Author: Steve Robinson

Editorial The journalism community in Philadelphia is in an uproar right now. Hundreds of past and present editors and reporters from the city’s papers have joined together in solidarity to fight what they perceive to be an untenable situation – the purchase of a newspaper chain by a lifelong political figure – former mayor and DNC chair Ed Rendell. Journalism purists and scholars across the country are expressing concern about the purchase. Brian Goldman from the Daily Pennsylvanian expressed what many others are feeling: “To allow The Inquirer and the Daily News to be gobbled up by the very people…

by Terrilyn Simpson One of the stories Jay Martin tells when he speaks before groups is an account of a Maine environmental remediation consultant who’d been named business person of the year. She employed, said Martin, 15 people — until the state Department of Environmental Protection informed her it would be mandating replacement of a contractual agreement with an accredited chemist, who worked with the remediation business as a consultant, with employment of a fulltime staff chemist. When the business owner decided, says Martin, to take a stand against the directive, on the basis the business couldn’t afford to fund…

by Terrilyn Simpson In a hearing room with every seat filled and no standing room remaining, members of the public jostled for an opportunity to speak before the state Judiciary Committee on LD 1810. The bill, encumbered with a name suggesting a dry and cumbersome debate — An Act to Implement Recommendations of the Committee to Review Issues Dealing with Regulatory Takings — prompted anything but. The proposed legislation recommends compensation, mediation or variances in cases where privately owned land is devalued more than 50 percent of its total worth as the result of land use regulations. A hundred or…

Following is a press release from The Maine Heritage Policy Center: MHPC Praises Legislature for Eliminating Dirigo Tax Increase MHPC Chief Executive Officer Lance Dutson today made the following statement, after the passage of the supplemental DHHS budget compromise that eliminated an originally proposed tax increase: “Legislative leadership, along with the Governor and his staff, should be applauded for working through the difficult process of getting bipartisan support for this budget. Achieving enough consensus for a two-thirds majority is a challenging exercise in the best of circumstances, and especially so during these difficult economic times.” “The original budget proposal from the Appropriations Committee contained…

by Terrilyn Simpson Elm Terrace, the housing project that catapulted the Maine State Housing Authority and Director Dale McCormick into media and governmental scrutiny for the exorbitant projected cost of its construction, continues to harbor strange and costly secrets. And a source close to the project, who has asked to remain anonymous at present, has revealed yet another — the parapet on the roof. The revelation of this strange construction detail calls into question the oft repeated explanation of the MSHA director that rehabbing old and historic buildings is just  routinely a more expensive process. There is apparently little routine about the parapet. Attention was first focused on…

Maine State Housing Director Dale McCormick has entered into a deal with Chevrolet to sell carbon offset credits from the weatherization of Maine homes, but today refused to reveal to the MSHA board of commissioners the pricing details of the agreement. McCormick’s multi-million dollar carbon trading venture is coming under intense scrutiny from the board, as questionable financial decisions from the authority continue to be revealed. McCormick has paid consultants hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop a process to quantify the amount of carbon saved when a home is weatherized. MSHA paid Lee International more than $370,000 over the…

Homelessness is a problem often associated with bigger cities, but frequently overlooked in small, rural states like Maine. But the numbers here are scary. Recent debate over the cost of building affordable housing units and questionable expenditures at the state’s housing authority has brought to light the startling number of Maine people that are without housing. Affordable housing representatives and the press routinely state the number of people who are on waiting lists for housing is around 6,500. That number may actually represent only half the problem. A study done by The Maine Center for Economic Policy in 2008, commissioned…

Editorial After revelations of millions of dollars in travel and ‘training’ expenses that included staff parties, gift cards, and tens of thousands of dollars in catered lunches, public pressure continues to grow for the Maine State Housing Authority to clean up its act. Reeling from months of negative publicity for problems ranging from extravagant spending on massages and employee bonuses to failed oversight of affordable housing conditions, MSHA Director Dale McCormick and her Democrat defenders have locked on to a strategy of running out the clock. With the short session of the Republican-led legislature rolling along, McCormick and company see…

by Terrilyn Simpson One Maine landowner has called LD 1810 “common sense legislation that brings much needed reform to help protect property owners in Maine.” The proposed legislative bill deals with the diminished value of privately owned land as the result of land use regulations and compensation for the devaluation. The bill, An Act to Implement Recommendations of the Committee to Review Issues Dealing with Regulatory Takings, will be debated at public hearing on Tuesday, February 21 before the Judiciary Committee of the Maine Legislature. Also being referred to simply as the Regulatory Takings bill, LD 1810 is the result of…

NOTE: This story has been corrected from the original. Travel spending has risen 37% in last five years, training has risen 187% Data obtained by The Maine Heritage Policy Center as part of a Freedom of Access Act request shows the Maine State Housing Authority spent millions on travel and training expenses over the last 12 years. Since 1998, MSHA spent approximately $1.6 million in business travel. Spending in this category has risen 147% since 1998, and 37% since the current director, Dale McCormick, took over the operation in 2005. MSHA has spent more than $4.5 million in education and…

This article has been updated with new totals in the millions. Click here to read the latest. Documents obtained by The Maine Wire show the Maine State Housing Authority has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on extraneous expenses – including gift cards, catering, travel, education, and consultants. Data show MSHA made several high-dollar expenditures to Hannaford between 2008 and 2010, totaling $59,000. According to a source at Maine Housing, these payments were for gift cards that were handed out to employees, and many of the gift cards remain unaccounted for. While an estimated 6,500 Maine families sit…

by Terrilyn Simpson The two inspectors showed up on a day when she was taking a rare few hours off. They came unexpected and unannounced. Over the next 15 months they would topple her financial security, deplete her self-confidence, destroy her business and put a dozen longtime employees out of work. They were from the government and they were there to help her. To this day she’s not altogether sure why the Maine Department of Environmental Protection targeted her. Connie Bowden Sarnacki grew up in the small, Belfast dry cleaning business owned by her father. Richard Bowden had started working…

by Terrilyn Simpson They’re self taught. They’ve traveled the world solving energy and engineering problems. They learned practical applications of complicated theories during World War II and studied at Harvard and Brown and Princeton. All Maine residents now, they sat down together recently with Governor Paul LePage — at the first meeting of the governor’s energy advisory team. Bureaucratically, it doesn’t even have a formal name but on a practical level, they’re there to give technical advice based from their various fields of expertise. Jim LaBrecque of Bangor met LePage at the studio of WVOM Radio in Bangor when LePage…

The Maine State Housing Authority was scheduled to release expenditure data today to fulfill a Freedom of Access Act request filed by The Maine Heritage Policy Center in March of 2011. However, an email from MSHA attorney John Bobrowiecki a little after 5pm today brought word of another delay. According to Bobrowiecki,the data will now be released on Tuesday instead. Meanwhile, Chris Korzen, the George Soros-funded activist who is serving as Dale McCormick’s personal attack dog, today released a meandering compendium of the FOAA requests filed by MHPC for this data. Korzen’s odd report shows the initial request made last…

Editorial In the fall of 2010, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree was facing political extinction. After raging from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about ‘fat cat’ billionaires who flew around on private jets, rumors started swirling that she may, herself, fly around in private jets. Specifically, the $25 million private jet owned by her own fat cat boyfriend, billionaire hedge fund baron Donald Sussman. Pingree’s spokesman Willie Ritch emphatically denied that Pingree took trips on the plane, just days before an enterprising videographer snapped a Zapruder-esque film of the first-term congresswoman exiting the French-made luxury jet, walking down the…

The Portland Press Herald is reporting that Donald Sussman, billionaire husband of Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, has loaned the financially-troubled MaineToday Media between $3 million and $4 million in exchange for a 5% ownership stake and a seat on the board of directors. Click here to read more >> During the interview, Sussman said he has no intent of using his new position to advance his personal views. He said he sees the investment largely as a civic responsibility, not a business venture. “I will have nothing to do with editorial policy and control or anything like that,” he said.

The Maine State Housing accountability bill, after churning its way through sponsorship, co-sponsorship, emergency status acceptance – so that it could dealt with in the current legislative session — and a committee hearing, seems to have slowed to an idle on its way to the work session phase of the legislative process. Asked about a rumor that the work session for the LD 1778 bill he’s sponsoring might be delayed until March, Senator Jon Courtney (R/York) answered that, “That would be an issue for me,” but quickly added he didn’t want to engage in rumor speculation. And Courtney said he hadn’t…

by Scott Moody In December, I released a study that showed raising taxes to cover the budget shortfall at the Department of Health and Human Services would cost private sector jobs–or an estimated 6,463 jobs. Predictably, the liberal “Maine Center for Economic Policy” disputed the obvious crowding-out of the private sector by public sector spending. The study I recently received in my inbox from the National Bureau of Economic Research is likely to leave the MECEP folks extremely disappointed. The study, authored by Valerie Ramey, Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego, is titled “Government Spending and Private Activity.”  The following is from the abstract:…

by Jason Savage Budgets are moral documents. By now, if you have followed the debate about Maine’s DHHS budget and welfare spending you have heard this statement from those who oppose reform.  The argument has made its way onto stick signs at various protests designed for media attention. A full exploration of this statement is a fitting place to begin the conversation. The Maine state government budget is the document that affects every Maine resident, business or property owner. Those who make the “budgets are moral documents” argument in favor of the unbridled expansion of the welfare state ignore the impact…

by Terrilyn Simpson A Maine town has taken General Assistance administration into their own hands – and has seen big savings as a result. The town of Windham, Maine in June opted not to renew the contract with a non-profit agency handling the town’s general assistance program. Last year, with the program under the administration of the People’s Regional Opportunity Program (PROP), the town’s general assistance budget was approximately $450,000. As of January 10, 2012 – halfway through the town’s fiscal year — the town, handling its own program, has spent $25,000. There is a cautionary note. While the fiscal…

Following is a press release from The Maine Heritage Policy Center: MHPC to GOP: TAX INCREASE IS UNACCEPTABLE Republicans Proposing a $5 Million Tax Increase to Sustain Out-of-Control Welfare System PORTLAND – Lance Dutson, Chief Executive Officer of The Maine Heritage Policy Center, today issued the following statement on the current supplemental budget debate in Augusta, and the proposal to stop the scheduled drawdown of the Dirigo Assessment: “For decades, the people of Maine watched as the Democrat majority in Augusta used gimmicks and double-talk to heap an unbearable burden on the backs of taxpayers, while extending the hand of…

Sunday’s Portland Press Herald editorial appeared to be a careful consideration of state policy, but a look behind the rhetoric reveals a clumsy rush to shore up a political ally. The editorial, titled ‘Don’t politicize state housing agency’, walks through a calm argument for the autonomy of a state agency that handles billions of public dollars. Autonomy, in this case, can be more accurately described as a deliberate lack of accountability. The Press Herald advocates against the passage of a bill – LD 1778 – that would make the Maine Housing director accountable to a board of directors, as is…

by Scott Moody –  a member of the Maine Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission Recently, the Maine Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission (CEFC) met to update our economic forecast for the state–here is the link to the February CEFC report. Unfortunately, there was no data to suggest that Maine is coming out of the recession. Rather, it appears as if the economy is stuck in neutral. This quote below succinctly states the economic conundrum the CEFC grappled with: There has been little change in the job market since the CEFC met in late October. From the start of the recession through the summer of 2010, Maine lost nearly 30,000…

Editorial by Pem Schaeffer “F-Bomb” here, as in so many other contexts, means nothing more and nothing less than the exercise of arbitrary power by third parties, since everyone has a different definition of what “F-Bomb” means. – Thomas Sowell (paraphrased) The F-Bomb, in case you haven’t realized it, is a favored weapon in the arsenal of modern political warfare.  It’s most often deployed as an IED – an Intentionally Exclusionary Declaration.  It comes in several different versions: F(b), F(n), and F(s).  On occasion, its usefulness is enhanced with an IO package. If your mind is drifting towards the gutter,…

by Terrilyn Simpson It was a gun threat against Maine Governor Paul LePage by an alleged violent offender. And yet, according to Maine Housing information manager Deborah Turcotte, the Maine State Housing Authority never reported the threat to the police. Neither did MSHA contact the governor’s security detail. The threat was from a client with a brain injury who “has been arrested for assault in the past,” and “apparently has a tendency to react violently to people when he’s upset with them in the heat of the moment,” according to documentation. When some version of the threat was finally revealed…

by Terrilyn Simpson Maine State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin has filed a formal response to an ethics charge, filed against him by the Maine Democratic Party, with the Maine Commission on Government Ethics and Election Practices. The complaint, dated January 18, and signed by state Democratic Party Executive Director Mary Erin Casale, begins, “On behalf of the Maine Democratic Party, I am filing a formal complaint against State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin. I respectfully request that the Commission find that the most recent income-disclosure statement filed by Treasurer Poliquin in February 2011 fails to comply with the statutory reporting requirements. After having made such a finding, I respectfully urge the…

