Tom Boatner would never be mistaken for a left-leaning, big-city liberal. He spent 30 years fighting fires in the American West before becoming chief of fire operations for the Bureau of Land Management. After the tragic deaths of 19 young firefighters Sunday afternoon in Arizona, CBS aired a segment of a previous interview with him. […]
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Auburn: Banishing balloons and sparking fireworks
Auburn city officials made two bad decisions last week: Cutting funds for police services to the Great Falls Balloon Festival, and cutting the man hours to close Goff Hill for spectators of the Fourth of July fireworks display. The first sent the balloon festival vendors and entertainers packing — across the river to Lewiston where […]
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Playing the brain card in the Legislature
It was a remarkable moment in a remarkable legislative session when House Minority Leader Ken Fredette stood to explain that he was having a hard time understanding Democrats because they think like women. Fredette said he had read the book “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” and it explained why Democrats favored using […]
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Governor must accept he can’t win them all
Gov. Paul LePage is upset about the way the legislative session ended. In the final days, Democrats and some Republicans overrode his vetoes of two major pieces of legislation, the budget and the energy bill. Another governor in the same position might have stood back, pointed to the goals he had accomplished, declared victory and […]
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Black Mountain needs community support right now
It’s 2010 all over again in Rumford. Three years ago, in a confusing three-option vote, the citizens of Rumford did not approve $51,000 in spending for the Black Mountain of Maine Ski Resort. On June 11 this year, citizens again did not approve $51,700 in spending for mountain. Three years ago, voters reconsidered the resort […]
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Republicans need to weigh options carefully
As Republican legislators prepare to vote tomorrow on whether to sustain or override Gov. Paul LePage’s budget veto, they should ask themselves two questions: 1. Should I vote to impose severe service cuts and property tax increases on the communities in my district in order to maintain the governor’s anti-tax pledge? 2. Or is it […]
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Misinformation, politics combined to kill a good idea
Drug overdose deaths had been growing in Maine for several years, but what really grabbed public attention was a single statistic that emerged in 2010. That year, more people in Maine died from drug overdoses than from motor vehicle accidents. In response, the Legislature called together experts from around the state who met for four […]
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LePage enjoys being outrageous and offensive
You will recognize the type, because there is one in most families. He’s the weird uncle who enjoys showing up at family gatherings just to get a good argument started. He makes mean little comments that get under people’s skin. He seems to have a different opinion just to have a different opinion, and he […]
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Why Legislature wants Auburn to pay higher taxes
On May 30th, and without fanfare, state government sent the residents of Lewiston, Auburn and several other cities a message: You should raise more money to support your schools. And if you don’t, the state told the cities, we will start penalizing you in 2016-2017 by withdrawing state support to your schools. The message came […]
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Employment bill creates pointless employer hassles
We can always count on Augusta to provide us with new ideas. Not all of them, however, are good. Take LD 1157, for example. “An Act To Establish the Fair Chance for Employment Act,” would make it illegal for employers — when advertising for a job opening — to say that applicants must be employed […]