From the Maine GOP:
AUGUSTA — The Maine Democratic Party is holding its convention Friday and Saturday, May 30-31, and they have found a keynote speaker who matches standard-bearer and gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud in obscurity coupled with out-of-touch, liberal views.
Michaud was twice named a member of Congress’s “Obscure Caucus” by Roll Call Magazine, which added that he seemed “ticketed for stardom” upon arriving in Washington in 2003, but has become “anonymous.” One commentator has even suggested that “re-electing him [would] be the equivalent of leaving the seat vacant” and both daily newspapers in Michaud’s congressional district endorsed his opponent in 2012, one of them specifically citing the six-term Congressman’s obscurity and inability to deliver results.
When announced around 5:00 PM last Friday, the Maine Democrats’ choice of keynote speaker was widely mocked by pundits and reporters for his obscurity. The Maine Republican Party hosted US Senator Rand Paul, a likely 2016 presidential contender, while Maine Dems settled for a former mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota named “RT Rybak.”
“We’re actually fairly impressed that Maine Democrats managed to find a politician who’s even more obscure than Congressman Michaud to headline their convention,” said Maine Republican Party spokesman David Sorensen. “But we’re not surprised that they’d seek out the most liberal, out-of-touch politician they could find to be the messenger for their 40-year old agenda of more government and fewer jobs.”
Said one Minnesota conservative when contacted by the Maine Republican Party: “[Rybak] is best known for his unnerving overreach and lack of concern for the taxpayers who foot the bill for his pet projects like football stadiums, bike paths, and sculpture gardens.”
A cursory look at Mayor Rybak’s record reveals a pattern of liberal extremism and out-of-touch, big government policies.
- Rybak backed a gun control bill that would effectively ban the private sale or transfer of firearms.
- As mayor, Rybak squandered $50,000 apiece to install four “artistic” drinking fountains in the city, a controversial project that was the subject of a Minneapolis Star Tribune stakeout revealing how little use the overpriced fountains actually received from pedestrians.
- Just months before the end of Rybak’s 12-year tenure as mayor, Moody’s downgraded Minneapolis’s bond rating, citing the city’s high dependence on state funding, debt levels that “continue to exceed national medians,” and a pension liability 4.3 times the size of operating revenues.
Despite touting “Blue Dog” credentials on his website, Congressman Michaud has voted party-line 94 percent of the time in the current Congress, not far off from liberal San Francisco firebrand and House Dem Leader Nancy Pelosi, who voted on party lines 96 percent of the time, according to OpenCongress.org.
Mike Michaud voted for ObamaCare, and despite initial promises to work across the aisle to fix any problems with it that may arise, Michaud broke those promises and has voted repeatedly against important fixes to the government health care takeover, even when those fixes garnered substantial support within his own party.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Augusta are pushing the same, old policies of higher taxes, bigger government, and more regulations that they have employed for the past 40 years of near one-party rule in the Maine Legislature.
“Democratic politicians have controlled Maine’s government and economy for nearly all of the past 40 years; they continue to embrace the status quo while Governor LePage and Republicans are fighting for reform,” added Sorensen. “Maine Republicans have reformed our welfare system, pension system, tax code, regulatory jungle, health insurance laws, and paid off a half-billion dollar debt to our hospitals while Democratic politicians stood in the way with their stubborn defense of the status quo.”
“Congressman Michaud is now eager to come back from Washington and join Augusta Democrats in dusting off the old agenda of borrow, spend, tax, and repeat,” he added. “We actually wish them luck in getting their convention-goers excited about big-government policies that haven’t changed since the 1970s.”
Maine’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8.0 to 5.7 percent since Governor LePage took office, and unlike those suffering in the Obama economy, Maine’s unemployed are finding work instead of giving up the search as the employment ratio remains well above the national average.
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