Drop the politics and fill the potholes

Be afraid when a politician says they are going to “set the record straight.” That is what Reps. Darren Hall and Dave Richardson said in their op-ed, “Potholes and Politics” (BDN, Aug. 30). I know this because I am the state representative they mentioned who seems to have started this debate. And I’m glad I did, because there is no more important asset to our state than our transportation system.

The facts of the debate over transportation funding are very clear. With more than $60 million in vital road and bridge repairs across the state on hold, the governor appointed a bipartisan task force to develop a plan which aimed to get all of these vital projects off the waiting list and put Maine to work on improving our aging roads. The entire task force – Demo-crats and Republicans alike – agreed unanimously on the plan. You see, transportation issues typically aren’t partisan – but this year that changed.

Banking on the fact that roads in disrepair would look bad in an election year for the Democrats, who hold a majority of seats in the Legislature, Republicans chose to put politics ahead of the best interests of Maine people by blocking the transportation bond package. Killing the much-needed road and bridge upgrades puts Maine in a worse position, and gives Republican candidates something to complain about leading up to November.

As the Portland Press Herald noted, “If Republicans get behind $60 million in borrowing to make improvements, they’ll risk undermining one of their talking points for the fall election.”

Reliable transportation affects everything As much as Representatives Hall and Richardson may not like it, the fact remains that by putting off transportation bonds last session they made a policy decision to put off needed projects in over 112 communities. These projects haven’t gone away, and will still need to be built – but it’s conservatively estimated that they will now cost $10 million more due to inflation.

Republicans said that that the state couldn’t support the bond package. However, the Bangor Daily News ran a wonderful editorial in the spring noting that “the largest rater of government bonds – Moody’s Investment House – recently praised Maine’s ‘conservative approach to debt, with moderate bond issuance, and aggressive payout structure, and capacity to accommodate unforeseen borrowing needs.'”

They also argued that we had the money in the Highway Fund already, but it was moved to the General Fund. Although money has passed back and forth between the two funds, the Highway Fund has always been made whole.

The most irresponsible statement made in the “Potholes and Politics” op-ed was that transportation projects “should be funded in the budget, rather than through borrowing.” This is just not accurate – or possible, we are already struggling to keep up with needed maintenance on our roads and bridges. Deferred maintenance simply costs us all more money in the long run.

Maybe I came on a bit strong in criticism of Republicans, but it’s frustrating to watch a bipartisan, fiscally responsible and very necessary proposal buried for political gain. Let me paint you a picture. We were less than 10 votes short in the Maine House of Representatives to pass the transportation bonds. Initially, four Republicans voted for the proposal and others privately told me they supported it but couldn’t oppose their leadership. I don’t know about you, but I am no lemming.

Republican leaders did hold a press conference on what they called an “alternative” plan. The proposal hoped to use $50 million in “anticipated” surplus revenues – money the state did not actually have – to solve the problem. That plan was never offered to the legislature because it was roundly criticized by the public and media as “fiscally irresponsible.”

Not only did their plan call on the state to spend money it did not have, it would have diverted money that is supposed to pay down existing state debt. In fact, the Republican plan would have cost Maine taxpayers over $200 million in additional interest on our debts.

As chairman of the Transportation Committee, I remained hopeful that we could reach a compromise everyone would support and worked to keep all options on the table. The response on any compromise was “NO.” The lead Transportation Committee Republican said it was unnecessary because “there is no crisis” with Maine roads.

Obviously that legislator has been in Augusta too long, and needs to ride on some of the roads outside of the capital. Immediately after he made this statement, every Republican member of the Maine House of Representatives voted against the simple motion to bring both parties together to work on a compromise.

The facts are very clear: A bipartisan task force formed a unanimous proposal to address very pressing transportation needs for the state. The Republican leadership then decided that solving the problem now doesn’t bode well for a party trying to win seats in an election, so they killed the compromise and refused to offer a real, workable solution of their own. Maine people will suffer because of it, as the safety of our families and growth of our economy are threatened by roads that can’t carry us much longer.

Don’t just take my word; find out for yourself. I would recommend that you learn more about the 140 projects that were deferred last year. One of them is probably in your community. The Maine Better Transportation Association’s Web site at www.mbtaonline.org is an excellent nonpartisan resource. I’d recommend taking the time to read their report about the state of our transportation system. The report is called “Losing Ground.” Then make your own decisions.

Rep. Boyd Marley, D-Portland, is House chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation.