In politics, it’s not always what you say, but how you say it. And some Republicans in the state Legislature have a way of saying things that is misleading and unethical.Last week, House Republicans defended four GOP legislators credited with penning a political opinion column for newspaper publication in their home districts. The column appeared […]

Candidate: Ad was made by the Maine Democratic Party for the benefit of Gov. John Baldacci. It was not coordinated with the campaign.TV ad: “Backward”Length: 30 secondsProducer: Main Street CommunicationsMarket: Bangor and PortlandAnnouncer: Off-screen male voice.Visuals: The ad starts with an older couple walking backward and a young couple running backward. It then shows Republican […]

Call it amateurish. Call it unscientific. Call it gimmicky. They’re all correct.Today is Day 1 of the goldfish era at the Sun Journal. A fish tank filled with the finest water from the Androscoggin River is gurgling away here at the newspaper’s headquarters, with five finned friends named for Maine’s five gubernatorial candidates swimming merrily […]

Candidate: Ad was made by the Maine Democratic Party for the benefit of Democratic Gov. John Baldacci. It was not coordinated with the campaign.TV ad: “He said he would”Length: 30 secondsProducer: Main Street CommunicationsMarket: Bangor and PortlandAnnouncer: The ad is narrated by Dave Schofield of Sanford. Schofield is the executive secretary of the Metal Trades […]

Sometimes you’re the fish, sometimes you’re the bait. Such is the reality for economic development in Maine, where investors and municipalities act as both in the chase for consumer and tax dollars.The lure du jour is tax increment financing: TIFs. These complex (just ask Poland) and controversial contracts between cities and companies – and approved […]

In Auburn, a farmer watches helplessly as flames reduce his home to cinders. His family’s possessions are destroyed, yet the business of farming must continue, or the possibility of rebuilding disappears.In Peru, two young boys face a dire situation: their father is pinned beneath a boat outside their home. Each second is critical, and 9-year-old […]

They are unrealized casualties of the Iraq war. Thousands of civilian contractors, lured by salary and opportunity, that work in a country fractured by violence. Darrell Wetherbee of New Gloucester was one; he was killed Sunday by a sniper’s bullet in Tikrit.Contractors, like the company that employed Wetherbee, have been a lightning rod for controversy […]

There’s money in acting like a Jackass.Hollywood expects big returns from this weekend’s release of “Jackass Number Two,” the second movie spawned from the MTV series that glorifies mind-numbing stunts undertaken by an eccentric band of pranksters seemingly hell-bent on dying young.Jackass, released in 2002, was made for $5 million and earned $79.5 million worldwide.Yet […]

Candidate: Ad was made by the Republican Governors Association for the benefit of Republican gubernatorial candidate Chandler Woodcock. It was not coordinated with the campaign.Length: 30 seconds, TV ad.Producer: McAuliffe Message MediaMarket: StatewideAnnouncer: The ad is narrated by an off-screen male voice.Visuals: Two children ride bikes in front of a church, with text flashing over […]

Candidate: Ad was made by the Republican Governors Association for the benefit of Republican gubernatorial candidate Chandler Woodcock. It was not coordinated with the campaign.Title: “Nation’s Highest Tax Burden”Length: 30 seconds, TV ad.Producer: McAuliffe Message MediaMarket: Statewide. The ad was edited after being pulled for inaccuracies by two TV stations.Announcer: The ad is narrated by […]