Author: Jacob Posik

I love living in Portland, but I’m concerned with how much influence self-avowed socialists have over its future. The rent formula they created is a dumpster fire; Question A would at least downgrade it to a simple trash fire. Question A would make a small change in the city’s housing control formula which would only come into play when a tenant chooses to move out, allowing a landlord to bring rent to the market rate. This is often the best time for a landlord to fix up a rental unit and show more value for the next tenant. Portland’s rent…

“We need to tax the wealthy more. We need to increase taxes on those wealthy individuals and those wealthy and profitable corporations that have rigged the system in their favor. And that is a winning message.” These words were uttered this week by Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot) in support of a pair of bills in the Tax Committee that would substantially increase income taxes on hardworking Mainers. One of the bills, LD 843, would increase Maine’s top income tax rate to 11.15% on the so-called “wealthy,” those who earn more than $125,000. Such measures would cripple Maine’s small business economy. Tipping’s…

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows confirmed this week that the effort to establish a “consumer-owned” utility in Maine, led by Our Power and former Rep. Seth Berry, submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. The proposal requires seizing by eminent domain the assets of Maine’s largest utilities – Central Maine Power and Versant – and creating a state-run electrical company. While the Legislature can pass the measure first or create its own competing proposal, I suspect this initiative, like most of those before it, will be kicked to voters to decide its ultimate fate. The idea that this…

On October 6, 2021, The Maine Wire learned that the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) had decided to kick its journalist, Katherine Revello, out of its weekly COVID-19 press briefings. It also removed journalists who work for the Maine Beacon, a website operated by the Maine People’s Alliance. After learning of the decision, The Maine Wire and Maine Policy Institute sounded the alarm on social media about the Mills administration’s unlawful attempts to limit attendance at its public health briefings to so-called “credentialed journalists.” There is no such thing as a credentialed journalist in the State…

Maine lobstermen and women aren’t stupid, though it seems Gov. Janet Mills thinks they are. The governor was recently heckled by members of the lobster industry at a meeting with federal regulators concerning new rules adopted by the federal Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that would close vast swaths of Maine waters for lobstering during one of the most crucial periods of the year. Accordingly, the governor says she supports efforts to block federal funding to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, an organization which recently “red listed” Maine’s lobster industry for the supposed harm it poses to the endangered right…

Former Republican Gov. Paul LePage returns to the debate stage to square off against Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.

A disagreement between the presiding officers of the Maine Legislature––House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) and Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook)––resulted in the denial of an after deadline bill request from Rep. Laurel Libby to suspend the gas tax through the remainder of 2022. Senate President Jackson voted to allow Rep. Libby’s bill to be circulated among the other members of the Legislative Council while Speaker Fecteau voted against it. Without both presiding officers in agreement, Libby’s bill cannot be circulated to the other members of the council for their consideration on whether it should receive a hearing by a legislative…

The following is Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ State of the State Address as prepared for delivery on February 10, 2022: President Jackson, Speaker Fecteau, Chief Justice Stanfill, Secretary Bellows, Attorney General Frey, Treasurer Beck, Auditor Norton, Distinguished Members of the 130th Legislature, Mayors and Honored Guests, it’s good to be back! Tonight is the first time in two years we have been together in this chamber. I am here to continue the story I shared then, a story about the promise of our state and the progress we have made to reach our people’s full potential. As we emerge from…

That darn First Amendment. This week, The Maine Wire learned that the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had booted its journalist, Katherine Revello, from the agency’s regular press briefings. The rationale provided by the agency was that it could “no longer accommodate advocacy journalists” at the briefings. I would argue they weren’t very accommodating to begin with, considering she attended one briefing on July 28 and did not ask any questions. Nonetheless, our government isn’t in the business of labeling certain reporters “advocacy journalists” and barring their participation at public briefings. That’s why the First Amendment exists.…

New federal regulations created to protect the endangered right whale will close off a nearly 1,000 square mile strip in the Gulf of Maine to lobstering during the region’s most lucrative season, from October through January. According to the Press Herald, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) earlier this week set new rules for the New England lobster fishery intended to reduce the risk of the endangered whale species becoming tangled in fishing equipment. The new standards allow lobstermen to string more traps on a single line to reduce the number of vertical lines in the water, but also…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced a new vaccine requirement for healthcare workers on August 12, and it didn’t take long for some members of the 130th Maine Legislature to voice their displeasure with the decision. The entire House Republican Caucus signed a letter that was sent to the governor on Monday, August 16, outlining their opposition to the mandate. “We are deeply troubled by your decision to require that all Maine healthcare workers be vaccinated. We hereby ask that you reconsider and rescind your mandate before serious harm is inflicted upon Maine’s healthcare system, our senior citizens, and public safety,”…

Seven Maine lawmakers were stripped of their committee assignments on Monday by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau following a spat at the State House over the facility’s new masking requirement, which is stricter than US and Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. The rule was set last week by majority Democrats on the Legislative Council following Governor Janet Mills’ order on May 20 to lift the statewide mask mandate starting May 24. Fecteau replaced the lawmakers who lost their committee assignments with Democrats. Six Republican lawmakers and one Libertarian were punished after entering the State House without wearing…

Governor Janet Mills unveiled a new supplemental budget last week that would grow state spending in Maine to record levels, made possible by the Revenue Forecasting Committee’s newest report which upgrades the state’s General Fund Revenue forecast by about $940 million through the next biennium. Lawmakers approved an $8.3 billion biennial budget earlier this session along a party lines vote. Coined the “change package”, the governor’s newest plan would throw millions more at the Department of Education to meet the state’s obligation to fund 55% of the cost of essential programs and services in K-12 education, increase municipal revenue sharing…

On Tuesday, Maine Governor Janet Mills joined President Joe Biden and a small group of US governors for a virtual discussion on the vaccine rollout throughout the states. During the event, Mills unveiled her new “Your Shot to Get Outdoors” plan where the state will offer new incentives for people to get vaccinated. Effective May 11 until May 31, any Maine adult age 18 or older who gets their first shot of a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, will qualify for one of the following benefits: · A fishing license ·      A hunting license ·      A Maine…

Maine Sen. Susan Collins grilled US CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Tuesday during a Senate Health Committee hearing where the agency was providing an update to federal officials on its efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19. Collins questioned Walensky on the agency’s “conflicting, confusing guidance” on school reopenings, outdoor transmission and mask wearing, and rules for summer camps. Watch a clip of the exchange below. A report published earlier this month in the New York Post revealed emails between the CDC and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) where recommendations from the union made their way into the…

Governor Janet Mills’ reign over Maine people doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon, unfortunately. Democrats on Maine’s State and Local Government Committee voted along party lines Monday to issue divided reports on a number of bills that seek to reform emergency executive power in the state, all but ensuring their defeat before the full House and Senate. In total, Democratic members of the committee voted in opposition to 14 bills that would refine the scope of emergency executive power in Maine or require additional legislative involvement to extend emergency declarations. The 14 bills are as follows: LD 14 –…

In late March, the 130th Maine Legislature met in-person at the Augusta Civic Center for just the second time this session, excluding swearing in day, to tackle the state’s next biennial budget. The $8.33 billion budget is the largest in Maine’s history and was passed on a simple majority vote, and without a public hearing. That in and of itself is a casualty for transparency and good governance, but there was another unintended consequence of the majority Democrats’ rushed budget process: the legislature lost its opportunity to take action on LD 1295, the initiated bill transmitted from the secretary of…

Maine lawmakers convened at the Augusta Civic Center on Tuesday to tackle the state’s next two-year spending plan. The budget bill – LD 715, which never received a public hearing – was approved along party lines, the first majority biennial budget passed in Maine since 2005. Majority Democrats in the House voted 77-67 in favor of the plan while their allies in the Senate approved the package by a 20-14 vote. Independents joined Republicans in opposition to the plan in the House while two Democrats, Sens. Bill Diamond and Chloe Maxmin, broke ranks to vote with minority Republicans in the…

Maine’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee met on Thursday to hold a work session on LD 715, a concept draft that morphed into Democrats’ “Back-to-Basics” budget announced earlier this week. The majority voted out of committee a new iteration of the plan on an 8-4 vote. The legislature’s presiding officers and chairs of the budget committee said the spending bill will be advanced in time for it to become law before the next fiscal year, or July 1, with or without bipartisan support. LD 715 never received a true public hearing in the legislature this session, as noted by Rep.…

The Maine Legislature will convene in person on Tuesday to approve the state’s next biennial budget, likely along party lines. The legislature has not passed a majority budget since 2005. Democrats announced the “Back-to-Basics” budget earlier this week that would spend $8.34 billion over the biennium, slightly less than Governor Janet Mills’ original budget plan. Despite describing their budget as a “no-frills” bare bones proposal, it would increase government spending by roughly $400 million. This does not include any future funding the state will receive and spend as a result of the most recent federal stimulus package. The Democrats’ budget…

It appears Maine Democrats are looking to advance a majority budget in the next week to avoid working with their legislative colleagues on state spending issues. A press release issued Monday by the presiding officers of the Maine Legislature and co-chairs of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee states the committee is working to endorse biennial budget plan by the end of the week. Senate President Troy Jackson and House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, joined by Sen. Cathy Breen and Rep. Teresa Pierce, said the committee was poised to report out a “Back-to-Basics” budget that “pays the bills and funds existing…

State government spending has rapidly outpaced population growth in Maine over the last decade, according to a new report published Wednesday by Maine Policy Institute titled “Long-term Growth vs. Short-term Gimmicks: Maine’s Economy and Governor Mills’ Second Biennial Budget.” The analysis examines the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Maine’s economy and the corresponding impact on the state’s finances and next biennial budget. It includes a number of policy reforms lawmakers could enact to achieve substantial savings for Maine taxpayers. State lawmakers passed a supplemental budget last week to get Maine through the remainder of the current fiscal year and…

The Maine Legislature convened in person on Wednesday at the Augusta Civic Center to tackle the state’s supplemental budget and other bills reported out of committee, including a joint resolution in the House to end the state of emergency first declared by Governor Janet Mills on March 15, 2020. Lengthy budget negotiations in the Senate caused Wednesday’s session to drag on into the evening, with both chambers finally calling it quits after passing LD 220, the supplemental budget, on engrossment. The House and Senate must still approve the measure on an enactment vote before it can move to Governor Mills’…

Maine lawmakers will convene in-person in Augusta this week for the first time since December 2, when legislators met at the Augusta Civic Center to be sworn in as members of the 130th Maine Legislature. Before that, the last time Maine lawmakers convened in person was on March 17, 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The most pressing item on the agenda is LD 220, the governor’s supplemental budget proposal. The pandemic resulted in less revenue than the state originally anticipated receiving, forcing it to revise its original spending plans on the fly before the end of the…

Governor Janet Mills updated Maine’s statewide vaccination plan Wednesday to make teachers and childcare providers, regardless of age, eligible for vaccination following a directive from President Joe Biden on Tuesday for states to inoculate these workers by the end of March. The move comes just days after Mills announced the state would abandon the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommended vaccine strategy and adopt one that prioritizes inoculations based on age. The change went into effect Wednesday, the same day Mills updated the state’s vaccine plan again to include teachers and childcare providers. According to the administration’s…

A new citizens initiative was approved for circulation in Maine on January 25, yet the Secretary of State’s office has not published the official documents for the initiative on its website. The Free Maine Committee, a political action committee run by Harrison Kemp of Old Town and Tyler Rowe of Bangor, is looking to secure more than 63,000 valid signatures to prompt a statewide vote on their bill to reform emergency executive power in Maine. The group calls its effort “truly grassroots.” The initiative would make a number of small tweaks to the language of Maine’s emergency powers law while…

More than 70 elected Maine Democrats, including 13 of 21 Democratic senators, signed a letter last month calling for Chief Russ Gauvin of the Capitol Police to be placed on administrative leave and for an investigation into his conduct on his private social media channels. Twelve of the 13 Democratic senators who signed that letter voted to confirm District Court nominee Sarah Gilbert last Thursday, pushing back against some of their Republican colleagues who were scrutinizing the nominee’s activity on social media. The only senator who signed last month’s letter but did not vote to confirm Gilbert was Sen. Donna…

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows testified before Congress on Thursday in support of HR 1, an 800-page election reform bill that is “a direct attack on free speech and federalism” according to the R Street Institute. During the hearing, Representative Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) pressed Bellows on the merits of HR 1, specifically whether the reported success of Maine’s elections is a result of the state’s autonomy over its election system or a product of federal mandates, like those outlined in HR 1. Also buried in HR 1 are provisions to expand public financing of elections. Congressman Steil questioned Bellows…

The last year has been challenging for most people in the country and our state. Whether you’re a Maine student, worker, employer, public official or something else, your life was likely upended at some point in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic and our state government’s response to it. People were forced to stay home, businesses were ordered to close and a mountain of economic restrictions were implemented to micromanage every interaction within society. After all the pain and suffering of 2020, some Maine lawmakers want to add insult to injury in the form of new income tax increases on average…

New Hampshire has a lot going for it compared to the rest of New England. The Granite State enforces no income or sales tax, which makes it a much friendlier destination for business than Maine, Vermont and other regional neighbors. As recently noted by New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu via Twitter following an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, “It is no surprise that people are fleeing high-tax states across the country and coming to the Live Free or Die State. We have no income tax, we have no sales tax, we have a high quality of life. This is what…

David Ismay, the Undersecretary for Climate Change within Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, resigned his post Wednesday evening after coming under fire for harsh statements he made during a recorded virtual meeting of the Vermont Climate Council last month. The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance issued a press release last week containing a link to the organization’s YouTube channel where a 40-second clip of Ismay can be found. In the video, Ismay says he wants to “break their will” and “turn the screws” on ordinary citizens who emit carbon in the course of their daily activities,…

Maine Governor Janet Mills issued a press release Tuesday outlining a proposed path forward on the PPP issue that took center stage two weeks ago when the administration made clear its intention to collect state taxes on the federal benefits designed to keep struggling small business afloat during the pandemic. The compromise plan would extend full state tax conformity to businesses that received less than $1 million in PPP benefits, while those that received federal support in excess of this amount would receive only partial relief. The release states full tax conformity would apply to more than 99 percent of…

Advocates of ranked-choice voting again seek to expand the use of the voting system in Maine, this time hoping to enact a constitutional amendment that permits the system’s use in statewide general elections. LD 202, “RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Implement Ranked-choice Voting”, sponsored by Sen. Dave Miramant, would amend Maine’s Constitution to require that persons elected to a statewide office receive a “majority” of the votes returned. Currently, the Maine Constitution stipulates that winners of statewide elections receive a “plurality” of the votes returned. The bill is scheduled to receive a virtual public hearing…

Much of the Maine Legislature’s regular business looks different this year. The Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate are responsible for assigning bills to committee, a duty that belonged to lawmakers before the pandemic. Instead of gathering in the State House or the Cross Building for public hearings and work sessions, these meetings are being held virtually via Zoom. Today, there’s still no defined timeline for lawmakers to return to Augusta and perform the people’s work in person. This arrangement undoubtedly alters “business as usual” in Augusta, but some things just aren’t changing. As of this writing,…

The coronavirus pandemic and our collective response to it has changed (for better or worse) the way we live, work, teach and do business. Perhaps nothing looks as foreign to us today as our schools, which have widely adopted hybrid learning systems and pushed families into learning environments that may not meet their needs. Parents, students, teachers and administrators are undoubtedly doing the best they can with the hand they’ve been dealt, but it’s no secret the situation is less than ideal for the average family. Perhaps more than anything, the pandemic has revealed that parents want more choice and…

Governor Janet Mills wants to balance her bloated budget on the backs of struggling small business owners, forcing them to pay $100 million in state income taxes on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. That’s what the public learned Monday at a meeting of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee where members discussed the administration’s supplemental budget and tax conformity plan following a busy year of stimulus packages and tax changes from the federal government. Maine Sen. Susan Collins helped devise the Paycheck Protection Program during the pandemic, which sent emergency relief funds to struggling small businesses across the country in…

After Maine Democrats sent a letter to the state’s top public safety official Monday calling for an investigation into the conduct of Capitol Police Chief Russ Gauvin on his social media accounts, Republican lawmakers responded with a letter of their own Thursday defending the chief’s free speech rights. Rep. Matt Harrington of Sanford, who is himself a police officer for the town of Kennebunk, authored the letter which was co-signed by nearly 70 of his Republican colleagues. The letter accuses their counterparts of politicizing public safety at the Capitol and states Chief Gauvin did not violate the social media policy…

Maine’s Capitol Police Chief Russ Gauvin is on trial in the court of public opinion for thoughtcrimes, and while I don’t personally agree with what he has shared on his social media accounts, I will defend his right to say it (and do not believe it should affect his employment). Gauvin was temporarily removed from his post Wednesday pending a review of his conduct. Mainer, a free monthly news and arts magazine born out of The Bollard, published an article on January 15 highlighting several social media posts made by Gauvin in 2020 that question the results of the November 3 presidential election and the…

It’s no secret that restaurants have been particularly impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns and economic restrictions, both in Maine and across the country. More than 60,000 Mainers were employed in the tourism and hospitality industry in the second quarter of 2019, but due to the pandemic and related shutdowns, it lost nearly 20,000 jobs by November 2020. On November 20, Governor Mills issued what is perhaps her most unscientific edict to date: Forcing restaurants to close their doors at 9 p.m. The administration has not offered the public a single metric it’s using to judge the efficacy of this rule. Listen…

Since the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and distributed to states, people have wondered why the vaccines weren’t being used to save truly vulnerable populations. We’ve known since the early days of the pandemic that those most susceptible to a severe case or death from the disease are older populations and those with certain preexisting health conditions. Yet once the vaccine became available, we immediately began injecting them into the arms of young, healthy people. It just didn’t make sense. On Tuesday, Governor Mills said she is reconsidering the rollout of vaccines…

Last week our team offered a preview of the First Session of the 130th Maine Legislature based on a list of preliminary bill requests submitted by lawmakers before closure. The Revisor’s Office on Monday began releasing some of these bills as official legislative documents, giving the public a clearer picture of what issues lawmakers will debate in 2021. The first 40 bills of the legislature were released by the Revisor’s Office on Monday, beginning with LD 1, “An Act To Establish the COVID-19 Patient Bill of Rights”, sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson and co-sponsored by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau.…

Just before the holidays, the legislature released a list of all legislator and department/agency bill requests submitted before cloture, the date by which all bill requests for an upcoming session of the legislature must be submitted to the Revisor’s Office. We’ve reviewed the 1,690 requests to give you a sense of the good, the bad and the ugly bills that could be debated this session. It’s important to note that there is no guarantee these initial bill requests will all become official legislative documents that lawmakers will debate. Some sponsors could agree to combine efforts if their requests are similar, or…

After nearly a year with one person unilaterally dictating public policy in Maine, some members of the state legislature are ready for the body to reassert itself as a co-equal branch of government. Eager to help coordinate the state’s response to COVID-19, a group of Republican lawmakers and one Libertarian visited the State House Tuesday calling on legislative leadership to get their respective chambers back to work. The group says it wants Maine people to have a voice in the virus response through their elected representatives. Just before the holidays, the legislature released a list of all legislator and department/agency…

Last week, the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) released its final Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which was signed by the governors of only three states: Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The mayor of Washington D.C. also signed onto the coalition. Twelve states were originally supposed to participate in the TCI, a regional cap and trade program seeks to accelerate our transition to clean energy in the transportation sector by making gasoline and diesel fuel prohibitively expensive. Under the plan, fuel suppliers delivering to and from the TCI region must purchase allowances for the carbon emitted by their fuel products, with the…

The pandemic has revealed something many of us have believed for a long time: Parents want more choice and more voice in their child’s education. A new survey released last week shows public support is increasing for school choice and more schooling options amid the pandemic. EdChoice, which conducts its Schooling in America survey each spring, conducted a second survey this fall to gauge how the pandemic has changed perceptions and attitudes towards education in the U.S. The survey was conducted between September 30 and October 20. At a time when many schools have closed for in-person instruction and transitioned…

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Research Center released a new survey this week that should have lawmakers and chief executives across the country questioning their next moves as it relates to their state’s response to the pandemic. The survey assesses the impact of the pandemic on small business owners and their operations, general economic conditions and the utilization of small business relief programs. According to the NFIB’s new survey, one-in-four small business owners expect they will close their doors within the next six months if economic conditions don’t improve. Further, 22% of small business owners anticipate they won’t…

Some members of the Maine Legislature are speaking out against Gov. Janet Mills’ newest mandates and urging their colleagues to join them in calling for the legislature to start directing the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Mills updated her existing mask mandate on Dec. 11 to require all businesses in the state to deny entry and service to patrons who refuse to wear a mask, even if they have a medical condition that prevents them from being required to wear one. The mask mandate was updated after the administration abruptly issued an order requiring some businesses to close…

Though Maine’s response to the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly taken a toll on the state’s finances, the future budget outlook isn’t as bleak as it once was. Over the summer, Maine’s revenue forecasting committee anticipated a $1.4 billion shortfall over three budget years due to declining revenues from shuttering schools and businesses and ordering Mainers to stay at home. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the committee released new data that show lawmakers and the governor should anticipate having a smaller budget gap to plug than was originally expected. The committee’s most recent estimate scales back the $1.4 billion figure to something…

Maine is mourning the loss of Spencer Smith, a 16-year-old sophomore at Brunswick High School who tragically took his life last week due to the social isolation caused by our state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.  Spencer’s life was upended this year. His education shifted to remote learning where he struggled to succeed, and his football season was cancelled. According to his father, Jay Smith, the loss of football took a major toll on Spencer’s mental health. After spending most of the spring and summer working out in preparation for this year’s football season, Spencer was devastated to learn his…

It’s the start of a new term of the Maine Legislature, which means lawmakers have the task of selecting the state’s new constitutional officers. Henry Beck will remain the state treasurer and Aaron Frey will remain Maine’s attorney general. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap is termed out of service and will now take over as state auditor, despite having no qualifications for the job. On Tuesday, Maine Democrats selected Sen. Shenna Bellows as their nominee to replace the outgoing Dunlap, and on Wednesday a joint convention of the legislature elected her to the position. She is the first woman to…

The Reason Foundation’s 25th Annual Highway Report highlights something Mainers of all political stripes know well: We need to “fix the damn roads.” Maine saw a dramatic drop in its overall ranking in the newest edition of the Foundation’s report, falling 21 positions from 4th to 25th. According to the report, the decline is due to Maine dropping by 26, 40 and 26 positions in rural interstate pavement, rural arterial pavement, and urbanized area congestion rankings, respectively. To determine the performance of state highways, Reason uses state highway system budgets (per mile of responsibility) and compares this data with system…

