Please join Editorial Page Editor Anthony Ronzio and the Sun Journal’s “Political Animals,” Will Fessenden and Scott Lansley, for a live, online chat Monday, April 6 at noon at sunjournal.com. Will and Scott will talk about their latest columns about labor unions and take questions on any topic.Everything is on the table and, as always, […]

We care about our taxes, right? Complain bitterly about them?Then why is it that so few people get out and vote on local spending?We are mid-way through the annual town meeting season, for those towns that still convene these meetings, and attendance to date has been sparse.Schools are deep into the process of finalizing budgets […]

Forever, it seems, education has been a one-way meritocracy. While students are endlessly evaluated for their performance and productivity, their instructors have resisted having similar measurements apply to their compensations as professionals.It’s called merit pay. Few issues have been more controversial in education until now, as performance-based salaries has found a strong endorser in President […]

Turning General Motors into a 21st century Volkswagen – as President Barack Obama has essentially done this week – is an unfortunate necessity brought on by the automaker’s historical inability to manipulate consumer trends into a sustainable, profitable business model.After all, from a marketing perspective, there’s nobody better than a U.S. car maker and nobody […]

In May 2007, the Legislature’s Taxation Committee emerged from its laboratory with an aggressive tax reform plan that fell flat. As policy, it was sound, but as politics, it was discordant, because to support it, one had to fear that Maine’s budget was too vulnerable to an economic downturn.This is not so hard to envision […]

Please join Sun Journal Editorial Page Editor Anthony Ronzio and political blogger Mike Tipping for a live, online chat at noon today on sunjournal.com.Tipping blogs about Maine politics at Mainepolitics.net and on Downeast.com’s “The Tipping Point.” They’ll talk about the 2010 gubernatorial race, the State of the State, Gov. John Baldacci’s new haircut and anything […]

Taxation without representation is as anti-American as it gets. By this thinking, allowing noncitizens to vote in their local referendums seems fair, as anyone who lives and pays taxes in a community should have their voice heard.A bill before Maine lawmakers would do this, under this rationale. Yet while the concept is fair, the practice […]

Please join Sun Journal Editorial Page Editor Anthony Ronzio and political blogger Mike Tipping for a live, online chat at noon Monday, March 30, on sunjournal.com.Tipping blogs about Maine politics at Mainepolitics.net and on Downeast.com’s “The Tipping Point.” They’ll talk about the 2010 gubernatorial race, the State of the State, Gov. John Baldacci’s new haircut […]

It is a Maine sight rarer than an orange lobster: a paper company executive in the governor’s office, talking about how state government can help the industry, in full view of lawmakers and media. In another era, this would have been a sign that the four horsemen were coming.Those days are over. Where Maine’s paper […]

Cheers and jeers from around the news:• Jeers to unemployment. Maine’s February rate was 8 percent, a full 3 points more than the year prior and the highest rate since 1991. This announcement coincided with news that Maine is one of 13 states with laws that prevent its qualification for an extra 20 weeks of […]