In a democratic republic, such as ours, power is vested in the people. And the people are guided by a constitution, and elected representatives who make the laws we all live by. This form of government is supposed to be closest to the people and best reflects the values of our nation and the state, not one party or a single individual.
Although citizens transfer power to their elected officials, the people retain their right to speak in both elections and through participation in public hearings and through direct contact with their elected representatives. In Maine, that access for citizens to participate
has been slowly eroded to become nothing more than an afterthought by those currently in power and in a moment, you will agree with me when I say Democracy in Maine is, officially “Dead.”
Ironically, it is the once respected Legislative Judiciary Committee that pulled the life support plug on our Democracy. More on that in a moment. Let’s start with how things were done in the past.
When elected legislators submitted bills, most were either policies directly impacting
Mainers or ideas sprung from communities mostly designed to help Maine people and communities. These ideas, arose from necessity or a desire to improve lives, were referred to Joint Committees where staffers would schedule them for a public hearing. Standard practice was at least two weeks notice in the state’s major newspapers. After the two weeks, people, everyday Mainers and lobbyists (representing mostly Mainers) could come to the Legislature and let committee members know how they feel about these legislative proposals.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, things changed. Committees held virtual “Zoom” meetings. More importantly, the politicians in power saw their opportunity to cut the public out of the equation. Partisanship and shenanigans are much easier when no one is watching.
One party rule is by far the worst form of government, and in Maine Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature and the Governorship. For decades, the Legislature did the hard work of negotiating budgets with 2/3rds support from representatives. In this scenario, the whole state was represented. That hard work has been replaced with simple majority budgets in recent years and as a result, state spending has doubled. In doing so,
the Democrat majority has had to go into prolonged special sessions to avoid violating the Maine Constitution and statutory deadlines.
Worse still, they have suspended the two-week public hearing notice requirement and public process and replaced it with short public hearing notice. This is going on in all committees, although some are currently worse than others. The committee clerks send out notices of bills at the end of the week, in many cases on Friday at 4-pm or even on weekends. The notice often says that a bill, just printed and made public, is scheduled
for public hearing the following Monday. I ask you; how does a member of the working public learn about a bill that may affect them? The answer is, they can’t.
This hands all power to lobbyists and unelected Department heads who routinely get early notices of upcoming bills or know where to look for them. I am not exaggerating when I say, committee rooms are often empty, with no members of the public attending, only bureaucrats and lobbyists.
It doesn’t end there. Some committee chairs now give preference to speakers who are from state agencies, both at public hearing and at work sessions. Amendments to legislation are worked secretly behind the scenes by special interests and Department heads, instead of negotiated openly for all to see.
Back to the Judiciary Committee. In nearly 14 years as SAM Director, or in my 12 years prior serving as a Legislator, I have never seen more blatant abuse of the public process than that employed by Senator Carney, Chair of the Judiciary Committee. She is a leader of the Gun Safety Coalition and coincidentally, a termed-out Legislator. She sets the rules
of the committee and has made sure her agenda is steamrolling through; democracy and fairness be damned.
Carney allows two or three minutes for opposing testimony on several bills, often heard as a group, instead of separately. Those supporting her gun control agenda, however, go first and have all the time they need to speak. She serves up softball questions to her hand-picked experts, (Gun Safety Coalition leaders), while acting
openly hostile to those who oppose her.
On one bill, sponsored by Rep. Melanie Sachs of Freeport, she allowed the Representative to blatantly lie about the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine in what can only be described as slander. When Republicans on the committee tried to have the record corrected, Sen. Carney refused.
On another day, when Republican Judiciary committee members pointed out Sen. Carney was breaking the law by refusing to hold a public hearing on the “Red Flag” citizen Initiative Legislation, she dismissed the proposed law as unconstitutional, as if she were a Maine Supreme Court Justice. That sounds like a tyrant!
The once respected Judiciary Committee is now a Kangaroo Court, designed by the Senate Chair to be a fast track for every conceivable bill to take away your firearm rights, a virtual mouthpiece for the Gun Safety Coalition. She doesn’t care about existing laws or the public hearing process. I wish I could say this was an exception to the rule at the
statehouse, but it is not.
Fears of losing our Democracy is more than an election year fear tactic. It is a clear and present danger. Some in power have forgotten that the most fundamental component of a society, founded under the rule of law, is that power is granted by the governed and only when the governed respect the lawmaking process do they obey the law. The arrogance of excluding the public from the lawmaking process is a stab in the heart of the very foundation of the American system of a free and fair Republic.
As acting Coroner I call it: At 7:05 am, on June 1 st , 2025, Democracy
in Maine is officially dead.
David Trahan is the executive director of the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine and its Institute for Legislative Action (SAM-ILA). This editorial originally ran in the SAM newsletter.
