Primary Day

On Tuesday, all Maine voters will decide whether or not to keep the state’s new tax reform law and whether to allow additional bonding for a variety of infrastructure projects. The Democrats will decide which of their four gubernatorial candidates will go on to the November election, and the Republicans will anoint one of their seven candidates.

Recent polling has shown that even many likely primary voters were undecided about their choice for gubernatorial candidate, which some experts say may result in a low voter turnout. That’s on top of the fact that spring primaries traditionally have a smaller turnout than the November elections. That means voters who do show up at the polls will wield even more decision-making power than usual.

Letters to the White House

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, while on break from official work in Congress, took the time to send two letters to President Obama. In one, the Maine Republican urged him to support her legislation aimed at helping small businesses.

“Given the relatively stagnant unemployment rate, which has hovered near 10 percent since last August, it is evident that our economy requires a significant jolt to prolong a sustained recovery,” Snowe wrote. “That is precisely why it is imperative we invest in our nation’s small businesses to grow our economy and create new private sector jobs immediately.”

Snowe’s measure would allow for increased lending by the Small Business Administration, boost small business exports and provide tax and regulatory relief.

Building on a visit to Packgen in Auburn, Snowe also wrote to the White House to express her anger at the handling of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“I remain deeply concerned that the federal government is not sufficiently overseeing how the containment and cleanup effort is being managed, and that BP — a company whose only responsibility is to its shareholders and not to the American people — continues to operate above or in lieu of federal directives,” she wrote.

“Yet despite your assurances that the federal government has control over all aspects of the response, examples refuting that assertion continue to come to my attention.  For instance, during a recent visit to a Maine company that has the capacity to produce high-quality boom, I was informed that BP is determining what type and what quantity of boom is required for the response to the oil spill rather than the appropriate federal agencies,” she wrote. “The Coast Guard clearly has the capacity to determine what is required and should be entirely in control of all response decisions including standards for procurement and providing adequate transparency so the public can be assured that these operations are being carried out in a manner that will best protect our nation’s valuable resources.”

Oil has been spilling into the gulf for nearly 50 days.