<< MORE >>

<< MORE >>

OK, maybe Gov. Paul LePage was a tad over the line when he called some Maine state workers “corrupt.” Wrong choice of words. “Corrupt,” in its most common usage, means being on the take, getting cash in the bag, or generally flouting the law, and I really don’t think that’s what LePage meant.

But he’ll never be known for being artful or articulate. Gruff, coarse, bombastic, given to exaggeration – these more closely describe our governor. He talks like someone you’d more likely meet in a blue-collar pub after downing a few than in the august halls of the Statehouse. A great orator he is not.

But once you get past all that, LePage actually has a point about the workings of state government – or more accurately how it doesn’t work. Criticize him, attack him, condemn him all you want. But you’ll be missing an important point about how government should be reformed to become more democratic and truly responsive to the voting public.

 I’m talking about reforming civil service and returning to the spoils system.

<< MORE >>

It was around 6 p.m. on a Friday and I was just about to leave the office to head out to Happy Hour when someone came up to me and said, “There’s a call for you from the White House.” How often does that happen?

But it was true. At the time, I was the press secretary for Congressman Tom Andrews. President Clinton was on his way to Portland to speak in Deering Oaks the next day. The White House communications office was looking for some last minute information about Bath Iron Works to include in Clinton’s speech.

Not wishing to let something like a Presidential speech disrupt my Friday night plans, I hurriedly pounded out three paragraphs on BIW, put it on the fax machine to the White House and headed off to my favorite watering hole.

During last year’s casino/racino debate, Robert Fisk, the president of Maine Friends of Animals, submitted an op-ed to the Portland Press Herald that contained some eye-opening claims. Based on the research by his group, Fisk said horse racing in Maine and around the country had become a dangerous and deadly sport for the animals involved. He said that drugging of horses is rampant in the industry, regulation is lax, and that slot machines at a Biddeford racetrack would only subsidize and encourage these abusive practices.

“It is time we pull back the curtain and expose the harness racing industry for what it is,” Fisk wrote, “a miserable life for horses, a business left to regulate itself and a significant cause of unwanted horses and horse slaughter."

The editors at the Press Herald, who wholeheartedly supported the Biddeford racino, refused to run his column.

A. Pursue the tip by asking questions and filing Freedom of Information requests.

B. Ignore the tip.

C. Print the rumor with no attribution or confirmation.

D. Condemn any news reporter who has the temerity to even question that one of our top government officials would ever do anything wrong.

If you’re working for The Maine Wire, the new right-wing leaning “investigative” website of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, you’re likely to do all of the above, depending of course on whether the high-level government official is a Democrat or a Republican.

Not the little brown spuds themselves, but the way in which Maine potatoes used to be marketed and sold. There’s an important lesson our policy makers can learn by unearthing this sordid history.

Forget the polls that show Mainers now favor gay marriage. It’s within the margin or error and those numbers will change anyway.

Forget the notion being peddled by supporters that Mainers have changed their minds since the vote in 2009 to repeal the gay marriage law (if they have, they can just as easily change them back once the campaign commercials start). And don’t bet on a strong youth vote in a presidential year (you’ll be disappointed, again).

Supporters of the gay marriage effort expressed a lot of confidence last week when they turned in the petitions for another gay marriage referendum in November. This time will be different, they said. If that overconfidence morphs into complacency than they’re in for an even worse drubbing than the defeat three years ago.

A better strategy would have been to warn the supporters and volunteers that this campaign will take even more work than the last one. It would have been more accurate too. For a variety of reasons, passing a law to give same sex couples the right to marry will be even harder than last time. Here’s why:

The casino promoters hired virtually every political consultant in Maine to get Question 2 passed, and several top consultants in Washington. Millions of dollars, a 6-1 spending advantage over their opponents, weeks of incessant TV ads, kids going door-to-door armed with the latest iPad technology, online ads that would pop up on top sites like MSNBC, direct mail up the wazoo, newspaper ads, a website and Facebook page, robo calls to targeted likely voter households. They used every tool available to them.

And they lost. Big time.

Dear Friends,

As the election draws near, I am proud to have the endorsement and financial support of OneMaine, a new political action committee dedicated to finding areas of compromise and common-sense solutions to the most vital issues facing us today.

As members of OneMaine, we reject the tired notion that our elected officials must commit to clearly defined positions and ideals, strive to educate and influence voters, and build coalitions to ultimately pressure our government into action.

No, that’s not leadership. Besides, it's hard work.