiculous. He absolutely floored me. His simple tax solutions take care of southern Maine and jettison everyone else.”

Reaction between two Democratic incumbents seeking re-election in northern Maine teetered between anger and disbelief. Sen. Stephen Stanley, D-Medway, is a Millinocket native who works at the paper mill in East Millinocket. He said Friday that rather than decrease state funding to northern Maine, the state should actually be boosting economic assistance to a region hard hit by declines in natural resource-based industries.

“We don’t get the amount of services that are provided to the southern parts of the state,” Stanley said. “I’ve always looked at Maine as one state and that’s what legislators should care about. I’m troubled that this should come from someone in my own party. I know he’s looking after his own interests, but when you’re a state senator, you have to look out for what’s good for the state as a whole.”

Although they differ on many key areas of state policy, Stanley and his Republican opponent, Sen. Paul Davis, of Sangerville, agreed that strategies like Hall’s play to the fears of many northern Mainers who believe there is a concerted effort to move them closer to larger communities.

“He wants to stop plowing the roads and just take care of the rich who can afford to live elsewhere,” Davis said. “People like (Hall) want to do away with the rural areas because they are more expensive to maintain. This guy’s right out to lunch. He wants to liquidate northern Maine of all its people and make it into a national park.”

Sen. John L. Martin, D-Eagle Lake, said Hall’s assertion that the southern Maine economy pays the bills for state services in northern Maine was factually correct, but not necessarily the “right” approach in attempting to revamp the distribution of state revenues.

The veteran lawmaker said Hall’s message probably was well-received by many southern Mainers who share his point of view.

“That’s something people in southern Maine would like to believe,” Martin said. “[Hall] is in fact representing exactly what some people think. Obviously, where I live we clearly rely on dollars that are generated in the richer parts of the state. One way to reduce [the tax burden] is by cutting aid to poorer communities. It’s a factual statement, but certainly not a statement that ought to be listened to.”