by Terrilyn Simpson Supporters of the Maine State Housing accountability bill were obviously chagrined by the breaches in protocol allowed former state legislator and former Maine Housing board chair Carol Kontos as she testified at Tuesday’s legislative committee hearing. Kontos, who touted a longtime association with the Maine State Housing Authority,  was among only several LD 1778 opponents, which also included a current MSHA staff member. The roster of those supporting MSHA reform included an impressive list of building and housing industry notables, from the real estate industry to affordable housing to a statewide general contractors association. Testimony in favor…

by Sam Adolphsen It was supposed to “get big money out of Maine politics.” Now, twelve years after it began, the Maine clean elections system has cost Maine taxpayers a total of $23 million public dollars. Many legislators run their campaigns with public funds, and then once elected, build a war chest of money with donations to the Political Action Committees (PACs) they control. There are 34 current legislators who ran their campaigns with public money doled out by the clean elections system who now control PACs. Those legislators spent a combined total of $461,501 public dollars to run political campaigns in 2010 and 2011,…

by Terrilyn Simpson OPEGA has initiated a rapid response review of Maine State Housing Authority vendor expenditures following the release of a list of questionable expenses revealed in a Maine Wire story. The vendor list was obtained through a Freedom of Access request submitted to MaineHousing by the Maine Heritage Policy Center. OPEGA — the Office of Program Evaluation & Government Accountability — was slated to review Maine State Housing in the spring. But an increasing number of questions about how MSHA funds are being spent and controversy over a lack of accountability by the MSHA director have propelled legislators…

by Terrilyn Simpson The director of the Maine State Housing Authority has no accountability to the governor, the legislature or the MaineHousing board of commissioners. Maine State Housing is the only quasi-governmental agency in the state in which the director has no accountability to its board. Maine citizens will have an opportunity to voice opinions and offer arguments regarding MSHA director accountability on Tuesday afternoon at a legislative hearing at the state capitol. It will be the first public round in the debate over the MSHA director accountability bill sponsored by Senator Jon Courtney (R-York County). The public hearing on…

A study released this week by the Goldwater Institute details the crippling financial impact of public-sector unionization, and shows that a 50% reduction in Maine’s public-sector union membership would save taxpayers $263 million a year. This savings would more than double the amount needed to fill the current shortfall in the Health and Human Services budget. The Goldwater study cites information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows state employee wages are 44% higher than private sector wages. Further study shows that unionized state employees nationwide earn 42% more than state employees that don’t belong to a union.…

by Terrilyn Simpson Maine Senator Debra Plowman walked into the lobby of the Maine State Housing Authority in Augusta recently to view the barrier recently installed across the entry area in response to members of the public and uninvited members of the press showing up at MSHA board meetings. But sometime following the board meeting, the barricade had disappeared — leaving the area once again unobstructed. Two business days previous, the day of the commissioners meeting, webbed strapping had stretched from the wall to a single file entry point directly in front of the glassed in security area. The room-block was…

by Pem Schaeffer Mitt Romney has been taking a furious wire brushing for his years of leadership at venture firm Bain Capital, not only from the usual suspects on the Democrat left, but also from churlish challengers in the Republican primary competition.  As some have observed, the latter have sounded more like occupier movement class warriors than free market capitalists, if not egoists beyond even political norms. The critical reality is that venture statism is a far bigger threat to America’s future than venture capitalism could ever be. Venture statism, the specialty of Obama Capitol, is the surest threat this…

by Terrilyn Simpson It was hijinks and raucous theater — from the feigned insecurity of the security detail to Dale’s Great Wall of Boxes. The orchestration unfolded before the press — with McCormick in the lead role, as star, director and producer. It was the January board of commissioners meeting at the Maine State Housing Authority — and MSHA Director Dale McCormick had set the stage. To start with, she’d addressed the eighth item on the agenda to intimidate and control just as visitors got feet through the door. There had been complaints previously that visitors were not being allowed…

by David Crocker Where would we be without the mainstream media? You know, the folks who claim “multiple layers of checks and balances” and the right to determine what is or is not a “news organization”. One would expect that when the editors of a major newspaper opine, they do so based on fact because an editorial is, after all, the august pronouncement of the newspaper itself, bearing the imprimatur of authority. But if you assume that, you would be mistaken. Take the editors of the Lewiston Sun-Journal, for instance. In their editorial from last Sunday, “Founders Began the First…

Maine Housing Director Dale McCormick spent $15,000 in public funds on a theater group for prison inmates.

This week, Maine State Housing Authority Director Dale McCormick confirmed what many had suspected– that she was using her position as a government official to funnel money to preferred political organizations, that she spent public funds in an irresponsible way, and that she was willing to bend the truth to cover her actions. All of this was made clear in her shameful performance at the Housing Authority board meeting on Friday. McCormick attempted to brush aside in a number of different ways revelations about her agency’s spending. She labeled donations to political groups ‘outreach’. She called hundreds of trips to…

Maine Housing Director Dale McCormick gave donations to a progressive political group called Maine Initiatives, run by a cadre of Democrat operatives including Chellie and Hannah Pingree, along with Democrat State Senator Justin Alfond.

by Terrilyn Simpson Legislative protocol went out the window on one front in Augusta on Thursday but managed to firmly step back in through a side door as the debate over Maine State Housing Authority accountability rumbles on. First, the spirit of bi-partisanship surrounding the bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Jon Courtney intended to make the MSHA director accountable to the MSHA board of commissioners, dissipated when the two Democratic co-sponsors quit, without explanation and without the personal notification that customarily typifies legislative etiquette. On the formal list of co-sponsor signatures, handwritten scrawls simply appeared beside the names of…

*Update* According to Paul Violette’s attorney, the former MTA Director has pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge under a plea agreement with the AG’s office. _________________ Former Maine Turnpike Authority Director Paul Violette has been charged with felony theft according to the Attorney General’s office. The felony charge stems from Violette’s illegal use of Turnpike funds for travel, meals and other expenses. Violette was the long-time head of the MTA, having controlled the quasi-governmental agency for 23 years before his resignation last year. The Turnpike and it’s leader came under fire after an Office of Program and Fiscal Accountability…

by Terrilyn Simpson George and Ric were on the air. And so was the husband of someone who worked for the Section 8 housing division of a Maine community action program — known as a CAP Agency. It was Monday morning at the George Hale/Ric Tyler talk show on WVOM Radio in Bangor. And a man called in, in response to a discussion about the proposed legislative bill mandating accountability for the director of the Maine State Housing Authority. The caller said his wife, who works for a CAP agency, had received a telephone call the previous Friday night, after…

A story in today’s Portland Press Herald by Susan Cover quotes Maine Housing spokesperson Deborah Turcotte responding to yesterday’s story in The Maine Wire about troubling expenditures by the quasi-state agency. Housing authority spokeswoman Deborah Turcotte said the agency’s officials go to many conferences every year, often getting discounted or corporate rates at hotels. Some of the other items, such as massage services and the rental of a dance club in Augusta, are related to staff training and wellness days. The authority also hired a disc jockey for a Christmas party, paid partly with housing authority funds and partly by…

by Pem Schaeffer “Thou shalt not steal” is the eighth of the ten commandments God handed down to Moses. This would lead you to think the last place you’d discover stealing is among Church officials. Well, think again. Do you attend a Swedenborgian Church, an Episcopal Church, a United Church of Christ, or a United Methodist Church? How about an ELCA Lutheran Church, or a Quaker Church, or a Unitarian Universalist Church? Or you might attend a Presbyterian or Roman Catholic Church. If you do, then I have news for you. Your identity, in the political sense at least, has…

by Sam Adolphsen What do social justice groups, professional DJs, massage therapists and luxury hotels have to do with affordable housing? That question is one of many which remain unanswered as the Maine State Housing Authority continues to delay the release of key expenditure details more than six months after a Freedom of Access Act request — for vendor records — was filed by the Maine Heritage Policy Center. Even minus the details, the skeletal vendor list obtained by MHPC reveals a pattern of questionable expenditures that will likely increase pressure on the quasi-state agency to open its books to…

Chellie Pingree was Maine Senate Majority Leader when the Maine Clean Elections Act (MCEA) became law. Pingree has made a career out of this law – parlaying her role in its inception into a position as head of the advocacy group Common Cause, and ultimately using it as rhetorical cover for her own significant campaign finance abuses. Besides offering the Congresswoman an opportunity to engage in hypocrisy of the highest magnitude, Maine’s Clean Election Act has failed to offer the slightest positive impact. The original intent of the law was fairly simple – to reduce the impact of money on…

Maine’s had its fill of the clueless detachment and hypocrisy of newspaper editorial pages. That may be why this piece from The Daily Show seems like such a work of art. The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

by Terrilyn Simpson The legislative bill aimed at holding the director of the Maine State Housing Authority accountable to the MSHA board, in keeping with other quasi-governmental agencies in the state, has been propelled into the bipartisan political arena with co-sponsorship support from two well respected Democratic legislators. Democrat support of the accountability bill comes on the heels of news of the imminent resignation of long-time McCormick deputy Adam Krea. Krea is currently Deputy Director at MaineHousing, and previously served under McCormick as senior staff accountant at the Maine Office of the Treasurer. The author of the Director Accountability bill…

DEVELOPING: According to minutes from the Maine State Housing Authority’s board of commissioners meetings,the agency gave $1,000 non-performance-based bonuses to all employees between August and September 2010. UPDATE: MSHA Director Dale McCormick on WVOM radio this morning confirms and discusses the raises. [audio:https://www.themainewire.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dale3.mp3|titles=Dale McCormick on WVOM] At the suggestion of MSHA board member Donald Gean, bonuses were apparently given to all Maine Housing workers employed on December 31, 2009. Data from MaineOpenGov.org show 144 employees on staff in 2009, and 147 in 2010. This puts the approximate total of arbitrary bonuses paid by MaineHousing at between $144,000 and $147,000. From…

by Terrilyn Simpson The Maine State Housing Authority issued a report late Friday afternoon purported to be a straightforward, independent investigation of the low-income housing inspection problems attached to MSHA — authored by a MSHA auditor. The Norway Section 8 apartment debacle was acknowledged by MSHA and Avesta Housing, charged with inspecting the units, only after a series of investigative articles in the Norway, Maine based newspaper, the Advertiser Democrat. Pressure on MSHA and Avesta was further exacerbated when town officials — including the local fire chief — complained to the office of US Senator Susan Collins, about the deplorable…

by Pem Schaeffer If you find the title perplexing, be patient; I will explain. It’s often said that ‘luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation.’ Likewise, one could say that reform in governance is what happens when fiscal calamity meets determined leadership. Globally and nationally, government fiscal crisis is endemic. In many, if not most cases, leadership is lacking, and conditions are approaching meltdown. Greece, Spain, Portugal, Illinois, Michigan, and California come immediately to mind. Cities and counties across the land face the same disasters. But there is cause for optimism. Here in Maine, the new administration and legislative…

Governor LePage’s proposed MaineCare cuts have the social services community in an uproar. And this makes sense – no one wants the least fortunate among us to be left out in the cold. As legislators dig in to find a solution to the DHHS budget shortfall, everyone is focused on how to solve the problem without eliminating critical services. Unfortunately, over-the-top rhetoric and unsubstantiated claims are blocking the road to real solutions. One of the most deceptive of these claims is that, if 60,000 Mainers are cut from MaineCare, they will drive costs up for everyone by over-utilizing emergency rooms.…

by Lance Dutson The hallmark of Portland Press Herald columnist Bill Nemitz, for years, has been what used to be referred to as ‘sob sister’ journalism. Primarily practiced by female writers in the early 20th century, ‘sob sisters’ were writers who tugged on the heartstrings of readers with over-the-top emotional appeals, often pertaining to illness or affliction, in order to make a point to further an advocacy angle. Nemitz found a cozy home at the PPH with this kind of writing. His pieces traditionally sought to shine light on the underprivileged, with a strong undercurrent of liberal politics running through…

Maine State Representative Ryan Harmon (R- Palermo) joins host MD Harmon to discuss the legislature.

The Maine State Housing Authority released their report on the Avesta/Norway Section 8 inspection debacle late Friday. The big question everyone has been asking is – when did MSHA and Avesta learn about the inspection problem? This excerpt from the report sheds some new light: “MaineHousing re-inspects the work of the Section 8 housing inspectors throughout Maine once per year as required by HUD. During July 2010, MaineHousing’s Quality Control Inspector failed 11 of the 25 (44 percent) randomly selected Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher units passed by the Avesta Section 8 Housing Inspector within the previous three months. On…

by Terrilyn Simpson Maine Senate President Kevin Raye (R-Perry) has kicked off the new year with a resolution to capture the 2nd District Congressional seat currently held by Mike Michaud. Raye announced his bid and filed the required paperwork on January 5. The 50-year-old Raye grew up in Eastport, one of eight sons of an electrician father who was a World War II veteran, and a schoolteacher mother. With his wife Karen, Raye still owns and operates Raye’s Mustard Mill in Eastport, touted as the nation’s last remaining traditional stone-ground mustard mill. The business has been run by members of…

Tuesday afternoon, it came to our attention that our state house reporter, Leif Parsell, had, prior to working with us, made a series of comments on websites that dealt with racial integration issues. Upon review of the comments, it became apparent that the perspective expressed was not in keeping with the mission of The Maine Wire or the values of The Maine Heritage Policy Center. Several hours after learning of these comments,I made the decision to immediately end our employment agreement with Mr. Parsell. We issued a statement later that evening, which I have copied below. This incident is a…

What do prison theater classes have to do with affordable housing? As the state scrambles to replace millions in reduced heating oil assistance funding, and as a shortage in available affordable housing units relegates an estimate 6,500 families to a waiting list, the management of scarce government funding has become a prime topic in Augusta. The zero-sum nature of state and federal financial support has caused many to question why the Maine State Housing Authority (MSHA) spent tens of thousands on programs that seem unrelated to their mission – including $15,000 on a program to promote theater classes in Maine…

by Terrilyn Simpson A bill to make the director of the Maine State Housing Authority accountable to the MSHA board of commissioners is being sponsored by Senator Jonathan Courtney, a Republican from York County who is also the Senate Majority Leader. The MSHA director is currently not accountable to the MSHA board, nor is the holder of that position routinely answerable to any other authority. And a 1987 state statute is somewhat vague about a removal process, indicating only that the Housing Authority director can be removed by the governor “for inefficiency, neglect of duty or misconduct in office….” The…

by J Dwight Special to The Maine Wire It’s been a difficult time lately for the global-warming-believers at the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). Over 69% of respondents to a Rasmussen poll taken last August say it is likely that scientists have falsified global warming research. Email dumps revealed that the data behind the famous global warming ‘hockey stick’ was, at best, skewed, and at worst, falsified. The Rasmussen poll shows the public has turned against global warming scientists. Will the ‘science’ of global warming (or ‘climate change’) be similarly distrusted? This doubt must be feared by the people…

This is one of a series of profiles of political activists, businesses, and civic organizations in Maine. Gerald Weinand has been involved in politics since he was sixteen, when he stuffed envelopes for the city council election of a friend’s father. Weinand moved to Maine in 1989, intending to stay only two years, but, “fell in love with the state,” and has made his home along the coast ever since. An architect by training, today Weinand operates an influential progressive blog, Dirigoblue.com, from his home in Rockland, and provides commentary on both national and Maine politics. Weinand says that he…

by Scott Moody, Chief Economist, The Maine Heritage Policy Center Maine’s tax system is so complicated and onerous, it can be almost impossible to know where to begin reforming it. The bottom line, however, is that there are simply too many types of taxes in Maine. First and foremost, Maine needs to start pruning the tax tree. The one tax that is the most damaging to Maine’s overall economy is the retail sales tax. There are several reasons why the sales tax is especially troublesome: First, the general assumption that broadening the sales tax base is a good idea is…

State Representative Rich Cebra (R-Naples) joins host MD Harmon to discuss the coming legislative session.

In July, the Bangor Daily News ran an editorial titled “Where was Maine Turnpike Authority oversight?”. The editors of the BDN were outraged by the MTA board’s lack of probity when it came to the financial practices of the now-disgraced director, Paul Violette. The BDN said the director’s lack of supervision, allowing a series of corrupt expenditures, meant the MTA board was not ‘fulfilling its duty to the public’. The entire MTA saga showed that board oversight of quasi-state agencies needed to be taken to a new level. So why does the BDN, and others in the traditional press, now…

In 2010, traffic fatalities among drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 averaged nearly one a week in Maine. Starting in early 2012, Maine Secretary of State Charles Summers hopes to curtail this figure by hosting a series of forums on youth driving in Maine. Summers’ “Conversations with the Communities” will run from January 5th to January 19th throughout the state, and are meant to engage citizens in discussions about updating Maine’s drivers education programs. Maine statute requires that any proposed changes to laws governing standards for drivers pass through a Technical Review Panel (TRP), and Summers recently convened…

By Leif Parsell This is the first in a series of profiles of Maine businesses, civic organizations, and grassroots political activists. Gordon Colby, a lifetime Mainer who works as a manager for Allen’s Blueberries at a regional distribution center in Union, has been involved in politics for less than two years. On a Christmas vacation in Idaho with his family in 2009, he recalls sitting on the porch with his son-in-law talking politics and, “about the situation that the county is in (…) and I remember just saying to (him) that I couldn’t just talk about this anymore and I…

