Each member of the state’s congressional delegation attended the announcement at Brunswick Landing, during which advocates said Blackstone’s investment could create 10,000 jobs and $664 million in state revenues.

Blackstone CEO Steven Schwarzman attended the event along with other dignitaries.

Those following national politics may remember Schwarzman’s controversial comments last year about President Barack Obama. Schwarzman, speaking to a nonprofit board, reportedly compared Obama’s tax policies to Hitler invading Poland in 1939.

Schwarzman later apologized, but held firm on his position that Obama was anti-business.

In addition to spending more than $3.6 million lobbying Congress this year, Schwarzman and Blackstone have donated to 76 lawmakers this year. The contributions have gone to Democrats and Republicans, including Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. In Maine, only  Snowe and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins have received cash from Blackstone employees or its political action committee.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Blackstone employees and its PAC have given Snowe $40,300, making them Snowe’s top contributors prior to the updated Oct. 15 campaign finance report. Snowe is up for re-election in 2012.

So far, U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud, also up for re-election, have not received any donations from Blackstone employees or its PAC. Collins has received $15,600. 

EDR coalition, opposition build

Protect Maine Votes, the coalition trying to restore Election Day voter registration, announced two more organizations had joined its people’s veto effort.

OneMaine, a group backed by former independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler, released a statement late last week saying it was supporting reinstating the 38-year-old election law that the Republican-controlled Legislature narrowly repealed last session.

Earlier last week the Maine Municipal Association announced it, too, supported EDR. That brings the coalition to 22 organizations.

Meanwhile, another group has emerged to campaign against EDR. A ballot question committee, Secure Maine’s Ballot, appeared on the state’s Ethics Commission website last week.

So far, the group has reported $1,450 in donations, $1,000 of which came from Franklin County Republicans. Farmington, located in Franklin County, is the hometown of Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster.

This summer Webster was pretty much a one-man show taking on the EDR coalition. He did so with mixed results.

On one hand, Webster’s repeated efforts to prove that Maine’s voter system is susceptible to fraud produced no tangible evidence. On the other, he managed to grab headlines and media coverage without spending a nickel or having to form a ballot question committee.

Since then the conservative advocacy group the Maine Heritage Policy Center has joined the fray. MHPC has thus far spent just $4,508 fighting the restoration of EDR.

It remains to be seen if MHPC will expand its level of opposition, which to this point has been limited to a poll, a study and press releases. It also remains to be seen if MHPC has enough money in its treasury, or a donor waiting in the wings, to roll out a late television ad.

The coalition working to repeal the new law has the money advantage. It raised $278,000 in three months, with $100,000 coming from hedge fund manager Donald Sussman, Pingree’s husband.

Despite the funding edge the coalition has yet to run a television ad. However, it has produced one, which  has been circulating over the Internet.

Hinck calls out Snowe

It’s no secret that state Rep. Jon Hinck, D-Portland, is expected to challenge Snowe’s re-election bid in 2012. But the lawmaker made his U.S. Senate bid a bit more official this week following Snowe’s vote to block President Obama’s jobs bill.

Hinck, an environmental attorney who says he worked on cases such as the Exxon-Valdez oil spill and shaped environmental policy for Greenpeace, released a press statement last week blasting Snowe for”voting against Maine’s interests.”

Hinck also used the opportunity to announce that he had set up an exploratory committee for his pending Senate run.

But before Hinck takes on Snowe, he’ll likely have to defeat Matt Dunlap in the June Democratic primary. Dunlap, a former  secretary of state, is also expected to run. He has yet to announce.

Baldacci’s run at natural gas

State lawmakers may soon consider Gov. Paul LePage’s plans to push expansion of natural gas in Maine. So far, it appears Republicans and Democrats are open to the idea, particularly a developing proposal to enter public-private partnerships to build new pipelines or convert plants.

Getting natural gas into more Maine businesses and homes isn’t a novel idea. In fact, former Gov. John Baldacci unsuccessfully tried it in 2010.

Baldacci’s plan was to convert 13 buildings on the east side of the capitol complex in Augusta from oil to natural gas by extending a seven-mile pipeline to nearby Windsor. A new plant would have been installed to burn gas and waste.

Baldacci said converting the capitol campus into an “anchor customer” could open up possible extension to local businesses and homes. 

The $4 million project was inserted in a $306 million bond package, which included other energy initiatives. However, the proposal was ultimately scrapped after the Republican minority balked at the size of the overall bond.

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