If you like individual liberty, economic freedom and self-determination, 2020 probably wasn’t the year for you. Chief executives across the country (and the globe) used the coronavirus pandemic as a means for expanding their individual power far beyond its constitutional restraints, micromanaging every aspect of our daily lives in the name of “science.” Businesses were ordered to close for being “nonessential” and people were ordered to stay inside their homes. Medical treatments and screenings were cancelled or delayed. Schools were shuttered and gatherings of any kind were restricted. The result? Millions of people found themselves jobless. Those who did not lose…

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey used his bully pulpit this week to remind the people of Maine that they are the loyal subjects of Governor Janet Mills. Her executive orders carry the force of law during the state of emergency declared for the coronavirus pandemic, and we must follower her unscientific rules, or else. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and Maine Department of Health and Human Services issued new guidance Monday to businesses and other public facing organizations detailing the enforcement options available under the governor’s mask mandate. “The guidance clearly states that the Governor’s Executive Orders have…

Last week, Governor Janet Mills joined Maine Public to shed crocodile tears for frontline workers who have been put in the curious position of trying to enforce her unscientific mask mandates at their place of employment. The Associated Press published a story Nov. 14 that includes a quote from Governor Mills who, after updating her mask mandate to require Mainers to wear a face covering in public regardless of their ability to socially distance, said she doesn’t want Maine workers to have to be the “COVID cops.” During the interview with Maine Public, the governor said that too much burden…

Portland voters approved Question A on their local ballots last week, an initiative opposed by the city’s mayor and most of the city council that significantly increases the local minimum wage. Small business owners are already worried about the economic harm the initiative will cause to their business and their employees’ livelihoods. The measure boosts Portland’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over a three year period starting in 2022. The city’s current minimum wage of $12 an hour will increase to $13 in 2022, and increase by one dollar annually until 2024 when the minimum wage reaches $15 an…

With Maine’s 2020 statewide general election behind us, it’s time to look ahead to the first regular session of the 130th Maine Legislature. While Democrats will continue to control both chambers of the legislature in 2021, the composition of the House and Senate will look slightly different. Democrats gained one seat in the Senate last week and now hold a 22-13 majority while Republicans took 11 seats in the House, narrowing the Democrats’ advantage in the lower chamber to 80-67. Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, remains the state’s chief executive until 2022. House Republicans and Senate Democrats met last week…

When Gov. Janet Mills updated her mask mandate last week to require Mainers to wear face coverings in public no matter the physical distance between themselves and others, she made a point to note the order was in line with those issued by governors of other states, including Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts. As we noted last week, there is nothing scientific about wearing a mask when alone outdoors in public. However, this is what Mills’ updated mask mandate requires Mainers to do. Using the statewide spike in coronavirus cases to justify forcing Mainers to wear facemasks in unnecessary settings…

Science, science science. It’s all about the science. Is it really, though? From the start of the pandemic to where we are today, how many times has Governor Janet Mills issued “guidance” or mandates that defy, or seemingly contradict, science? In this regard, Mills struck gold on Thursday with her latest order on face coverings in public. The governor’s newest edict requires Mainers to wear a face covering in public settings no matter the physical distance between them and other people. “Public settings” is defined as indoor spaces that are accessible to the public, including (but not limited to) restaurants,…

Thinking about getting together with family for the holiday season? Think again. Just when you thought coronavirus restrictions couldn’t get any more pointless and arbitrary, California is setting a new standard with its rules on private gatherings. The new rules, issued ahead of the holiday season by California’s Health and Human Services Agency, will make you scratch your head. According to the state’s “Mandatory Requirements for All Gatherings,” no more than three households can gather in one place. Households are encouraged to keep the households they interact with “stable over time” and are “strongly discouraged” from participating in multiple gatherings…

COVID-19 has changed a lot about our lives in 2020, including how we vote. Millions more Americans are expected to vote by mail in 2020 due to the pandemic. In late September, the Press Herald reported that more than 230,000 Mainers had already requested an absentee ballot. Official data from the Maine’s Department of the Secretary of State’s website show more than 529,000 absentee ballots have been requested as of this writing for the 2020 general election. By comparison, roughly 265,000 Maine voters voted absentee in the 2016 general election. Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap estimated as many as 600,000 Mainers, or a little more than 57…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills joined Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah on Wednesday to provide an update on the state of the coronavirus pandemic in Maine. During her remarks, Gov. Mills sounded the alarm about the recent uptick in new COVID-19 cases in Maine and around the country. She repeatedly warned the public that “we don’t have this virus under control” and “the virus lurks behind every corner,” even cautioning against “sharing a spaghetti dinner” with a friend. No, really. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of cell biology won’t be shocked to learn that the government is struggling to stop…

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled late last week that absentee ballots must be returned to municipal clerks by Election Day to be counted, rejecting an appeal that sought to make significant changes to Maine’s election laws just days before Mainers are set to cast their votes. The lawsuit wanted to allow election officials to continue counting absentee ballots if the ballots were postmarked by Election Day but not received by municipalities before the polls closed. In a 4-1 decision, Maine’s high court denied the Alliance for Retired American’s appeal and said Maine’s election laws are not too burdensome for…

Maine Policy Institute and a coalition of 17 other organizations sent letters to their respective governors this week urging them to reject participation in the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI). The TCI is a cap and trade style program that seeks to reduce transportation-related carbon dioxide emissions in 12 mid-Atlantic and New England states by significantly increasing the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel. The initiative would set an artificial cap on carbon emissions in the transportation sector and force fuel suppliers to purchase allowances for the carbon emitted by their fuel products. The cost of the allowances would increase…

Better late than never, I suppose. Maine finally began disbursing grants to struggling small businesses and nonprofits with CARES Act funds this week, Gov. Janet Mills’ administration announced Thursday. Small businesses and nonprofits waited more than six months to receive some form of economic relief from the state government that forced their closure earlier this year. The Maine Economic Recovery Grant Program disbursed 2,329 grants to 2,072 small businesses and 257 nonprofits on Thursday, totaling $105 million in grants with an average award of $45,000. According to the release, 35% of the awards went to businesses in Maine’s hospitality sector,…

