Well, well, well, looks like there is a gambling problem in Maine after all.

I acknowledge the existence of gambling addicts, but I feel that folks have to learn to deal with their own problems. Sure they need support groups, available services, intervention even, but it has long been my contention that people have a right to make their own mistakes. When should society step in and put its collective foot down on the behavior of other adults?

When these behaviors place others are at risk, of course.

This was the argument of the governor’s office when it came to the Native Tribes opening gambling establishment(s) in Maine. The whole idea of gambling becomes a menace when the lives and livelihoods of others become endangered by the practice.

In spite of evidence to the contrary, the governor’s office and other concerned groups said that casinos, racinos and other “crap shooting” endeavors would increase crime and it just wasn’t what Mainers needed to improve their economic future, eliminate property tax dilemmas or repair the other fiscal woes associated with our poor state.

Sigh. What a line we have been fed. Let’s see who is really gambling to the detriment of others.

First, the liquor industry had to be privatized. Gamble No. 1. “OK,” said some, “we’ll lose state revenue. But gosh, liquor is a corruptible and deplorable business, and golly the state just doesn’t belong in that business. So even though we’ll lose money, we’ll be morally superior to the state administrations of the past.”

Sometimes I think I’d like to have a healthy, thriving business and that I could vie for a state of Maine contract, but let’s face it, to get a Maine state contract the first step you have to take is to move your business out of Maine. So, we aren’t just going to privatize the profitable Maine liquor industry, we’re going to put it out to a highly subjective bid and commission an out-of-state firm to make the money that our coffers used to collect.

Congratulations, Martinetti’s, you’re the winner. Dealer loses. And even after some concessions were made to the related Maine-based industries wounded by the deal, the lesson is still there: Baldacci gambles, Maine businesses suffer and taxpayers lose money.

Second, after the great debate over casinos crashed in defeat at the ballot box, the governor announced the Powerball would be coming to Maine. Gamble No. 2.

Didn’t I see King, Baldacci and McKernan, like so many blind mice, appearing in ads that touted the imprudence of gambling as a solution to the state’s ills?

Huh? Somebody help me here. The Powerball? Isn’t that a game that makes more losers and fewer winners than any other form of gambling? Unless, as the governor would have us believe, you think about the folks owning the game. In that case, the Maine taxpayer would be the sponsor of Powerball in Maine and we would all be the winners.

See, if you bought Powerball tickets, you would be investing in the state in the long run even if you didn’t, just imagine it, win.

So here we stand, at gamble No. 3. Like desperate gamblers, having squandered our resources, our good jobs and our viable sources of revenue, let’s get our hands on cash quick so that we can keep right on playing.

Have you ever seen those gamblers, those junkies, looking for the next fix? You can’t explain to them about tomorrow, today is all that matters. And if you bring up how they messed up yesterday, they just call you names and ignore your prudent advice.

The governor, the gambler in the Blaine House, has a plan to hook us up with, according to Baldacci’s chief counsel, “unspecified investors.”

Unspecified investors? Am I dreaming? Baldacci has cooked up a scheme to sell $400 million worth of lottery revenue, to Baldacci only knows who, take a $150 million loss, and that sounds like a good deal?

The bet, my fellow Mainers, is that the Legislature will allow this crazy transaction to go through, and the rest of us are going to be too busy looking for better-paying jobs and applying for heating assistance to notice.

Why would the governor be prepared to wager $400 million of gambling revenue for a quick fix of $250 million today, especially when 10 years’ worth of projected income would be reduced to two years of immediate salve?

Why that would only be long enough to help balance the budget and lower property taxes until oh wait, until the governor’s next Election Day.

Pat LaMarche was the Green Party vice presidential candidate in 2004 and candidate for governor in 1998. She lives in Yarmouth.

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