The Legislature had a lot of good reasons to reject the citizen-initiated bill legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. The one given — that voters should decide this by referendum — isn’t among them. Referendum is a valuable, important tool in representative democracy, especially when used… Read More
President Abraham Lincoln called the fraudulent suppliers to the Union Army “worse than traitors,” and created The False Claims Act to stop them. President Ronald Reagan updated the act, which has recovered more than $4 billion in tax dollars. Especially at a time when million-dollar missiles buzz like… Read More
Despite the hesitancy and confusion of some of Maine’s political leaders, legislators this week put together the better part of a reform to the state’s education-funding system and included a budget that begins to bring property tax relief to the hardest-hit towns. The public has reason to support… Read More
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee opens a hearing this week on the marketing of violent entertainment to children. Next week, the House Judiciary Committee begins its inquiry into youth violence with a witness list that includes entertainment executives. Both events were planned long before the tragedy in Littleton… Read More
In ordinary circumstances, an 11-1 ought-to-pass vote from a legislative committee would make supporters of a bill feel pretty confident about their chances before the rest of the Legislature. But the unhappy experience of a proposal to bring fairness to the rules that regulate the official recognition of… Read More
The Rev. Jesse Jackson bet his reputation that he could gain the freedom of three American soldiers taken prisoner illegally by Serb forces more than a month ago. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic bet his political future that releasing the captives would lead the American public to see him… Read More
Though it may seem like mere fine-tuning, a bill to change the name of Maine’s Clean Election Act, approved 8-5 by the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs last week, actually causes more problems than it solves. The Senate should respect voter wishes on this issue and reject this… Read More
Most Mainers probably don’t know they live in one of just five states that allow felons to cast votes from behind bars. That’s partly because most Mainers are honest, law-abiding types who stay on the right side of the bars, and partly because the issue’s never been raised. Read More
Bills by Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. John Baldacci pose the question of whether HUD can really provide Continuum of Care grants for homeless assistance if the agency won’t do it on a continuum. Their proposal to guarantee states a base level of funding would let organizations that… Read More
For 30 years, for no good reason other than that William Loeb, the late publisher of the Manchester Union Leader said so, no candidate for major office in New Hampshire has won without taking The Pledge — there shall be no broad-based statewide tax in the Granite State. Read More
Rep. John Martin was accused this week of slapping the hand of a television reporter as she tried to take papers on a committee desk during a legislative hearing. Rep. Martin, a professor at University of Maine at Fort Kent, should know that there are better remedies for… Read More
Though it isn’t the catchiest around, the new name for the East-West Highway Association — now the Maine Coalition for Increased Jobs and Safety — ably describes its goals. Another name for the group could have been The Coalition to Connect Maine to the World. Read More
Whatever level of funding Maine chooses for the purchase of land or conservation easements, it will need matching money to extend its buying power. For several years, the federal government has been indifferent or opposed to helping states, but this year is different. The key for Maine’s delegation… Read More
Today is the centennial of the birth of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington. It’s a glorious day for those already familiar with this musician of extraordinary energy and genius. It’s a great opportunity for newcomers to get acquainted. Above all, at a time when an America in mourning has… Read More
It’s been nine years since the Maine Legislature got a raise. In normal situations, such a protracted dry spell would make an increase justified and long overdue. This, however, isn’t a normal situation. It’s the Maine Legislature. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
This morning at 9:30, amid the late-session bustle, there will be a press conference in the State House rotunda regarding national Victim’s Rights Week. Lawmakers would do well to stop by, to hear what the advocates for the victims of violent crime, sexual and domestic abuse, and drunk… Read More
Members of the Legislature’s Labor Committee took on the difficult job of reforming the state’s Unemployment Fund, an issue lawmakers had been ducking for years, and are expected to report out a plan that will put the fund on solid ground for the first time in years. Though… Read More
The Legislature has been studying the failures of Maine’s school-funding formula for six years. There no longer is any doubt about what is wrong or what is required to make it right. The remaining question is whether lawmakers have the will to act. As we… Read More
Forty-five years ago today, the Penobscot River was invaded by an odd-looking creature that had all of Bangor in a panic for a week. At first mistaken for a white submarine, and a shark, porpoise, seal, sturgeon, sea lion, halibut, dolphin and cod fish, the white creature that… Read More
Alan Greenspan expressed puzzlement and frustration recently over the reluctance of some members of Congress to continue the expansion of free trade. He could not, he said, understand their preference for protectionist policies. The answer is simple. Mr. Greenspan has tenure as the nation’s economic guru. Members of… Read More
With a proposal from Senate President Mark Lawrence, Maine for the first time in a decade has a chance to fund schools fairly. His plan will not pass, however, without broad public support. Parents, property taxpayers and municipal leaders, anyone who is angered by the state’s intention to… Read More
Supporters of a bill that would remove circulators of initiated petitions from polling places have a legitimate concern about keeping the act of voting as simple and unimpeded as possible, but their proposal goes too far to restrict the circulators. Instead of pushing them 250 feet from a… Read More
The NATO Summit opens in Washington this morning with Britian and France demanding that the United States face the obvious: ground troops must be considered a serious possibility. This is more than President Clinton expected or wanted and all the more reason that a demand Wednesday by Sen. Read More
Lawmakers considering bills to reduce toxic use, release and waste have a significant advantage over the legislators who debated similar bills last session. This time, unlike during the heated arguments in 1998, there is agreement that some version of a bill ought to be signed into law. The… Read More
There is no comprehending the leap from silent anger to outrageous violence; no way to explain the terror that descended Tuesday on Columbine High School. There are only pain and grief, the unsatisfying question of whether something could have been done to stop the murderous act and the… Read More
The largest disparity between the regular retail price of popular prescription drugs and the price to preferred customers is 1,400 percent for a hormone-replace drug called Synthroid. The average difference in the retail vs. preferred customer price in Maine is approximately 100 percent. So when the Legislature considers… Read More
What better way to end the millennium than with the discovery announced last week of the first solar system besides our own. For astronomers, the discovery creates all manner of questions related to planets and their motion. The rest of us can take comfort in knowing that the… Read More
Critics of the bill to exempt retirement income from the Maine income tax says it was merely a feel-good proposal, a political ploy with no chance of becoming law, a shameless bit of late-session grandstanding. The critics are being kind. Maybe the wave of support… Read More
Kenneth Starr says the “constitutionally dubious” and “structurally unsound” Independent Counsel Act should be allowed to expire when it comes up for renewal by Congress this summer. Who better to pass sentence on this important law than the judge who wrote the book on dubious and unsound?… Read More
Watching Maine’s 186-person Legislature try to churn through thousands of bills in the few short months it is in session can be an amusing experience — until the bill you are especially interested in comes up for debate. Then, unless, you understand the workings of government, the process… Read More
The polite, diplomatic way to describe Senate President Mark Lawrence’s proposal to make a cut in the sales tax contingent upon the state meeting its statutory obligation to local education is that it compels the Legislature to set priorities. The more bare-knuckled way is this:… Read More
Shady deals, laundered money, indictments, memory lapses, rewards and payback — when the definitive history of Bill Clinton’s political life is written, even the most sympathetic author will find it difficult to whitewash those aspects of his rise from backwoods attorney general to president that resemble not so… Read More
It was a deal that no one could refuse, or at least protest — a willing, private seller, International Paper, and an eager private buyer that just happened to be one of the nation’s premier conservation groups. Their agreement that put 185,000 acres into the hands of The… Read More
The proposal yesterday by Senate President Mark Lawrence to put education ahead of a half-penny cut in the sales tax took both courage and vision. Courage because he must face other lawmakers who would rather announce tax cuts than truly relieve the burden of the property tax. And… Read More
When Operation Allied Force was taking flight three weeks ago, Congress was taking off for its long spring break. Members paused in packing long enough for the usual fretting about national interests, presidential resolve and exit strategy. Followed by the perfunctory “nevertheless, we support our brave men and… Read More
A bill with the unenlightening title of “An Act to Provide for the 1999 and 2000 Allocations of the State Ceiling on Private Activity Bonds” is actually a chance for the Legislature to take an overdue look into the competitive and, apparently, profitable world of state-backed student loans. Read More
Maine has the nation’s fifth-highest tax burden — taxes as percentage of income — partly because its taxes are too high, mostly because its incomes are way too low. Taxes are too high partly because of the great demand for social services because of the low incomes, incomes… Read More
It’s about now in the legislative session that funding fatigue descends on lawmakers. They’ve approved spending for hundreds of millions of dollars in government services, but there is no end in sight to the requests. They’ve listened to pleas for money to teach children, treat the mentally ill,… Read More
Shoppers who want to know whether the food they buy contains certain preservatives can simply check the label. Same for figuring out the fat content or number of carbohydrates per serving. But try finding out whether the tomato you buy contains a flounder gene to make it resistant… Read More
The fact that lawmakers today will again consider adopting the conclusions of a study on the homeless endorsed by four commissioners, unanimously backed last year by a legislative committee and passed in the form of a bill by the full Legislature raises this question: If everyone is in… Read More
Maine and Vermont are arguing about which state can claim ownership of the old “You can’t get there from here” joke. Vermont says it told it first. Maine says it told it best. There’s a lot to be said for telling it least. The Pittsfield… Read More
If Maine’s prison system weren’t so antiquated, inefficient and dangerously overcrowded, if the plan to rebuild it hadn’t been forged only after extensive study and debate, the move in the Legislature to reverse course on a restructuring plan already under way would make sense. But… Read More
The Legislature wants to drop the snack tax. At a cost of $26 million, this proposal is a lot like junk food itself — overpriced, yet devoid of nourishment. After spending most of the decade on a starvation diet, Maine people crave and deserve real,… Read More
Little noted in Gov. Angus King’s proposal for Part II of the next biennium budget was money crucial to this region. His plan to increase funding for research and development from $4 million to $10 million annually deserves both praise and support, and the best part is that… Read More
The space is small between violent words and violent deeds, but making a distinction between the two is crucial nonetheless to one of the founding principles of this nation. As legislators consider a bill that would punish what it calls “environmental terrorizing” they should take care that they… Read More
This is Equal Pay Day, the annual reminder that, despite 36 years of legislation to the contrary, American women still get substantially less money than American men for doing substantially the same work. True, the wage gap has narrowed since President Kennedy signed the 1963… Read More
One more traditional Maine business is in decline, jobs are lost, towns are hurt. This time it’s Dexter Shoe, the jobs number 200, the hurting towns are Skowhegan, Milo, Newport and Dexter. State officials express regret; they say they saw it coming; they promise to… Read More
The Legislature’s Appropriation Committee today is expected to sort out the various proposals for public land purchases and, perhaps, come up with a dollar amount for future purchases. A strong economy, low interest rates and rapid changes in ownership of large pieces of the state make this a… Read More
In ’93, it was the Miracle in Milwaukee. Though not the perfect alliteration, call this one the Endeavor in Anaheim. It was harder this time. Not just in tougher competition in an increasingly competitive conference or in a more difficult route to the Frozen Four… Read More
Back in the early ’50s, George West of Ogunquit was a young man with a plan: The post-war economy was booming; the nation was car-crazy; Maine was among the craziest. That meant a lot of motor oil, a lot of oil changes, a lot of waste oil. Read More
Most people observe April Fools’ Day by pulling pranks, tricks and gags on others. New Hampshire marked the occasion by making a fool of itself. April 1 was the date set by the state supreme court for Granite State lawmakers to come up with an… Read More
The speed and fury with which Yugolav President Slobodan Milosevic is destroying the country he claims he wants to save is shocking. It is not surprising. Wholesale sacking of ethnic Albanian villages in Kosovo, herding defenseless refugees into concentration camps, turning them into nonpersons by… Read More
From the start, environmentalists opposed to Maine’s state plan for the conservation and restoration of wild Atlantic salmon have criticized it as too short on financial commitment and too reliant on volunteers. Now, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries… Read More
Anyone who has ever enjoyed an August afternoon at the Skowhegan State Fair may have choked back tears Wednesday morning after learning a 19-year-old arsonist had allegedly gone on a late-night rampage, burning to the ground the wooden grandstand, exhibition building and vehicles stored inside. Read More
The national news media don’t often shine their spotlight on Maine. When it does, the illuminated subject matter tends to be quaint, backwoodsy or just plain goofy. So it was refreshing last week to read the Wall Street Journal story about something serious, worthy and… Read More
For the second time in a year, lawmakers are about to debate the state minimum wage. Democrats say a 35-cent boost, to $5.50, will give hard-working employees the raise they deserve without harming employers. Republicans say it will kill business and throw people out of work. The governor… Read More
Maine is about to enjoy a $70 million tax windfall from the sales of the electricity-generating assets of Maine utilities. A proposal to dedicate that deregulation bonus to a trust fund for low-income ratepayers isn’t a bad idea, it’s just premature, unnecessary and, as a precedent, worrisome. Read More
Most Americans won’t know the full bite of the Y2K computer bug until the stroke of midnight 2000. For them, whether the date-reading glitch in hardware and software results in minor inconveniences or full-blown calamity remains to be seen. Pretty ironic then that the only… Read More
The Maine environment loses a strong voice and devoted advocate this week with the departure of Ned Sullivan, commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection. Mr. Sullivan is returning to New York, his home state, for family reasons, just four years after he left a… Read More
Though it is not likely the federal government will meet its promise of funding 40 percent of speecial-education costs this year, chances look better and better that it will significantly increase funding for these programs. Under the right circumstances, the added money could be of help to Maine… Read More
A proposed ban on smoking in restaurants is breezing through though the Legislature, driven by strong public support and the advocacy of health experts. The Maine Restaurant Association remains bitterly opposed, saying essentially that nonsmoking diners should just dine elsewhere and nonsmoking restaurant workers should find another line… Read More
Even during this time of rock-bottom unemployment rates, Maine’s Unemployment Compensation Fund faces collapse because the years of patching and ignoring the fund’s revenue shortages can be ignored no longer. Further patching isn’t a good idea, either. Instead, the Legislature has an obligation to enact a broad reform… Read More
Plum Creek is a willing seller. The Trust for Public Lands is a people-friendly conservation group and an astute judge of real estate. The land in question is reasonable in amount and of extraordinarily high recreational value. The $5.26 million price tag seems fair. There’s a lot to… Read More
If Chief Justice Daniel Wathen’s vigor in campaigning for a computer system seemed unusual in 1994, it makes complete sense in 1999. That’s because Maine’s court system, after five years of effort, still needs funding and support to finish its centralized computer system for all cases and records. Read More
It was a busy and productive Tuesday at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The day starts bright and early with Sens. Kit Bond of Missouri and Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, ranking members of the VA/HUD Appropriations Subcommitee, strongly advising Secretary Andrew Cuomo… Read More
The need to pay better wages to workers in the mental-retardation field has been evident for years. So evident, in fact, the Legislature last session approved a bill that would have brought wages in that field to a par with pay in competing fields. Passing the bill, however,… Read More
Sixteen unarmed Albanians were murdered this past weekend. More than 2,000 have been slaughtered in the last year. A quarter-million have been driven from their homes. Forty thousand black-masked Serb soldiers rampage through the Kosovo countryside, burning farms, killing livestock, killing people. The civilized world… Read More
If legislators didn’t get the message about school funding last week, they never will. Hundreds of Mainers attended the Education Committee’s hearing on funding and hundreds more rented buses to attend but were stopped by the weather. What they need and deserve is simple: Full funding of the… Read More
There’s a new game of chance coming to a convenience store near you, courtesy of the Maine Legislature. Not a new spin on the lottery, not another scratch-and-win variation; call it the Gassing Game. Last week’s passage in the House and Senate of “An Act… Read More
Meals on Wheels only occasionally receives attention beyond announcements in the newspaper when it is looking for volunteer drivers. That’s because the program works very well. But it could work better, or at least more often. LD 1552, before the Legislature tomorrow, would expand the Meals on Wheels… Read More
Should the sales tax be cut by a half-cent because of a pledge made six years ago? Should the gas tax not be raised a nickel because the state survived recession in part by raiding the Highway Fund for non-highway purposes? Formulating tax policy is always tricky, more… Read More
The announcement this week that Sen. John Chafee would retire in 2000 was sad news for the people of Rhode Island, whom he represented so well, and for all of New England, which gained from his judgment and from his skills as a lawmaker. Certainly, he will be… Read More
People with health insurance — legislators, say — might have a hard time understanding what it’s like to be unable to see a doctor when seriously ill. A book that many lawmakers recently received tells them exactly what it is like, in the voices of their neighbors. They… Read More
Fuzzy thinking about freedom, willful discounting of solid health and economic data, catering to special interests: it’s hard to pick the worst part of the Health and Human Services Committee’s failure to back a ban on smoking in restaurants. Committee members against the ban say… Read More
No matter what level of funding the Legislature eventually decides to dedicate to public-land purchases, lawmakers should be comfortable supporting a bill expected to be heard today that would send a small but steady stream of money to the Land for Maine’s Future Fund. Sponsored… Read More
China stole this country’s most precious nuclear secrets. The Chinese prime minister comes to Washington next month. The White House and Congress had better get busy. This is no time for fixing blame. The theft of multiple warhead technology from the Los Alamos national laboratory… Read More
When people in Maine talk, for good or for ill, about the industrial forests of the state, it is almost always generally. This is not because the practices of the large landowners are interchangable but because legal restrictions prevent the state from releasing information about specific landowners. An… Read More
The half cent off the sales tax is now a given. The nickel added to the gas tax is in trouble. Legislators are making a big deal this session about saving taxpayers $15 a year here or $25 a year there. But only a few so far have… Read More
The proposals to change the school funding formula, expected to be considered today by the Education Committee, contain generous portions of language that only accountants could love. But no matter how arcane, the details of these bills will determine how the state distributes its share of school funding. Read More
It’s a busy time for lawmakers. As if arguing themselves in circles about whether there’s a connection between road improvements and the gas tax weren’t enough, the divisive debate continues on designating English as Maine’s official language. Perhaps it’s time to consider making logic the Legislature’s official thought… Read More