The Portland Press Herald’s editorial board isn’t buying what the Southern Maine Democratic Socialists of America are selling, and it’s a beautiful thing to see. In a rare rebuke of far-left, hyperpartisan political pipe dreams, the Portland Press Herald editorial board issued an editorial Wednesday in opposition to a number of local initiatives that will appear on the ballot in Portland this November. Questions A, B, C, D and E on the Portland ballot are being advanced by People First Portland, a campaign of the Southern Maine Democratic Socialists of America and their allies. Question A would increase Portland’s…

Last week, the Cato Institute released the newest edition of its Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors. The institute’s biennial publication, the 15th of its kind, rates state governors on their fiscal responsibility, including taxation and government spending policies. Governors receive high marks in the report for cutting taxes and spending, while governors who raise taxes and increase spending the most receive lower honors. The 2020 report examines the fiscal policies of America’s governors since 2018. In previous years, former Maine Gov. Paul LePage ranked among the highest in the nation, receiving an “A” grade every time his policies…

Three leading epidemiologists gathered in Massachusetts on Sunday to sign the Great Barrington Declaration, a public call to end lockdown policies and adopt a public health strategy they call “focused protection.” Gathered in the Stone House at the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Mass., the declaration was signed by Drs. Martin Kulldorff, Sunetra Gupta and Jay Bhattacharya. Dr. Kulldorff is a professor of medicine at Harvard University, a biostatistician and epidemiologist with expertise in detecting and monitoring infectious disease outbreaks. Dr. Gupta is a professor at Oxford University and an epidimeologist with expertise in immunology, vaccine development…

The National Federation of Independent Business Research Center released a new nationwide survey Wednesday that underscores how difficult the last six months have been for struggling small businesses across the country, including here in Maine. The survey highlights the hardship small businesses have had to endure, and will continue to endure, as a result of states’ misguided response to the coronavirus pandemic. As we know, it isn’t the big box chains or online retail stores that have suffered throughout the pandemic. These businesses were allowed to continue operating during the lockdowns ordered by state governors, while small mom and pop…

Maine Gov.  Janet Mills recently signed a curtailment order to keep the state’s budget stable during this seemingly never-ending period of expanded state power. The order makes use of funding from the federal government, a state hiring and spending freeze and greater-than-anticipated liquor tax receipts – among other one-time tricks – to keep Maine’s fiscal house in order. While the coronavirus would have hurt state revenue collections on its own, there is no question that Mills’ draconian statewide economic lockdown – and painfully slow reopening – made matters worse. Recent meetings of the Appropriations Committee reveal the fiscal impact of…

Rising Tide Brewing, a popular brewery located in Portland, faces a national labor complaint filed by a former employee who claims he was fired for trying to organize a union. The brewery is owned by Sen. Heather Sanborn of Portland. The story was first uncovered by Good Beer Hunting, which published an account of the former employee’s story on Sept. 21. The employee asked not to be named out of fear it would hurt his chances of obtaining another job within the brewing industry, according to the publication. The individual claims the Sanborns discouraged him from organizing the production staff…

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that ranked-choice voting must be used in the state’s upcoming presidential election, making Maine the first state in the nation to use the voting system in a statewide presidential election. The high court’s decision overturned a Superior Court ruling that allowed the people’s veto question to appear on the November ballot. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap appealed that decision, resulting in the high court’s actions Tuesday. At issue was the constitutionality of the state’s requirement that petition circulators be registered to vote in the municipality where they reside when they begin circulating petitions.…

A pair of lawsuits that mirror a Maine-based legal challenge (currently pending in the First Circuit Court of Appeals) has been filed in New Hampshire and Vermont over last two weeks. The Institute for Justice (IJ), which represents the three Maine families who are challenging the sectarian exclusion within Maine’s town tuitioning program, also represents the plaintiffs of the cases originating in New Hampshire and Vermont. All three cases seek to advance school choice and religious freedom by overturning laws or constitutional provisions that prevent tuition payments from flowing to religious schools within all three state’s town tuitioning programs.…

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) issued a press release Monday raising concerns about the implementation of Maine’s new paid leave law, passed in the First Session of the 129th Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills in late May 2019. The law is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2021. With businesses already struggling to remain afloat amidst the pandemic and a turbulent summer tourist season, the NFIB worries the new law will be the final nail in the coffin for many of Maine’s small businesses. Under the new law, employees of businesses with 11…

Aquaboggan in Saco was forced to close in late August after receiving a cease-and-desist order from the Saco Police. The order was issued for violating Gov. Janet Mills’ executive order that limits the size of outdoor gatherings to 100 people. Saco Police visited the facility on August 28 to deliver the order citing concerns about the potential for COVID-19 transmission due to the number of people allowed inside the park. According to the Press Herald, a code enforcement officer for the city of Saco inspected the park on August 3, estimating more than 1,200 people were allowed inside. The city’s…

Bowing to pressure from the Mills administration, the Maine Principals’ Association announced Thursday that it will not allow football or volleyball to be played this fall, but will allow other fall sports to resume competition. The MPA and state officials released a joint statement Thursday noting the two parties had come to an agreement on which high school sports can be played this fall. Students participating in golf, cross-country, field hockey and soccer will be allowed to practice and compete in 2020. The MPA said it would “continue to work with both sport committees to provide a season in the…

After telling the public that the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) would have the final say in returning to high school sports this fall, the Mills administration sent a letter to the association Tuesday raising concerns about its recent recommendation to allow all sports to resume. The state wants the MPA to further delay the start of the high school sports season and reconsider recommendations it made allowing certain “higher risk” sports to be played this year. The four-page letter sent to the MPA was written for the purpose of describing “areas where MPA Guidance does not comport with underlying public…

Secretary of State Matt Dunlap is challenging a decision issued last week by a Superior Court judge to allow a people’s veto effort on ranked-choice voting, led by the Maine GOP, to appear on Maine’s November 3 ballot. Dunlap is appealing the decision to Maine’s highest court in hopes the question will be struck from the ballot. At its core, the disagreement between Dunlap and the Maine GOP is about whether or not two petition circulators were registered to vote in the municipalities where they circulated petitions at the time they began collecting signatures. According to the Press Herald, the…

Do you remember this spring when we were told to stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19? To close our businesses, pull kids from school, reschedule medical appointments and never leave home unless for an “essential” activity? Not long after that all began, the killing of George Floyd occurred which resulted in nationwide protests amidst the throes of a pandemic. Soon, the public health “experts” were telling us that not protesting social justice was more dangerous than the virus itself. Seemingly overnight, we abandoned social distancing in favor of social justice, and millions of Americans – including some here…

The Maine Principals’ Association’s (MPA) Interscholastic Management Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to accept the recommendation of the association’s Sports Medicine Committee to allow all high school sports to be played this fall. The Sports Medicine Committee unanimously voted on Wednesday to recommend all fall high school sports be played this year, including football and soccer, two sports which many expected would be cancelled by the MPA. In recommending all sports move forward, the committee established safety guidelines for each sport which participating schools would be required to follow in order to play. Many expected the Interscholastic Management Committee’s vote…

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released a new survey Monday of small businesses that shows some are struggling to find workers and may close their doors permanently if economic conditions do not improve soon. The survey asked owners questions about the impact the COVID-19 pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and unemployment insurance have had on their businesses. Of the 562 respondents, 78% said they submitted an application for a PPP loan, and of those who did, 96% were approved and nearly all recipients have had the funds deposited into their bank accounts.…

A judge ruled late Monday that the Maine Republican Party collected enough valid signatures to advance a people’s veto question on the November ballot that will prohibit the use ranked-choice voting in the upcoming November election and, if successful, prevent its use in future presidential elections. The superior court’s decision validates 988 signatures that were tossed out by Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, just enough for the effort to qualify for the ballot. “Late today the court affirmed what we always knew, that the Repeal Ranked Choice Voting campaign gathered enough signatures to place the people’s veto on the…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Thursday the creation of a new small business grant program to provide relief to struggling small businesses impacted by economic shutdown she ordered in late March in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Mills administration is allocating $200 million of the $1.2 billion Maine received in the federal CARES Act to provide this support. While any investment in struggling small businesses is welcomed, its arrival in late August begs the question: What took the Mills administration so long? For months, the administration has been begging and pleading with the federal government to bail us out…

Maine Policy Institute today released a new report that sheds light on the harmful effects of Governor Janet Mills’ economic and societal shutdown of Maine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, “COVID Catastrophe: Consequences of Societal Shutdowns” examines the history of the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on Maine and which data policymakers used to lock down society and centrally plan our economy. The report’s author, policy analyst Nick Murray, draws on data compiled by state, national and global health agencies to determine: ·Data available in the early days of the pandemic did not support a statewide lockdown of Maine:…

Maine’s ranked-choice voting woes continue. Secretary of State Matt Dunlap announced Monday his office had to retabulate the July primary election races decided by ranked-choice voting after staff uploaded the wrong file into the tabulating software last month. In a press release issued Monday, the office said that “during the proofreading of the tabulation of the nominating contests decided by Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) it was discovered that staff selected the wrong file while uploading ballot images…” In addition, it was discovered that, in another town, a secure memory device “suffered an error preventing the upload of all the ballot…

Four Maine citizens filed a lawsuit late last week against Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, Attorney General Aaron Frey and Governor Janet Mills over the use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) in the upcoming November general elections. The lawsuit alleges the ranked-choice voting system disenfranchises voters by substantially reducing full voter participation in Maine elections through ballot exhaustion and forces voters to associate with candidates they do not support in order to ensure their vote remains counted through the final round of tabulation. The four plaintiffs, Robert Hagopian of Madison, Duane Lander of Greenville, Sterling Robinson of Warren and James Trudel…

A coalition of state-based think tanks launched a new nationwide campaign Friday to educate voters about the pitfalls of ranked-choice voting, a complex voting system that has been the subject of scrutiny in jurisdictions where it has been enacted. The campaign, called Protect My Ballot, will educate voters in jurisdictions where proposed legislation or ballot initiatives seek to implement the ranked-choice voting election system. Ranked-choice voting has emerged as an alternative to plurality voting and calls on voters to rank candidates in order of preference on their ballot, rather than cast a single vote for their most preferred candidate. If…

In November 2003, Maine Indoor Karting (MIK) opened its doors, becoming the first and only indoor go-karting facility in Maine. Owner Rick Snow, a self-described car nut who served in the Navy, was forced to shut down in March, and at the time he did not know he would eventually be closing his business permanently. Snow grew up around cars and always enjoyed racing from the time he got his driver’s license. He used to participate regularly in autocross racing events, and while on a couple weeks of leave between duty stations in the Navy, managed to get his formula…

This piece was originally published in the Portland Press Herald Businesses throughout Maine are closing their doors, some permanently and others for the 2020 season. With these closures comes the loss of thousands of full- and part-time jobs that Mainers rely on to pay the mortgage and feed their families. We knew this would happen. An Oxford Economics analysis pegged Maine as the state most vulnerable economically to a coronavirus shutdown. What is causing these closures? The state’s response to COVID-19 is disproportionate to the threat. The cure we’ve prescribed is worse than the virus itself. Maine has been shut down under a civil…

The leaders of the minority Republicans in the Maine Senate on Wednesday sent a letter to the presiding officers of the Maine Legislature – Speaker of the House Sara Gideon and Senate President Troy Jackson – asking them to convene the Legislative Council for a meeting between the council and Governor Janet Mills. Sens. Dana Dow and Jeff Timberlake, along with members of their caucus, want the Legislative Council to hold a meeting with Governor Mills for the purpose of asking the governor questions from their constituents about the state’s coronavirus response. The Legislative Council is a 10-person body comprised…

On March 17, Nelson Moody, owner of Yankee Lanes bowling alley in Brunswick, closed his doors and the business has now been shut down for more than two months. Yankee Lanes was started in 1961 and was purchased by Moody in 2013. He says he believes this is the longest period of time that the establishment has been closed in its nearly 60-year history. After closing, the next action Moody was forced to take was laying off most of his workforce. Without regular paying customers, Moody could not afford to keep everyone on board, especially without knowing the duration of…

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers representing rural towns in Androscoggin and Cumberland counties sent a letter to Governor Janet Mills this week urging her to allow rural areas of the state to reopen more quickly. Rep. Amy Arata (R-New Gloucester) and Sen. Ned Claxton (D-Androscoggin), who represent the towns of New Gloucester and Poland, asked the governor to consider a partial reopening of businesses in rural towns in counties that are still restricted from reopening. Governor Mills released her initial plan to reopen Maine’s economy in late April. The plan came under heavy fire from businesses across the state, particularly…

Patty and Scott Ruppert own Live Well Farm, a destination wedding venue in Harpswell that they operate seasonally from the beginning of June through the end of October. This year, the Ruppert’s were preparing for their eighth season of operating Live Well Farm, however the presence of the coronavirus in Maine and the public response to it appears to have put much of their plans on hold, and their seasonal business in jeopardy. Each year, the Ruppert’s rent out the property – a five acre farm with a beautifully-renovated farm house and barn – to about 16 couples and their…

In a press statement released late Monday afternoon, House Minority Leader Rep. Kathleen Dillingham unveiled a new proposal meant to curb the emergency powers of Maine’s chief executive, likely a direct response to the actions Governor Janet Mills has taken to respond to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Maine. The proposal would reform emergency executive power by requiring the governor to obtain the blessing of legislative leaders before taking certain emergency actions, as well as making the governor’s emergency declaration subject to regular review by lawmakers. For the legislation to be considered this session, lawmakers would have to reconvene again…

Seven groups representing different facets of Maine’s tourism and hospitality industry sent an open letter to Maine Governor Janet Mills Tuesday urging the governor to remove the requirement that out-of-state travelers visiting Maine quarantine for 14 days upon their arrival. The letter also called on the governor to trust Maine businesses to responsibly reopen their doors and to work with them to develop a reopening plan that “makes sense for Maine’s safety, and Maine’s economic future.” “Maine’s tourism economy is on the verge of collapse and we need your help,” it reads in part. The open letter was co-signed by…

Governor Janet Mills announced changes to her plan to reopen Maine’s economy Friday during a press conference with Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah and the commissioners of Maine’s health and economic development departments. The “Rural Reopening” plan introduced Friday expedites the reopening of retail and restaurant businesses in most Maine counties. Under the plan, certain businesses in rural Maine counties where community transmission is not present will be permitted to open sooner than the initial timeline released by Governor Mills on April 28. In Aroostook, Piscataquis, Washington, Hancock, Somerset, Franklin, Oxford, Kennebec, Waldo, Knox, Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties, retail…

On March 15, Maine Governor Janet Mills declared a civil state of emergency enabling her use of emergency powers to enhance and expedite the state’s response to the outbreak of COVID-19. This designation was renewed on April 14, extending the state of emergency another month until May 15. With the extended emergency set to expire in one week, it’s worth asking: When will the state of emergency in Maine come to an end? Before adjourning in March, lawmakers passed LD 2167, a bill that gave Governor Mills new powers to direct the state’s emergency response. These new powers include waiving compulsory attendance requirements in…

Governor Janet Mills alluded to forthcoming changes to her plan to reopen Maine’s economy Wednesday during a press conference with Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah. Gov. Mills joined the briefing Wednesday to announce the creation of an “Economic Recovery Committee” to examine the economic impact of the coronavirus shutdown on Maine’s economy. The 37-member committee is co-chaired by former state economist and president of Thomas College, Laurie Lachance, and Josh Broder, CEO of Tilson. The lawmakers appointed to the committee include Rep. Josh Morris of Turner, Rep. Brian Hubbell of Bar Harbor, Sen. Lisa Keim of Oxford and Sen.…

Governor Mills unveiled her multi-phase plan for slowly reopening the Maine economy on Tuesday during a press conference with Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Nirav Shah and the commissioners of Maine’s departments of labor and economic and community development. The plan includes extending the duration of her stay at home order until May 31 while lifting restrictions on some activities “deemed safe” by the administration. The multi-phase plan that extends into August would enable certain businesses to gradually reopen their doors to the public under new health and safety criteria, some of which has not yet…

Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque sent Maine Governor Janet Mills a letter Tuesday requesting she lift the statewide stay at home no later than Monday, May 4. In the letter, Mayor Levesque said the citizens of Auburn are at “an emotional tipping point” and said the mood about town is “anything but receptive” to an extension of the stay at home order. Read Mayor Levesque’s full letter below: “Dear Governor Mills, First, thank you for your leadership during this time of crisis. Through your press conferences, you and your staff have helped us all to understand the threat and the data.…

Maine Policy Institute on Monday sent to Governor Janet Mills a list of recommendations for reopening the state economy. The recommendations include allowing the governor’s Stay Healthy at Home order to expire on April 30 along with the State of Emergency on May 15. This would enable the state to adopt guidelines for reopening the economy and putting Mainers back to work. As noted by the Press Herald over the weekend, the economic fallout from the coronavirus in Maine could be among the worst in the nation. This is because our state relies on the hospitality and service industries to…