Remembrance of Democrats past

I saw Newt Gingrich on television the other day and naturally thought of Maine Democrats. The former House speaker was crowing to a conservative think tank. Or maybe he was exulting, I couldn’t tell. Anyway, a satiated audience heard him recounting the philosophical origins of the conservative movement that gave us The Contract with America as its apex of expression in 1994.

Before that were years of intellectual toil, he said, and of one conservative giant standing on the shoulders of his predecessor, lifting the movement year by year, and I could see this was no time for him to mention cheap haircuts.

But put those alongside Barry Goldwater and the Reagan revolution, and not only discount haircuts for members of Congress but special parking places, overdrawn checking accounts at the House bank and a House post office scandal that few people remember a dozen years later. Small assaults on the good senses of the public until voters wearied of the hubris, the exception, the assumption by then-majority Democrats that they could get away with what they pleased because they were looking out for our greater good. The argument for tossing them out of office could be found in the Contract’s first rule, which was “all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to Congress.”

They were tossed as quickly as you could say Dan Rostenkowski.

Maine Democrats might have remembered that rule when Superior Court Justice Donald Marden last week concluded their leaders had violated a contract of their own, the one that said they would pay legislators special-session pay when in special session. Democrats hadn’t wanted to do that last year because they knew they weren’t supposed to be in special session – they were there only because ending the regular session early let them avoid needing the votes of Republicans to pass a supplemental budget. They tried to hide the embarrassment of having created a situation where lawmakers received two paychecks for the same work and they got caught.

They’re about to make that mistake again. They’ve solved the pay part, but think they have the votes to pass a state budget by simple majority and end the regular session to begin the 90-day wait for new legislation to take effect, leaving hundreds of bills unfinished in this regular session that could extend into June if they chose to pass the budget with a two-thirds vote. To get those bills done, Gov. Baldacci will have to pretend that an “extraordinary occasion,” according to the state constitution, has occurred. None has and, clearly, the legislative schedule anticipates that budgets would be passed by the two-thirds vote, but Democrats are certain they have a budget that’s good for us so precedent can go get itself a cheap haircut.

For Republicans who feel left out of the process, Democrats have a precise response: 93 percent. That’s the amount of the budget Democrats claim both parties agree on, and they say this is so because the parties worked so well together over the last three months. But this is an argument of convenience. When Republicans agree with Democrats, the majority says nice things. When Republicans want more time to consider the entire budget, goodbye cooperation and respect.

A delay while Republicans looked over the budget, the leader of the Democrats, Pat Colwell, scolded in an op-ed the other day would show the GOP “thought education wasn’t worth the investment” and “providing affordable health care to more Maine people isn’t worth the effort.” So that 93 percent business was just talk? And those claims of mutual respect by legislative leaders early in the session, was that just chatter too?

“Trust,” said Colwell, the person behind the recent cartoon ad ridiculing GOP leader Paul Davis, “is something I have always thought needed to be earned.” Unless you’re in the majority and assume you’ll remain there for a good long while.

What brought down congressional Democrats more than a decade ago, however, wasn’t mere hubris, but an organized opposition within and beyond the capitol. Were Maine conservatives ever to be handed such a group dedicated to persuading the public that Democrats are over-confidently leading Maine in the wrong direction …

Wait a minute, what’s this? Why it’s the Maine Heritage Policy Center, an aggressive conservative think tank that quickly has become a vital part of the state Republican establishment.

Want the conservative view on Maine’s Medicaid plans or an alternative state budget? The Heritage Policy Center is happy to provide them, and they’re worth reading for the shock value alone. The center’s budget proposal, for instance, would have Maine cut hundreds of millions from Medicaid when legislative Republicans this year voted to increase the governor’s spending on that line, and it would immediately eliminate 116 school administrations when towns are demanding more local control. But the fact that such a budget is unlikely doesn’t matter because it isn’t about making numbers add up; it is about ideas, and their ideas are clear even when they are objectionable, and they will catch on if Democrats keep acting as they have.

So go ahead, Democrats, pass a budget without bipartisan support, call a special session on a made-up reason, scold anyone who disagrees with you.

The next Newt you hear may have a Maine accent.

Todd Benoit is the editorial page editor of the Bangor Daily News.