Maine’s Government is FUBAR

The Maine state government is Frigged Up Beyond All Recognition (FUBAR, as the military acronym is politely known). It’s obvious to anyone paying attention. There are no checks and balances, rules are ignored or misinterpreted. Waste, fraud and abuse rule the day. The only principle that is respected is power and the only skills that matter are how hard you can beat your opponent into submission. Today’s Maine government operates like a Soviet Politburo where a small cabal of Democrat Party insiders get their orders and are expected to execute them without dissent.

For example, early Friday morning the Maine Legislature adjourned the first legislative session Sine Die. Sine Die means ‘without day’ or that the legislature has concluded all of its work for the session. Friday’s adjournment arguably made the first session of the 132nd legislature the shortest in Maine’s history. Is this because of optimized government efficiency or the harmony of bipartisan agreement to do what’s best for the people of Maine? No, of course not. The Legislature passed Governor Mills’ budget and promptly slammed the doors shut because Janet Mills was going to call the legislature into a special session to finish the work they did not complete.

All of this was coordinated. This is what happens when one political party has had total control of a government for years. The separation of powers breaks down with one party control and everything amalgamates into one big blob that rolls over anyone standing in the way of what the party wants. The government exists for the good of the party and their faithful, not the people.

In the House, the top three influencers of passing Mills budget by majority rule are connected to her through employment:

Speaker Ryan Fecteau previously worked in the Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future before trading up to a similar position with Avesta Housing. Avesta Housing is a large receiver of Maine Taxpayer funds.

Majority Leader Matthew Moonen is listed as the Deputy Campaign Manager for Mills for Maine on his 2022 financial disclosure. He is also listed as a salaried staff employee on the campaign’s financial reports to the Maine Ethics Commission. Moonen is also married to Jeremy Kennedy who was Mills Campaign Manager for her 2018 run. He is also her long-term chief of staff. In Maine, the executive branch and legislative branch are literally married. Two of the most powerful positions in state government living under the same roof is a far cry from separation of powers.

House Appropriations Chair Drew Gattine used one of his Concept Draft bills as a vehicle for LD 609 which was Janet Mills biennial budget. Rep. Gattine shepherded the bill through committee in a rushed late Friday night vote. He then Introduced the bill on the House floor and was its biggest champion and defender during debate. Drew Gattine is married to Elizabeth Gattine who works in Janet Mills’ Governor’s Office of Policy, Innovation and the Future. Drew Gattine in 2022 was the Chair of the Maine Democratic Party and issued a full-throated endorsement of Janet Mills’ re-election campaign, which was then his top priority.

It is clear that the power players in the majority in the House take their marching order from Blaine House. She dictates the legislative strategy, and they execute the orders. This is why Maine has had back-to-back-to-back Majority budgets rammed through the legislature.

Majority budgets used to be very taboo as both parties in the past found it their duty to build consensus with a 2/3 biennial budget. That way the needs of the entire state could be met. Every town had a chance to be involved in the process. Now, only the needs of Portland and other Democrat strongholds are met. The needs and voices of rural Maine are ignored. Rural Maine is occupied territory under the Mills regime. Comply or be punished. Speak out against the prevailing narrative and have your vote taken away. It is no longer the people’s House. It is Janet Mills’ House until January 2027, and she knows it.

It’s clear that Janet Mills controls the puppet strings in the Maine House, but she has also inserted herself into all three branches of Maine Government. She is the chief executive and rightly controls the executive branch. In addition to the legislative, she also has her fingerprints all over the judicial branch — including Maine’s highest court. The legislative and judicial branches have become virtual fiefdoms of the executive branch.

If I told you that President Donald Trump by the end of his second term would have appointed 8/9 Supreme Court Justices, you’d tell me that was impossible, crazy even. That’s exactly what Janet Mills has accomplished over the last seven years. Over that time, she has appointed 6/7 Justices on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Justice Andrew Mead was appointed by Governor John Baldacci in 2007. Governor Mills has placed Chief Justice Stanfill, Justice Horton, Justice Connors, Justice Lawrence, Justice Douglas and Justice Lipez on Maine’s highest court.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court can be expected to follow the rule of law when they hear cases. Make no mistake though, interpretation of the law can be filtered through an ideological lens. That ideological lens is firmly set on the Left end of the political spectrum thanks to Governor Mills and her six appointments to Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court.

The 132nd Legislature and last two years of the Mills regime are going to be long and painful for anyone who values freedom and their take home pay. The only thing that Janet Mills does not have under her thumb is the People of Maine. She doesn’t own everyday, common sense people or the spirit that makes us Mainers. The only thing that will save this state is a spiritual awakening of what makes us who we are in this state. It used to mean something to be a Mainer, and we must make it mean something again. 

Normal people who struggle to make ends meet and want to be left alone, have to realize that if they want to be left alone to live free – they can’t ignore the fact that the state is on fire and burning down around all of us. We live under a tyrannical regime. Right now, in this moment, the only way out is through. The only way through is together. Because together as different people united by a common goal is the only way Maine can cast off these shackles of oppression and division that have been set upon us these last seven years. 

It is time for a new age in Maine where we get back to our old ways of rugged individuals who come together to make our communities thrive. We need a Maine like we had before where trust is built on integrity, where words matter, and promises are kept. That is the ideal we must bind together to reach. Only Mainers can un-frig our government.