AUGUSTA — The slate of Republican candidates for the general election in November took shape Tuesday in a primary election that saw low voter turnout throughout most of Maine. Some of the primary elections on the GOP side highlight a political divide between two of the state’s top Republicans: Gov. Paul LePage and Senate President […]
Maine Legislature
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
Gov. Paul LePage wants to call legislature into special session
AUGUSTA — Republican Gov. Paul LePage says he will call Maine legislators back into special session this summer to discuss four laws that he said lawmakers passed without appropriate funding. LePage claimed lawmakers didn’t appropriate money for a drug need exchange program, a wage study, raises at Riverview Psychiatric Recovery Center and $2.5 million to […]
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Diane Russell raises $87,000 for state Senate campaign
AUGUSTA— A Democratic lawmaker from Maine who has gained national prominence for supporting legalizing marijuana and eliminating superdelegates is flush with money from small, out-of-state donors. State senate candidate Rep. Diane Russell of Portland raised nearly $87,000 from January through May. The state ethics commission believes it’s among the highest amounts ever raised for a […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
The campaign to lead Maine’s next Legislature quietly unfolds
AUGUSTA — With Maine voters growing more attentive to the November elections, the people running for the State House have their eyes cast a bit further into the future to when the new Legislature chooses its leaders for the next two years. Although the most major development come November will be which party controls the […]
Posted inLocal & State
NRCM says Gov. Paul LePage sent harassing letters to donors
AUGUSTA — The state’s largest nonprofit pro-environment group, The Natural Resources Council of Maine, said Thursday that Gov. Paul LePage has been sending letters to its donors that many consider harassment. LePage’s staff confirmed letters were sent to about 200 NRCM donors that are listed on the organization’s website. In all, the organization has about 16,000 […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Voters have until Friday to switch parties for June primaries
AUGUSTA — Republican, Democratic or Green Independent voters who want to switch parties have until Friday to do so if they intend to vote in Maine’s June primaries for another party’s candidate, according to Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap. In a news release Monday, Dunlap said state law requires a 15-day waiting period after a […]
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Analysis: GOP will have tough time keeping Maine Senate majority
AUGUSTA — The tough road for Republicans to keep a majority in the Maine Senate runs through seven Republican-held districts where party registration favors Democrats or gives Republicans a slight edge, according to a Bangor Daily News analysis. The balance of power in the Legislature has been on a pendulum for the past three elections: […]
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Legislature to hold hearings on Maine Warden Service
AUGUSTA — Lawmakers who oversee the Maine Warden Service have been given the green light to hold hearings on the agency’s conduct during an undercover operation and raid in northern Maine. The hearings in the next two weeks will focus on questions raised by a Maine Sunday Telegram report that included an agent shooting a […]
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Gov. Paul LePage fails to sign meal tax bill
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has decided not to sign a bill that would have exempted nonprofits from charging sales tax on fundraising meals. Without the governor’s signature, the bill will not become law. Theoretically, a nonprofit still must pay an 8 percent meal tax to the state on monthly fundraising suppers and a 5.5 percent […]
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With session’s end come gains and losses for Maine lawmakers
AUGUSTA — Maine lawmakers were licking their wounds and notching their belts, taking stock of what they did and didn’t get done for their constituents while finishing up the second half of the 127th legislative session Friday. The state’s next two-year lawmaking session won’t start in earnest until next January, following elections in November. For […]