Tracker no excuse for LePage to avoid Dems
I just pulled the blinds on my office windows. I turned off my phone. I left the sink downstairs running, to obscure any noises. I don’t want anyone to see or hear what I’m doing. I’m writing a column...
View ArticleCongress should keep promise, protect Medicare, Social Security
Willis Henry Farmer was born in April 1932. He died 65 years later. He was my father and a glorious mess. When I consider proposals to cut Social Security or increase the age of eligibility for...
View ArticleA wedding day to remember
I’ve never worn snow boots and a parka to a wedding before, but Saturday was a very special occasion. At midnight, a new law went into effect allowing same-sex couples in Maine to receive a marriage...
View ArticleLePage should do what moms say: Ban BPA
It’s one thing for Gov. Paul LePage to try to tempt Democrats into a game of political nah-nah-nah-boo-boo, but it’s something much more politically dangerous when the governor draws the ire of the...
View ArticleNo balance to LePage’s budget
Gov. Paul LePage’s two-year budget plan isn’t real. It’s as if he ran out of time on a homework assignment, blew up the font size but still came up short. Left with no option, he just filled in the...
View ArticleCould a conversion on Obamacare in Arizona spread to Maine?
Arizona Gov. Jane Brewer has stuck her finger in President Barack Obama’s face during a brief airport encounter. She’s dared the federal government to intervene by passing a nasty anti-immigrant state...
View ArticleLegislature will find alternatives to LePage budget
It’s disingenuous to say that critics of Gov. Paul LePage’s two-year budget haven’t proposed any solutions of their own. Of course they haven’t. Not yet. But they are certainly coming. The governor and...
View ArticleLePage speaks from the heart, but his policies don’t match
Gov. Paul LePage was speaking from the heart Tuesday night during his State of the State address when he talked about kids, particularly poor kids. Relating his own experiences of growing up in extreme...
View ArticleSequester only a warm-up for what could happen next
Unless something in Washington changes soon, our country is about to suffer a needless and self-inflicted wound to our economy. And unless something changes in Augusta, we might be headed for an even...
View ArticleSurviving a series of unfortunate events
Life and finance can be precarious. One minute you can be riding high and the next your fortunes can change dramatically. My mom was convinced that things happen in threes, good and bad. My in-laws...
View ArticleProgress marches on, with or without Supreme Court
The key to maintaining discrimination is segregation. If people are kept divided from one another – torn into “us” versus “them” – then it’s much easier to build the animus that allows discrimination...
View ArticleElver dispute requires calm response
Gov. Paul LePage appears to have the law on his side in a dispute between Maine and the Passamaquoddy Tribe. But the law isn’t always enough, especially when dealing with the strained relations between...
View ArticlePrepare for 15 months of hate and race baiting
Some Republicans are rushing headlong into a campaign that will become the most destructive, divisive and racially charged of any in the country. The results for Maine – and for people of color living...
View ArticleMaine’s chance to push back against big money in politics
Politics inevitably focuses on differences and conflict. But come November, voters are going to have an opportunity to decide on a ballot question that brings together Republicans, Democrats and...
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Ghost of marriage campaign past still haunts Maine legal system
Same-sex marriage opponents gather at a National Organization for Marriage rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2010. Fibonacci Blue via Flickr/Creative Commons The National Organization for Marriage is a...
View ArticleWill a humbled Gov. LePage ‘move on’?
In quick, but thorough, fashion, Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court dismissed Gov. Paul LePage’s efforts to get a do-over on 65 attempted vetoes. LePage’s efforts are a clear-cut example of hubris and...
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LePage should at least be funny in his handwritten nastygrams
Supporters of Gov. Paul LePage rally at the State House in June. Troy R. Bennett | BDN The letters keep coming. And with each one, the office of the governor is a little more diminished. Gov. Paul...
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Some GOP candidates drift toward making sense — sort of
Ten of the 2016 GOP presidential candidates pose before their first official debate last month. Brian Snyder | Reuters Republicans are starting to say some of the darndest things. And I’m not talking...
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A GOP house divided by Gov. LePage
(Public domain image) Gov. Paul LePage is doing his best to draw and quarter his own political party. The governor came riding into the year high after winning re-election. Many Republican leaders were...
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Maine’s economy will keep lagging when the vulnerable are left behind
Expera Specialty Solutions’ mill in Old Town, which the company plans to close by the end of the year. Gabor Degre | BDN Maine faces a real, honest-to-goodness crisis in our rural communities. The...
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