In the July 31 column titled, “People before politics — not just a slogan,” former state Rep. Scott Lansley, R-Sabattus, the political director for Maine Taxpayers United, inaccurately attributed a quote to me claiming I had said that my party hates tax cuts. I never said that and it’s not true.

I was disappointed to be misquoted and that no editor had called to verify the quote.

The truth is that Democrats voted in support of the tax cuts passed as part of a compromise on the budget. In fact, tax cuts supporting investment in traditional Maine industries, such as commercial fishing, and tax credits to attract new investment to Maine, and cuts to encourage small businesses to expand were all Democratic-sponsored initiatives that were part of that package of cuts.

However, our caucus was reluctant to support tax cuts in which 43 percent of the benefit went to those making more than $100,000. We didn’t think it was fair to provide an estate tax giveway to 550 of the wealthiest families at the expense of retirees living on a fixed income.

We’ve seen that these kinds of cuts don’t create jobs, as evidenced by the Congressional Budget Office analysis of President George Bush’s tax cuts. The Republican assumption that giving the bulk of tax cuts to the wealthy creates jobs has proven to be wrong. In our economy, we see climbing corporate profits without job creation.

This session, Democrats fought for an alternative income tax structure that would have given a greater benefit to middle- and low-income families. Our tax cut proposal would have put more money in the pockets of working people, who spend it locally and generate economic stimulus in our communities. Plus, our plan would have been more affordable in future years and would have benefited 16,000 more Maine people, according to the Maine Revenue Service. Republicans rejected our plan on every vote, but we kept fighting for working Maine people.

For the first time in decades Republicans were in the majority and controlled the governor’s office. Instead of focusing on a targeted plan to improve Maine’s economy, they pushed an extreme agenda. Bill after bill, we saw solutions in search of a problem — from efforts to undermine the rights of working people to allowing toxic chemicals in children’s sippy cups. Republican lawmakers repealed voting rights, raised the cost of health care and added a new tax on health insurance policies.

I respectfully disagree with my former colleague, Lansley, who claims that the governor and Republicans in the Legislature put Maine people first. The facts show that the governor’s policy ideas came straight from memos from the chemical industry, out of state insurance companies, and campaign donors from away.

Emily Cain, D-Orono, is House minority leader.

Editor’s note: Rep. Cain’s actual quote, during an editorial board meeting of the Portland Press Herald, was: “My caucus hates these tax cuts. It hates them.”