Struck by how quickly Augusta has changed, I look back to when I got my start in the capital. In 2018, I was a freshman member of the 129th Legislature. My first day I found a note on my desk from Terry Hayes. She was a former legislator who had held my seat before me. She wished me well on my legislative journey. Terry was a former Democrat turned Independent, and I really appreciated the non-partisan gesture. I still have that note on the wall in my workshop. A little civility goes a long way.
Back then, only seven years, feels like a lifetime ago. What the legislature was then, is not what the legislature is now. We received official documents on paper instead of computer tablets and people largely got along outside of the political work inside the chamber.
Things changed drastically when Covid hit. The period of the pandemic really changed things. Covid was not the cause, it was the catalyst that accelerated trends to where they are now. A large part of that is because an entire session was conducted remotely. The lack of human interaction of people working together was gone. You couldn’t crack a joke or ask people how their kids were in between public hearings to lighten the mood. We were always on Zoom, all the time in highly charged national and state political environments, almost as if posing for the camera. We were more like arguing cable news talking heads than citizen legislators.
Also gone were the cultural mores that ruled work in the chamber and around the horseshoe table in committee. You couldn’t wear jeans in the chamber, and you had to always wear at least a tie in committee. Many legislators on Zoom looked more like college freshman in t-shirts than professionally dressed legislators. The erosion of these norms that bound the legislature together were fading away quickly. As committee chairs discovered the mute button on Zoom, that function collapsed the old collaborative traditions. The centralization of power and the ability to control those in the minority became the operative paradigm of what this new legislature was becoming. Institutional knowledge was gone and instead we were afflicted with the acid of national politics.
As Covid began to recede and people came out of their caves to look for the sun, tensions heightened even more. A few Republicans, myself included, began to push to get back in the building and off Zoom to try and restore the human element. How naive we were. For trying to enter the People’s House without masks, we were stripped of our committees in a hasty fashion by rookie Speaker Ryan Fecteau. Seven of us were to be on “double-secret probation” for the rest of the 130th Legislature. Once the CDC finally lifted mandatory masking, but the Legislature’s Presiding Officers still demanded it, I refused to wear a mask in the building or on the floor. I was still chasing the old normal and the way things were. After I threw that wrench into the gears of government, they came to a screeching halt as the Speaker tried to figure out what to do with me. I was not censured but received a formal reprimand on my permanent legislative record. In today’s ultra-partisan environment, I probably would have been expelled.
In the 131st Legislature we saw the censure of two Republicans for words said on the House floor during a heated late-night debate. The first speaker expressed his opinion that the Democrat support for an extreme abortion bill brought down the wrath of God that materialized in the form of the Lewiston shooting. The second speaker censured that night simply said in a single sentence that she agreed with the first speaker. Both were censured within an hour of speaking. Looking back after the events of the last month or so, this is the first instance where the Democrat majority handed out a censure for someone speaking out against an aspect of their quasi-religious ideology, in this case on abortion. To speak out against abortion up until the moment of birth was blasphemy. Blasphemy must be punished and punished quickly before people ask too many questions.
Recently, in the 132nd Legislature we have seen this pattern continue. A Representative expressed her opinion that men should not compete in women’s sports through juxtaposed pictures on social media. This again had people questioning the ideological paradigm. Blasphemy plain and simple. With men competing in women’s sports being close to an 85% to 15% issue in Maine the punishment this time needed to be more severe. The 132nd Democrat majority was not just facing a blasphemer; they were facing a heretic.
In 2025 Speaker Ryan Fecteau and Majority Leader Matt Moonen would not get away with burning a heretic at the stake. Instead, they chose ex-communication. The Representative from Auburn would have her voice and vote stripped from her until she admitted her heresy to Inquisitor Fecteau and Inquisitor Moonen for the whole Legislature to see. She must affirm their ideology or remain in exile within the Chamber in perpetuity.
This is where we are now. We’ve gone from civility to metaphorically burning heretics at the stake. When that’s not an option ex-communication is the only answer. When I was a Legislator, I often joked with myself that we needed a bill to bring back dueling to settle disputes. That that was the ultimate enforcement of decorum and adherence to the cultural rules. Maybe I watched too much hockey growing up or maybe I was right.
I’m not sure how the Legislature in its current form will heal itself, but everyone can see that it is sick. It needs to be addressed and cannot continue in its current form. We need to find an antidote before this state is lost for good and a large portion of the cure will likely involve increased attention and action from Maine citizens. Citizens of all stripes who want an accountable and functioning government need to make their voices heard They don’t want the institution to become an authoritarian regime built on devotion to an ideology that only exists to consolidate raw power. An accountable government, by and for the people seems to be prescription Maine needs to get back to where we were just seven years ago.
