Two sides to the story

It will take a few weeks to shake off the mental fogginess created by spending almost four months in Augusta in the just-completed “short session” of the 123rd Legislature. As the haziness lifts, common sense begins to return, and one realizes with clarity the dramatic differences in opinion, approach and outlook between the majority and minority parties in Augusta.

The fact is that there are radical differences between Democrats, who run the show, and Republicans, currently in the minority and relegated to the sidelines. That distinction is seldom reported or recognized in either the print or electronic media. We are always grouped together as “the Legislature.” Let me offer a few examples.

It is little known throughout the state that Republicans fought hard in the House of Representatives to require municipalities to properly identify voters before they cast a ballot. The very foundations of our democracy will erode if people lose faith in the security and reliability of our electoral process. Our bill, LD 1783, asked that people be identified before voting, usually with a driver’s license – a common practice among states trying to reduce the risk of electoral fraud.

Republicans were vilified by the Democrats for even raising the issue. We lost, but we will try again, because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on April 28 that states are well within their rights to require a photo ID for voting. In that case, the high court upheld an Indiana law similar to the bill we proposed.

The approach to the supplemental budget this spring demonstrated probably the biggest differences between the parties. The objective was to fix a $190 million hole in the budget as revenues fell below projections. Republicans proposed structural, systemic reforms to produce savings now and into the future. Democrats used their usual financial sleight-of-hand by balancing the budget with minor spending decreases and significant emptying of current accounts holding money for other uses and services.

On another issue, I stood up on the floor of the House and offered an amendment requiring Maine to limit welfare benefits to five years, as suggested by the federal government. This simple, common-sense measure went down to defeat on a party-line vote.

I’ve recently been asked by folks in my district why the Legislature voted to more than double the tax on beer and wine, create a new tax on soda and syrups, “borrow” $3.6 million from the General Fund, impose a new tax on paid insurance claims and take $5 million from the Fund for a Healthy Maine – all to keep the Dirigo Health program solvent. This deal – to raise taxes by more than $50 million a year – was an eleventh-hour creation of the Democrats. They pushed it through the Legislature without a public hearing on a strict party-line vote. I have nothing to do with this bill, but I’m tainted by their tax increase because in the public mind the dirty deed was done by “the Legislature.”

Republicans fought very hard to initiate health insurance market reform and bring Maine back into conformity with how most other states regulate their insurance markets, often resulting in insurance premiums half of what Mainers pay. House Democrats essentially killed all serious reform efforts and instead chose to expand the Dirigo program, which has failed dismally to achieve its goals.

I proposed that Mainers should have the right to purchase health insurance from companies operating in other New England and mid-Atlantic states, as long as they met similar reserve requirements as insurance carriers in Maine. Such a move could save Maine residents serious money and spark more competition. But the majority party voted solidly no.

There were a few major topics where voting in the Legislature did not fall along party lines. The school consolidation debacle became an issue dividing rural and nonrural Maine. And jail consolidation stayed nonpartisan. The major issue of tax reform was discussed and advanced in 2007, but majority Democrats could never piece together a workable plan acceptable to voters or the business community.

In discussing my impressions as a first-term legislator, I’m not trying to throw up a partisan wall or bash the other party. I simply have tried to describe how things work in Augusta and remind voters that very clear choices still exist come Election Day.

Bob Walker, M.D., of Lincolnville is the ranking Republican on the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.