Don’t fall for another referendum that claims to fix Maine schools
If you want to improve education in Maine, don’t vote for a gimmicky referendum that throws more money at the problem.
If you want to improve education in Maine, don’t vote for a gimmicky referendum that throws more money at the problem.
If you blinked, you may have missed it, but the Legislature — or pieces of it, at least — was back at work in Augusta last week. The Senate was in session to consider a number of gubernatorial nominations, but the real action took place in the Legislative Council, which decided which bills to allow […]
On Monday night, Augusta Democrats — desperate to kill off as many good ideas to save taxpayers money as they could before session ended — held a series of debates and votes on welfare reform initiatives. Last year, welfare reform proved to be a crucial issue for Republicans across the state. GOP candidates, from Gov. […]
You likely didn’t notice, but yesterday Republican Representatives Dale Crafts of Lisbon, Deb Sanderson of Chelsea, Stacy Guerin of Glenburn, Carol McElwee of Caribou, and Beth Turner of Burlington all won reelection, long before November. In addition, newcomers Paul Sterns and Sheldon Hanington clinched their seats in the Legislature without a vote being cast. How […]
It used to be simple to determine a political group’s goals, and there was a bright, well-defined line between groups that advocated for certain issues and purely partisan groups. Often, the group’s goals were right in the name. Now, though, things have changed. A plethora of organizations claim to be devoted to one cause or […]
Not all bipartisanship is created equal: There’s real bipartisanship and fake bipartisanship. There was plenty of both on full display in the Legislature this week. In real bipartisanship, both sides actually come together to solve a problem. They negotiate to find a solution that both of them can support. They make sacrifices, and nobody gets […]
Imagine if you needed a permit to write a letter to the editor. Or if you had to register your religion with the government. Or if, before contacting your elected officials, you had to undergo a background check. All of these restrictions on our First Amendment rights would be unacceptable. Yet, as part of exercising […]
You would have been forgiven for not noticing, but with the deadlines for candidate filings in the June primary behind us, the first phase of the 2014 campaign for control of the Maine Legislature has ended. That’s right — ended, not begun. The beginning of any campaign cycle is not the primary, but the recruitment. […]
Over the past week, something unexpected and — of late at least — rather remarkable happened: bipartisanship in the Maine Legislature. The powerful Appropriations Committee, which seemed to have broken down in a remarkably public partisan spat over a bill that used reserves from the state’s rainy day fund to pay for municipal revenue sharing, rediscovered its […]
In 2010, this state was fortunate enough to elect not just a Republican Legislature, but a reform-minded one. We had a majority in the State House dedicated to changing how Maine worked, in both parties. This was about more than just reducing the size of government — it was about making Maine government work better […]
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