Author: Jacob Posik

Mark your calendars – a Maine liberal opposes a Democratic ballot initiative. This only happens once in a blue moon, so it is always important to take note when they jump ship. Maine’s former two-term Democratic governor John Baldacci broke ranks with his party last week on yet another referendum question that Maine voters will face in November. Baldacci most recently crossed party lines last year when he opposed a ballot question that called for the expansion of Maine’s clean elections system, which unfortunately passed despite spirited resistance from Baldacci and the majority of his traditional political adversaries. Baldacci joined…

Shortly after drawing public scrutiny for his comments regarding the racial makeup of convicted drug dealers in Maine and for leaving a crude voicemail for Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Wesbrook, Gov. Paul LePage found himself in a curious position. By now, LePage is likely used to the liberal media attack dogs contorting his words to keep him in the headlines, but the governor never could have imagined where he would find himself after this fiasco; donning Klu Klux Klan regalia in a mural painted on a wall in Portland’s Water District (PWD). Next to the painting were four words: Racist, Homophobe,…

The Portland Press Herald has stooped to new journalistic lows. I didn’t think this was possible after reading their ‘North Woods Lawless’ article earlier this summer – the one filled with fallacies, inconsistencies, informational lapses and flat out lies regarding the Maine Warden Service – but their incompetence and lack of journalistic integrity continues to grow. Over the weekend, the Press Herald published an article both in print via the Maine Sunday Telegram and on the Press Herald website that diagnosed Gov. Paul LePage with alcoholism, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and claimed he was turning into his abusive father. The…

This year, Maine voters will face an array of ballot measures, replete with fine print that no one fully understands. Similar to the last presidential election cycle, a host of left-leaning, out-of-state plutocrats and affluent special interest groups have bullied their way onto the ballot here in Maine by spending exorbitant amounts of dough to further their legislative agendas. Most of these questions only appear on the ballot so our state can be used as a trial balloon to create a precedent for the rest of the country. To these outside interests, we are only a lab rat and a…

Years after its implementation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or ObamaCare, continues to hinder healthcare markets and insurers as it wrangles millions of American consumers into paying bloated premiums and deductibles for substandard quality healthcare coverage. This catastrophic law has led to billions of dollars being misappropriated or wasted on failed healthcare exchanges established by the federal government and has put countless co-ops out of business. Unfortunately, fallout of the ACA has extended its reach all the way to Maine. Community Health Options (CHO), a health insurance co-op out of Lewiston, is suing the federal government for $22.9 million to…

After losing her run for the District 27 Senate seat in the primary elections, a Portland lawmaker with a long history of ethics violations has received another sanction from the Maine Ethics Commission over reported contributions from her leadership PAC. Rep. Diane Russell, D-Portland, who operates the Working Families PAC, was given a $500 fine for failing to disclose an email list of donors that her campaign used to raise roughly $90,000 for her Senate bid. In the past, Russell has referred to her PAC and extensive donor list as a “progressive power machine,” used to elevate the dialogue on…

*The following essay placed third in the 2016 Milton Friedman Essay Contest As the quality and value of education in public schools continues to decline across our nation, a growing number of parents are becoming dubiously acquainted with the helpless feeling that comes from being unable to provide meaningful educational opportunities to their children. Unfortunately, through decades of economic decline and social stratification, some parents have no option but to put their children in public school systems already experiencing the administrative failures and economic woes that send entire districts spiraling into cycles of growing class size, shrinking enrollment and depleted funding.…

The town of Madawaska is considering bold changes to its General Assistance program that would ensure every last tax payer dollar collected in their community is being used to help those who are truly in need and on a path to prosperity. Madawaska has a workfare program that treats its General Assistance recipients similar to town workers, making them subject to drug screenings. Workfare programs provide training, job readiness and employment search services to enrollees. Currently in Madawaska, only those who are enrolled in this program and receive benefits are subject to screenings, however the town is looking to change…

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck, correct? This type of abductive reasoning doesn’t apply to government corruption when your surname happens to be Clinton. Over a year ago, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton told the American people she had nothing to hide. She told us she didn’t send or receive any classified information on her private email server, and that there was no possibility of a data breach by foreign adversaries. She even told us she was only using one device to simplify the process…

Over the weekend, the Bangor Daily News published an article titled: What stands out about LePage’s approach to the economy: A focus on industries of the past. To prove this, the author quotes the president of Envision Maine, Alan Caron, to gouge at Gov. Paul LePage’s economic wit, contending that Maine has had horrifying economic traction under LePage. The story also questioned his intentions for providing economic stability to our staple industries of fishing, forest products and agriculture, and mocked the governor’s economic ideologies. But Envision Maine, a nonprofit organization that promotes their vision of Maine’s next economy, appears partial economically…

“This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that allows them to shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or in a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And, to actively do nothing is a decision as well.” These were the words uttered by President Barack Obama during a press conference on Sunday, May 12, coming in response to a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando early…

The Portland Press Herald, a left-leaning publication well known for holding its priority in muckraking over quality of journalism, has once again proven its bias and lack of journalistic integrity through its own reporting.  This flaw was exhibited in the paper’s one-sided account of a Maine Warden Service undercover operation in northern Maine that occurred roughly two years ago, along with a handful of other first-person accounts of wrongdoing on behalf of the Warden Service. On May 8, the Press Herald published a lengthy piece by Colin Woodard titled North Woods Lawless, an exposé that supposedly highlights the illegal behavior…

I love it when liberals are wrong. Especially the self-indulgent keyboard warrior types who make it a priority to go out of their way to ruin your day. After discussing the Maine People Alliance’s (MPA) bizarre and out of touch policy stances revealed through their 2016 Candidate Questionnaire in my last column, Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook took to Twitter, ribbing me for defending Gov. Paul LePage’s record on welfare reform.  The MPA, Gattine and other Maine liberals relish in phony full employment statistics, but hate to admit that Gov. LePage’s restructuring of Maine’s welfare system is positively impacting our local…

Two weeks ago, I provided commentary on AGs United for Clean Power, a group of attorneys general who went public in late March, openly announcing their plans to prosecute and serve subpoenas to entities that have opposing views on energy policy. Maine’s own attorney general Janet Mills is part of this coalition to squash free speech and incriminate law-abiding citizens and organizations simply because of a difference in opinion. Despite their self-described mission to preserve existing energy policy that combats climate change and advocates clean energy practices, the group turned a blind eye to the corrupt failure of SunEdison, one of the…

A coalition of Attorneys General (AG) have launched a full-fledged witch hunt into fossil fuel companies and energy groups who they believe may be misleading the public about the harmful impacts of carbon emissions on humans and the environment, and the larger role these gases play in climate change. The group, AGs United for Clean Power, announced the establishment of their coalition during a press event on March 29, stating their goals to aggressively protect the progress the United States has made in battling climate change. Moving forward, the group of AGs will facilitate ongoing and joint investigations between coalition…

Career politician and Democratic challenger for Maine’s 2nd congressional district, Emily Cain, will continue to face an uphill battle in fundraising as we near the November elections. After raising $385,000 in the first quarter of 2016, her newest reported cash on hand amounts are estimated at $785,000, or roughly one-half of what incumbent Republican representative Bruce Poliquin has at his disposal. However, the Cain campaign is still bragging that she’s ahead of the fundraising pace she set in 2014. But, what the Cain campaign doesn’t want you to know is how their candidate recently ventured from Maine to California for…

After the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Maine’s long-term Republican Senator, Susan Collins, was one of the first to break ranks with party leadership on holding hearings for the upcoming court nominee. Collins became noteworthy for playing the mediator role between high-ranking Republicans opposed to holding hearings and the lesser those facing contentious battles for reelection in November who occupy seats in swing states where they could potentially be dethroned. Immediately after Scalia’s passing, Collins attempted to appeal to her Senate Republican colleagues, arguing that they must collectively move forward with the regular process concerning nominations. Yesterday, Collins…

Often times you’re just a few clicks away from finding exactly what you’re looking for. That’s the position I found myself in when writing this column. Last week, I provided commentary on the unethical spending of Rep. Diane Russell (D-Portland) who used her Working Families Leadership PAC to fund expensive trips to destinations like Las Vegas, always stopping for a bite to eat or a sip of coffee, while being shuttled around in “taxis” from Las Vegas Limousine, simultaneously paying herself with PAC funds to the tune of $7,741 for “online organizing.” Unfortunately for her, Russell’s PAC has been drowning…

In the past, I’ve written about the Maine version of the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF), a joint fundraising committee established to raise money for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and Maine’s Democratic Party. Maine’s HVF took in thousands of dollars in donations from wealthy, out-of-state donors and funneled them back to the DNC and into her campaign, side-stepping laws associated with individual campaign contribution limitations. Now, a prominent liberal politician from Portland has been caught using her leadership PAC to finance coffee shop meetings, lavish trips across the country and overseas, and to pay herself…

Maine’s harsh regulatory climate continues to hinder our state’s economic growth, especially for an Amish man in the small town of Unity. Matthew Secich, a former sous chef at a renowned Chicago restaurant, left his life in the big city and came to Maine, where he began hand-crafting Amish delicacies like dried meats, smoked cheeses and baked goods for sale. He opened up his store, Charcuterie, late in 2015, and is already struggling to keep his doors open in Maine’s harsh regulatory environment. Secich’s operation is small, but his creations have a large following. According to the Bangor Daily News…

“Confiscatory and ill-spent taxes, including its estate tax, have forced a flight of wealth from the State. While other states enjoyed population growth, Maine’s population stagnated and grew poorer. While citizens of all political leanings agree that the total tax burden is far too high, dysfunction in State government prevents reform.” – A Declaration of Fundamental Expectations of the Citizens of Maine They say the only things in life that are guaranteed are death and taxes. But, what about the death tax? In 2001, the United States Congress passed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, which changed the…

The state of Maine, specifically its metro areas of Portland, Lewiston and Bangor, has achieved full employment. Well, at least in economic terms. Charles Lawton, the chief economist of Planning Decisions, a Maine-based research and planning firm, told the Portland Press Herald that our state has reached full employment and that our largest cities are attributing the most to that rating. In December, the unemployment rate in Portland was a mere 2.8 percent, with just 5,602 unemployed of the 197,201 person labor force in Maine’s largest city. In the United States, 387 individual municipalities are designated as metro areas. Portland…

The University of Maine is the premier public institution of higher education in the state of Maine. As part of the University of Maine System, it has offered many Mainers with the opportunity to further their education, and has laid the foundation for students to begin working from the ground up after graduation. Without it, many Mainers would not be where they are today. But, many Mainers also earned their degrees in a different era of higher education. That era was much more affordable, and the quality of education was much greater as well. Over the years, the cost of…

A non-partisan ethics watchdog group, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), has recently released a “liability alert” memo to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro, and other members of President Obama’s cabinet, warning them of the numerous federal statutes in place that limit federal employees from engaging in political activities. The memo serves as a reminder for Obama’s cabinet members not to use their political power as an advantage during campaign season, as clearly outlined by federal law. The memo cited the Hatch Act and provisions of the federal code of ethics that prohibit “even the…

Roughly two weeks ago, just before the start of the spring semester at UMaine, I was contacted by a man named Quinn Jones. Jones was looking for UMaine students to circulate petitions for the proposed Casino referendum in York County, promising $10 a signature. As a non-resident of Maine, Jones needed registered Maine voters to obtain these signatures. Before I was to meet with Jones, I asked him if I would be receiving the petitions and a W-9 form, which is standard procedure for petition circulators in the state of Maine. Jones promised me that filling out one of these…

A coalition comprised of three liberal political entities in the state of Maine have cashed in enough signatures with the Secretary of State’s Office to put a referendum on the ballot for the upcoming election cycle intended to increase Maine’s minimum wage to $12 an hour. Last week, the Maine People’s Alliance (MPA), the Maine AFL-CIO, and the Maine Small Business Coalition (MSBC) announced they turned in more than 75,000 signatures in hopes of letting Maine voters decide their state’s minimum wage requirements.  The referendum proposes an increase to $12 an hour by 2020. Under this proposal, the minimum wage…

When you’re a conceited, self-centered elitist like Hillary Clinton, you often believe you can sidestep the rules of law. Take no surprise then, in what the Clinton campaign is doing in states like Maine to funnel out-of-state funds back into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and her presidential campaign. The Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) is a joint fundraising committee composed of 33 state Democratic parties, Clinton’s campaign, and the DNC.  The HVF receives large individual contributions from out-of-state donors and sends them back to the DNC, circumventing campaign contribution limitations. According to this Pine Tree Watchdog article, as a state party…

The Maine Republican Party is pushing a two-part ballot initiative for the next election cycle that aims to reduce the state income tax rate and make common sense reforms in Maine’s welfare system. Maine’s GOP has to collect 62,000 signatures and submit them to the Secretary of State by the first day of February to get the initiative on the November ballot. Using projected revenue growth statistics provided by the Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission (CEFC), the Maine GOP wants to reduce the individual income tax rate to 4 percent over a four year period by aligning rate reductions with the…

While President Obama endlessly carries on in Paris about the global threat of climate change, Americans sit at home wondering how safe they are, watching as their president visits the city devastated by ISIS inspired militants just weeks ago. They are confused and unsure if the threat of terror is real and if it will ever impact them directly. The president has assured us that we have nothing to be afraid of, and that living in fear plays into the hand of our enemy. But then his State Department issued a worldwide travel warning that extends through February 2016, leaving…

On Tuesday, voters in Portland rightfully shot down a ballot question that would have increased the city’s minimum wage to $15/hr, or double the statewide minimum wage. Proponents of the initiative, mostly Green Independent activists, have made several efforts to boost the minimum wage in Portland, but they were outspent and out-strategized by their political opponents in this election. The referendum was denied by Portland voters 58 percent to 42 percent. Opponents of the ballot question, including several local business owners and the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, raised more than $120,000 to fight the question. A PAC called “Too…

Days from stepping down as Speaker of the House, John Boehner and other House Republican leaders put forth what will likely be Boehner’s last deal, a tentative budget agreement released just before midnight on Monday. Boehner and others have worked with President Obama over the last week to create a bipartisan proposal that meets the needs of both parties. The agreement still needs approval from Congress to avoid a potentially crippling default and government shutdown. The budget deal would slightly increase spending by $80 billion over next two years, a less than two percent increase on a federal budget that…

At least a few times in presidential election cycles, we will observe a candidate changing their position on an issue, or flip flopping, usually because their previous stance didn’t align well with the ideologies liked by their supporters. Sometimes a candidate will even change their views to target a new audience, hoping to receive votes from a demographic that would otherwise have no reason to support a specific candidate. Flip flopping is usually a negative characteristic for a presidential candidate to have. Voters want a candidate that can actively voice their opinions and firmly stand by their statements. It is…

Last week, social media was buzzing with yet another trending clickbait article, but this time, I noticed something very odd. “10 Reasons We Should Defund Planned Parenthood IMMEDIATELY” was being shared on social media by many of my left-of-center friends, which had me puzzled as to why so many of them would share an article with such a title. The article gives ten satirical reasons why Planned Parenthood should be defunded, ranging from the organization being run by “feminazis” to saying that “unplanned parenthood is the backbone of every great society.” You can have your laughs, liberals, but I would like to…

What we saw two nights ago at the second GOP debate was an absolute monstrosity and a disgrace to every American voter. Politics, and most importantly the presidency, isn’t about who is best in a shouting match. It’s about expertise in public policy, service, and leadership. Few exhibited any in the second debate. The candidates were fired up and took shots at each other, but they aren’t the only ones to blame for what unraveled Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. The electorate can thank CNN for what may have been the worst presidential debate in our country’s…

During campaign season, every presidential hopeful makes promises to the electorate hoping to appeal to their interest and earn their votes in the coming election. What the electorate often neglects to acknowledge, however, is that many of the proposals these politicians promise to champion would require the approval of congress should they be elected. These policy proposals would also need to go through several stages of revisions to gain enough bi-partisan support to be signed into law. No candidate on either side could be ushered in as our next president and magically make all of their policy initiatives from campaign…

If I had a dollar for every time a liberal professor of mine passed around hard copied handouts and quipped something along the lines of: “just keeping the paper industry alive in Maine!” I probably could have paid my four years of in-state tuition at the University of Maine four times over by now.The problem with that jest so commonly used by educators is that the paper industry in Maine is in decline, has been for decades, and no amount of hard copy handouts for students at the state’s flagship university could reverse that trend. There’s no doubt that in…

Independent Vermont Senator and 2016 presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is making headway in the polls, climbing through the democratic ranks as Hillary Clinton’s campaign slowly loses its steam and Joe Biden remains a non-factor. What once seemed like an easy victory for Clinton months ago now appears to be an interesting race – at least somewhat. Sanders were polling only 10% in the democratic primary after his campaign launched on May 26, behind both Biden and Clinton by a reasonable margin. Now, many polls show Sanders has more than doubled his 10% total, taken second in the primary away from Biden…

Political pundits have known since President Obama’s re-election that in 2016, a deep field of recruits, both new and old, would emerge to earn the Republican nomination for President of the United States. After several subtle hints on the topic, many anticipated that Donald Trump would make a run for the Republican nomination, and were validated when Trump announced he was running for president in mid-June. However, few pundits expected the earliest comments of Trump’s campaign to be as divisive and out-of-touch as they have been. Even fewer could have predicted how favorably his embarrassing rhetoric would affect his standing…

Following secretive, last minute negotiations leading up to the compromise biennial budget, the 127th Legislature saw their budget bill, LD 1019, shot down in a uniquely formatted veto letter by Governor Paul LePage on Monday night. The budget, which was the product of closed door negotiations amongst our state’s top legislators, increases spending by $300 million over the next two years. On Tuesday morning, Maine legislators quickly voted to override Governor LePage’s veto with little discussion, and enacted their second-rate biennial budget to “avoid government shutdown.” “Less than 13 hours from now, in my opinion, if we don’t have a state budget…

The Maine Legislature approved a $6.7 billion biennial budget Tuesday morning, just in time to pass Governor LePage’s ten day veto period and avoid government shutdown before the start of the next fiscal year on July 1.While this would seem like a job well done, these legislators deserve no pat on the back. A select few secretly controlled negotiations while their peers were left in the dark until voting occurred. The manner in which this budget was created; behind closed doors in “chairs and leads” meetings held throughout the preceding weeks, then ultimately finalized in private discussions between House Speaker…

Governor LePage promised the people of Maine while campaigning for both of his gubernatorial elections that he would do his best to resolve the abuse of Maine’s welfare programs and ensure that no tax dollars earned by the hard-working people of Maine are wasted in our over-saturated welfare state. He did this with no-brainer reforms that improved the effectiveness and efficiency of our system. These changes took place in 2011 when LePage and his administration began the welfare reformation process in Maine. A resolution between LePage and the Legislature that year allowed the state to begin drug testing for those…

In a state where nearly half of its population is enrolled in some form of government assistance program, welfare reform is necessary. That is the message Gov. Paul LePage received from the people of Maine when he was first elected into office in 2011, and that’s exactly what he did. Now, welfare reform in Maine is facing backlash because of the “welfare cliff,” a factor dissuading those on welfare to re-enter the workforce, work more hours, or take better-paying jobs, in fear of immediately losing their benefits. The welfare cliff is a pretend ledge that program recipients reach when they…

Can individual municipalities in Maine assess their own minimum wage, or is that the job of our elected officials in Augusta? There has been plenty of discord on L.D. 1361, a bill proposed by Sen. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden, which would address whether the state or individual municipalities have the ability of setting their own minimum wage in Maine. Proponents of the bill say only the state has the ability to increase the minimum wage, but many democratic leaders in Portland, Bangor, and Augusta have openly encouraged discussion on the topic and are interested in assessing a minimum wage in their…

Maine Democrats have finally responded to Governor LePage’s budget proposal, announcing their plan last week exactly three months after the governor offered his own. Until now, the governor’s plan has dominated the political discourse in Augusta, and no democrat could offer a response to his plan. The Democrats’ plan, titled “The Better Deal for Maine” incorporates some portions of the governor’s proposal, but still asks for $80 million to be allocated for the state to continue revenue sharing, and makes only $120 million in cuts to income tax. Governor LePage’s request is to make $450 million in income tax cuts.…

Governor LePage’s effort to end revenue sharing in Maine is being combated in Augusta with a proposal for local option sales taxes (LOST) across the state. Maine is one of just 12 states in the union that does not allow a local option tax, and for good reason. LD 594, sponsored by Sen. Linda Valentino, D-Saco, would allow municipalities in Maine to assess a local sales tax of up to 1 percent on goods and services within their communities. While there is an array of democrats in support of Valentino and the local option tax, the state of Maine should…