Parties draw battle lines over budget plan

AUGUSTA – It was hard to believe Thursday that only two weeks ago, Democrats and Republicans at the State House were working together to rush a $5 million home heating relief bill through the Legislature.

But that was before the governor submitted his supplemental budget proposal, which Thursday prompted both parties to stake out decidedly different positions on exactly how $178 million in projected new revenues and savings should be spent. Democrats are interested in expanding or creating new programs while Republicans would prefer to lower taxes and pay down state debt. Both parties favor beefing up the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund, although Republicans claim they would do more than the $35 million offered by Gov. John E. Baldacci in his State of the State address Wednesday night.

In back-to-back press conferences Thursday, Democrats and Republicans each took turns promoting their party’s agendas for the balance of the session, which is scheduled to conclude in April. That won’t be soon enough for some lawmakers like Sen. Debra D. Plowman, R-Hampden. With the Legislature and the governor’s office up for grabs in November, Plowman said it was clear Maine could be on the threshold of a bitter election cycle.

In an unmistakable shot across the GOP bow, Senate Majority Leader Michael Brennan, D-Portland, proclaimed that “Democratic values are Maine values.”

“What we are talking about today are the things we are fighting for in the Legislature this year,” he said. “Maine values are under attack at the federal level. The Bush administration has made cuts on promised home heating assistance, highway funding and college aid. Finally there is confusion raging around payments from the federally enacted prescription drug program for seniors, showing disarray in the federal government.”

House Majority Leader Glen Cummings, D-Portland, repeated what has become a common theme among Democrats who object to Republicans pointing out what they perceive as legitimate problems in state policy and bureaucratic shortcomings.

“We will move Maine forward in the direction that we believe is the right direction and does not go down a path of despair, does not go into a place where nothing is good, but a place where we acknowledge the legitimate progress and acknowledge the work ahead and agree to work together to get it done,” Cummings said.

He added Democrats have three priorities: jobs, affordable health care and sound fiscal management.

“We’ve had success in all three,” he concluded.

House Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, also warned all the “naysayers” to lay off emphasizing “how bad things are in Maine.”

“These people are really doing a disservice to this state as our business leaders and others reach out to attract businesses and employees to Maine,” Richardson said. “What is said here gets repeated in boardrooms across America and around the world. If we really care about Maine, we need to talk more about what’s right with Maine.”

Had Richardson attended the GOP press conference, he wouldn’t have heard much about what Republicans thought was right about the state. House GOP leader David Bowles of Sanford hit Baldacci hard on the governor’s assertion Wednesday night that the State of the State was “safe, strong and secure.”

“Today, one-third of our population cannot make ends meet,” Bowles said. “We still have the highest tax burden in the country. Our property taxes, relative to income, are the highest in the nation, posing a huge threat to senior citizens and others on fixed incomes. We have the highest percentage of our population on Medicaid – higher than any other state. Health insurance is becoming unaffordable for companies and individuals alike.”

The GOP leaders also maintained that Baldacci and majority Democratic policies have racked up more than $900 million in new taxes and fees since the governor took office in 2003. They claimed their assertions were backed up by a study conducted by the Legislature’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review.

“The governor can say that they didn’t come from some broad-based tax, but the people of Maine have to pay these taxes all the same,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you take the money out of the left pocket or the right pocket, it all comes out of the same pair of pants.”

Democrats denied raising taxes by that much and disputed Republican claims concerning the $900 million figure.

Bowles said that while the GOP agenda is still being assembled, Republicans will focus this session on taxes, state spending, energy policy, economic development, job creation and health insurance costs.