A recent column by an advisory board member of the Maine Heritage Policy Center in defense of big oil (“Maine’s gouging gas tax,” May 25, 2008) was a disservice to readers and to the citizens of Maine.

In his guise as a champion of the people and savvy investment advisor, author J. Dwight makes the inaccurate claim that the state, not big oil, is to blame for exorbitant gas prices.

Dwight’s methodology is questionable at best, which is par for the course with propaganda from the Maine Heritage Policy Center. In comparing Maine and New Hampshire’s gas tax, Dwight is comparing apples to onions.

While he notes that Maine’s gas tax is higher, he fails to mention that Maine has twice the miles of roads as New Hampshire and yet gets the same level of federal funding based on an antiquated federal formula. This formula awards Rhode Island even more federal funding despite significantly fewer miles of roads. The difference in federal dollars per mile of road between Maine and New Hampshire equals the difference in the states’ gas tax, in effect negating the difference. But Dwight wouldn’t want to confuse the reader with all the facts when conjecture will do.

It is irresponsible for Dwight to play politics with the legitimate crises of unaffordable fuel costs and deteriorating transportation infrastructure. We move further from actual solutions to these problems when this kind of misinformation is construed to the public as the truth. It is easy to get taxpayers agitated by making them believe that the legislature has been “stealing” from the Highway Fund.

Presently, I serve as House Chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee. Due to term limits I won’t be running again. So this column is not about a bid for re-election; it is about accuracy. By no means do I feel state government is perfect, but I am proud of the work that the Transportation Committee has achieved in a bipartisan manner, such as passage of $250 million in transportation infrastructure improvements. We’ve worked hard to undo the partisan animosity this “hit piece” harkens to and aims to incite again.

Though past administrations – during times when the Highway Fund was more solvent – transferred some balances from it to the General Fund, Sen. Dennis Damon and I have worked hard as Chairs of the Transportation Committee to stop those practices. We have succeeded. Not only has all the money been paid back, but the Highway Fund – because it is now in far worse shape than the General Fund – actually “owes” the General Fund some $50 million in transfers.

We’ve recognized the mistakes of previous administrations and legislatures and have steadfastly refused to take money from the Highway Fund for other purposes. This practice has not happened in recent sessions, and the Legislature passed a bill to have the General Fund pay a more equitable percentage (51 percent) of the state police budget, something we have been discussing for some 20 years.

In plain English, the Legislature overwhelmingly voted to put this past practice behind us. The General Fund paid back the money that had been used and has taken over millions of dollars in added responsibilities to fund the State Police to relieve the Highway Fund of much of that financial burden. This will free up more dollars to fix and improve our transportation system.

The critics also won’t note that positions were eliminated and frozen in our last transportation budget. This fiscal responsibility is why an unprecedented number of legislators from both sides of the aisle supported increased funding for roads and bridges through revenue bonds. However, poorly researched articles, such as Dwight’s, work to undermine the real issues that face our transportation system: declining revenues to fund our transportation system.

With double digit inflation in construction, we are not keeping pace with our demands. The cost of steel, concrete, petroleum products and the like have risen to never before seen prices due to inflation. Furthermore, as gas prices rise and people buy less gas, the revenue stream is slowing while the cost of maintaining our transportation network is growing.

Maine people are making tough choices as they try to get to work to feed their families and heat their homes. We’re feeling more than just a pinch while big oil lines its pockets with profits. The state is doing what it can to maintain the economic engine that is our transportation work. But like other states in New England, our system is old and experiences tough winters. For example, Maine has over 350 bridges in need of repairs, primarily because of their age.

We must focus on the future. In order to move forward, we must stop dwelling on past mistakes – which have been corrected – and we must work together to come up with bipartisan solutions. We got a good start this session, and I am counting on my colleagues who will be around for the 124th Legislature to capitalize on this momentum.

Everyday we wait to address our problems costs taxpayers more in construction costs. In the meantime, political attacks such as Dwight’s are unproductive and do a disservice to the people of Maine. We can do better and our citizens are demanding it. We can only do this by working together.

Rep. Boyd Marley , D-Portland, is House Chair of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee.