Nuggets from the notebook while wondering if the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee can be put back together again . . .

Each session, every legislative committee develops a working dynamic. How a committee handles the controversial bills that come before it can depend on the personalities of lawmakers on the committee and the leadership of the co-chairs. 

For example, during the 125th Legislature, the Natural Resources Committee has been effective despite working some potentially divisive bills. The same goes for the Education panel and the Appropriations Committee. 

The Agriculture Committee, on the other hand, has had some problems. It’s to the point that lawmakers in both parties have described the panel as dysfunctional.

That characterization was shared by George Smith, the former lobbyist for the Sportman’s Alliance of Maine. Smith, who last week watched the committee in action, described the committee’s work on a proposal to reform the Land Use Regulation Commission turn “months of good collaborative work” by a study group into “an ugly partisan donnybrook.”

Obviously, Republicans and Democrats don’t always get along. However, what happened last week may have been as much about a conflict of personalities as it was differences between the parties.

The committee was presented with the study group’s recommended changes to LURC, which the panel was supposed to consider for legislation. Republicans and Democrats appear to agree on most of the recommendations. Where they differ, however, became the focus of the meeting.

That wouldn’t be unusual except that apparently the sniping between lawmakers led the panel to vote along party lines to have Department of Conservation Commissioner Bill Beardsley and several members of the study commission meet with the committee analyst to draft a bill. 

What’s weird about that? Several things. First, the study commission’s work is done. Second, the LURC bill was supposed to be drafted by the committee. Instead, the committee essentially voted to have the Beardsley and commission members do that work for them in a private work session.

Lawmakers were also blocked from the next day’s work session.

The decision didn’t break any Freedom of Access laws. It’s also not the first time that legislation was drafted behind closed doors. The bill will still have a public hearing.

However, the decision appears to have stoked smoldering distrust among some panelists who struggled, and often failed, to get along last session.

It remains to be seen if the hard feelings surface again when the Agriculture Committee has to work the LURC reform bill in public.

LePage gets chummy with Benson

Wondering where Gov. Paul LePage rang in the New Year?

A cozy evening at the Blaine House with family and friends?

Try the Big Easy.

On New Year’s Day the governor spent some time with New Orleans Saints owner and big-time GOP donor Tom Benson. Benson invited LePage and his family to attend the Jan. 1 tilt between the Saints and Carolina Panthers.

Before the game, the governor spent some time on the field of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, taking pictures as the players went through warm-ups. LePage then took in the game from Benson’s private suite.

The governor paid for the trip, according to his staff.

So how did LePage and Benson meet?

According to Adrienne Bennett, the governor’s spokeswoman, Benson occasionally takes his yacht, the Lady Gayle Marie, to Boothbay Harbor during the summer. Back in June, Benson met with LePage, on the Lady Gayle Marie, to discuss a “boat tax” issue.

Bennett wasn’t sure of the details of the tax issue. However, in 2010 there was outcry among out-of-state yacht owners over the state’s assessment of a use tax on repairs done here. According to a 2010 story in the Bangor Daily News, one yacht owner complained to Maine Revenue Services sent him a $60,000 tax bill after he spent $100,000 on repairs to his 72-foot luxury yacht.

It’s unclear if Benson’s discussion with LePage addressed the use tax. A quick scan of the bills and legislative requests didn’t show any forthcoming legislation.

Nonetheless, Benson is a good guy for LePage to know. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Benson is a six-figure donor to Republican congressional candidates, the Republican National Committee, GOP presidential candidates and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Dems support health care law

About 50 Maine Democrats joined hundreds of state legislators from across the nation in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

The brief was organized as part of a national effort by the Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform, a group of state legislators focused on advancing health reform at the state level and the Progressive States Network.

The effort is designed to counter a nationwide Republican effort to challenge the constitutionality of the ACA provision that requires most Americans to purchase health insurance, otherwise known as the individual mandate. 

Last year, Maine joined a multi-state effort to overturn the individual mandate in court. The case will appear before the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

Meanwhile, the state has accepted about $35 million to implement the law, including the creation of insurance exchanges where residents can shop for health coverage. The ACA requires states to develop the exchanges otherwise the federal government will do it for them.

Collins (unofficially) backs Romney

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told the Maine Public Broadcasting Network last week that she’s a supporter of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

Collins stopped short of officially endorsing the former governor of Massachusetts, telling MPBN that she’d probably wait until the South Carolina primary to make a more formal announcement.

Collins also told the network that she hopes the negative ads targeting Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire would stop.

“I think they (Americans) want to see a vigorous debate of philosophical differences, of the programs that are being put forth by the candidates,” she said. “But I don’t think they like these personal attacks.” 

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