AUGUSTA (AP) – State agencies and legislative offices were closed Tuesday as a snow storm brought near blizzard conditions to much of Maine, making travel hazardous.
The Maine Legislature, however, stuck to its schedule. Sort of.
Committee public hearings and work sessions were canceled. Beginning before dawn, winds whipped sometimes heavy snow sideways in the capital area, sharply curbing visibility.
Nonetheless, four senators convened a session shortly after 10 a.m., presided over by Democrat John Martin of Eagle Lake, formerly the longtime House speaker.
About 20 House members gathered to do the same.
The pro forma Senate session took just a few minutes.
Serving as president pro tem, Martin – after instructing one colleague to go put his jacket on – opened things with a well-practiced crack of the gavel.
Sen. David Hastings, R-Fryeburg, offered a prayer noting “this glorious display of nature’s power” outside. A recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton. Damon then moved that the Senate adjourn until Wednesday morning and Martin gaveled the session to a close.
Half a dozen state representatives and Gov. John Baldacci’s legislative liaison, Lee Umphrey, observed from the gallery.
Thereafter, the action – such as it was – moved to the House, where the events of the day slowed.
Members present held preliminary discussions about organizing themselves for a brief, in-and-out session of their own, which would meet the minimum of scheduled business for the chamber, before eventually deciding to wait for Speaker John Richardson, D-Brunswick, to take charge.
Among those watching was Sen. Scott Cowger, D-Hallowell, who fretted in a friendly way that an act of generosity threatened to disrupt his rearranged plans for the day.
“I was going to go home, but Rod Carr (the Republican representative from Lincoln) has my tie now,” Cowger said with a laugh.
Joking about the pin-drop quiet in the nearly deserted State House, Democratic Rep. Herbert Clark of Millinocket expressed a mock prediction: “We’ll get some work done now.”
Little chance of that, though. It was a day merely to clock in and clock out, wet boots and all.
“It’ll be the first time I’ve attended session in my stocking feet,” said Rep. Herbert Adams, D-Portland.
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