James B. Hatch on today’s op-ed page answers a question on an issue that made front-page news 10 years ago then seemed to disappear from the public- policy arena: What happened to Maine’s plans to significantly increase its amount of affordable housing? As anyone who has looked at… Read More
Trust is a hard thing to offer when the state takes a child away from his or her parents. How does the public know the Department of Human Services and the court are acting in the child’s best interest? Confidentiality laws, necessary to protect the children involved, prevent… Read More
An important piece of business Congress left unfinished when it adjourned last fall was bankruptcy reform. Congress is back, so is reform, and just in time. Americans, including Mainers, continue to spend like there’s no tomorrow. A record 1.4 million Americans — individuals, not businesses… Read More
Nova Scotia no doubt appreciates the kind words Gov. Angus King has regarding Halifax’s bid to become a superport for supersized cargo ships. Maine should expect no less than that level of moral support from the Maritimes regarding its big project — the east-west highway. It also should… Read More
Reviled at the time, the 1990 budget accord that forced President George Bush to take back his lips also forced fiscal responsibility on Congress and played a large role in the balanced budget this year. To be fiscally responsible now, Congress should exceed those caps and meet its… Read More
Maine Kids Count, an annual collection of data about the health and welfare of children, showed again this week that Maine residents have done some remarkable things to give most children a great start in life. But there remains a sizable population of kids without access to what… Read More
Once upon a time, in a more discreet, reserved America, those who had embarassed themselves with foolish behavior modestly saved their tearful confessions for the proper venue. It’s called the television talk show. No longer. Now, there is a new forum for wrenching tales of… Read More
The Senate Appropriations Committee had a particlarly productive session last Friday, delivering much-needed disaster aid with one hand and a well-deserved spanking to the White House with the other. By a unanimous vote, the committee approved $1.9 billion in emergency spending to rebuild storm-wracked Honduras… Read More
The immediate demand for trained workers, brought about by the low unemployment rate, hides an even better reason for the Legislature to support a proposal to expand Maine’s technical college system. When the strong national economy recedes, as it inevitably will, the states with the best-trained labor force… Read More
The Supreme Court made official last week what many school officials already knew to be true: The lack of adequate federal support for special education makes it one of the most divisive issues many towns will face at budget time. An amendment sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins last… Read More
With the exception of a plateau between 1993 and ’95, a chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows cable television rates rising at a 45 degree angle for the last 15 years, far beyond the rate of inflation and undaunted by the supposed restraints brought by the… Read More
This time last year, as the nation was gripped by an epidemic of school shootings, a group of educators and other community leaders came together under the auspices of the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development to form the Task Force on Safe Schools, to… Read More
Maine’s plan to restructure its electric utilities, scheduled to begin next year, differs from a year-old Massachusetts restructuring plan in several ways, but some of the experiences there ought to give warning to consumers here. First on the list are: Don’t expect significant savings immediately and, if you… Read More
When bills regarding repairs and renovations to the state’s public schools come up for debate, lawmakers should pay close attention to what Senate President Mark Lawrence has to say. He’s been there, seen that. The way Maine has allowed its schools to deteriorate is a… Read More
Secretary Andrew Cuomo of Housing and Urban Development kindly offered this week to reconsider the Northeast’s request for ice-storm relief money only to find out that he may not have the money to distribute. Surprise action by the Senate to propose transfering the funding and authority for emergency… Read More
Citizens Against Government Waste, that diligent, nonpartisan watchdog over the public pocketbook, has just released its 1999 Pig Book. As usual, this annual accounting of the success members of Congress had last year in larding up the home state is thorough, insightful and, in a revolting sort of… Read More
If nothing else, the panel led by former Sen. George Mitchell to report on the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics added a new term to the lexicon of corruption. Gift creep: the gradual escalation from tokens of appreciation to bribery. Like the way coffee mugs, tote bags… Read More
When Roger Pilon of the libertarian Cato Institute was speaking in Maine last week, he reduced his philosophy on property rights to a couple of terse sentences that reflect the thoughts of many in northern Maine: “Stop stealng our property. Pay for it.” He couldn’t have known that… Read More
Who knows whether years of pressure from the United States has influenced China’s outlook on human rights, but no one should doubt the influence of China’s vague, unhelpful government announcements on U.S. officials. The spokesman for the State Department, James P. Rubin, unleased this one… Read More
Fed up with business as usual, concerned about the influence of money in politics, Maine led the nation in 1996 by enthusiastically endorsing the citizen-initiated Clean Election Act. That Maine legislators are considering tinkering, even gutting, this public-funding mechanism before it gets its first test… Read More