WCSH political reporter Don Carrigan has an interesting interview with the infamous S. Donald Sussman, husband and benefactor of Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. Sussman makes some dubious claims about Koch brothers donations, and takes a shot at GOP donor Ed Bosarge. No mention of Virgin Islands tax shelters though, or the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation of his financial activities. Click below to watch: Pingree has never revealed the details of Sussman’s financial activities, even though she claimed a family exemption when answering House Ethics charges about her use of Sussman’s $25 million private jet last fall. Sussman’s finances will…

Analysis by Amanda Clark, The Maine Heritage Policy Center Between school consolidation and decreased funding, Maine’s educational system has been in a state of flux for the past few years. The passage in June of LD 1553, An Act To Create a Public Charter School Program in Maine, guarantees that things will remain interesting. Within the next 10 years, LD 1553 allows for the formation of up to ten charter schools approved by the State Charter School Commission and the establishment of an unlimited number of charter schools approved by local school boards. With the formation of charter schools comes…

State Representative Heather Sirocki (R-Scarborough) joins host MD Harmon for a discussion of the upcoming legislative session.

By Leif Parsell In an opinion piece published on the progressive blog “dirigoblue.com,” State Representative Timothy Driscol (D-Westbrook), compared Governor LePage’s proposed DHHS budget to government-run euthanasia. His comments have provoked contrasting responses from Democrat and Republican leadership in Augusta. “Rep. Tim Driscoll was not working off talking points developed by the House Democratic Office, but he was expressing what tens of thousands of Mainers are feeling in response to the governor’s harmful proposals,” said Jodi Quintero, the communications director for the Maine House Democrats.  “As an emergency room nurse, Rep. Driscoll has a frontline view of the lifesaving impact…

The Maine Wire has obtained a copy of a letter sent today by  U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine)  to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, asking for an investigation into the recently-reported failures of a Section 8 inspection program at an affordable housing complex in Norway. MSHA contracted Portland-based Avesta Housing for more than $600,000 to administer the program in four counties. Avesta is run by former MSHA deputy director Dana Totman. From the letter: “I am writing to request your assistance in investigating the property inspection and fire code enforcement practices for federally subsidized properties in Oxford…

by Leif Parsell Maine State Housing Authority staffers continue to offer few answers to questions surrounding the handling of the Norway Apartment debacle that has dogged the agency in recent months. Those questions arose at the recent December MSHA board meeting and included an observation by board chair Peter Anastos that the deplorable conditions and the terrorizing of tenants in the subsidized housing units had come to light only because of the hardhitting coverage of a local newspaper. What also seems clear from the discussion is that even then, it was the actions of local officials — and not MSHA…

by Scott Moody, Chief Economist, The Maine Heritage Policy Center Today, the U.S. Census Bureau released their first post-census population estimates by state. The goods news is that Maine avoided a third consecutive year of population decline, but barely. The bad news is that Maine’s population grew by only 809 people, which was the 47th slowest in the country. More ominously, the net natural increase (births minus deaths) accounted for only 180 people with 12,868 births versus 12,688 deaths. Maine keeps moving closer to the day when net natural increase moves into negative territory–a very bad sign for long-term…

By Leif Parsell Facing structural shortfalls in the budget of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Governor Paul LePage is seeking to cut $4 million from state funding to Head Start, a program that provides early childhood education and parental advice.  While primarily a Federal program, Maine is one of only sixteen states that provides supplementary funds to Head Start. Facing a two-year, $220 million shortfall in the DHHS budget, LePage has decided that the department must prioritize. With nearly 90% of Head Start funding ensured, and several studies challenging the effectiveness of the program, the necessity of…

Not surprisingly, the Maine press this week rushed to deliver the news of a supposed 4,400 jobs that would be lost if Governor LePage’s DHHS budget cuts are approved. The jobs number comes from a cornerstone member of the left-wing political activism group Maine Can Do Better, run by Democrat operatives David Farmer and Ben Dudley. That the press would accept these numbers from a partisan organization without independent verification is problematic enough, but even worse is their inability to apply some basic common sense to the report. Here’s the key question: if cutting $120 million from the DHHS budget…

State Rep. Mark Eves (D- North Berwick) and MHPC CEO Lance Dutson appeared this week on MPBN’s MaineWatch to discuss the DHHS supplemental budget. Watch MaineCare Hearings on PBS. See more from Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks.

by Frank Heller Dam removal advocates always make the assumption that sea run fish will once again return to the water way, replacing the aquatic habitat lost when the dam pond is lost. Unfortunately, they don’t document their assumption to the satisfaction of skeptics who have seen dams removed and little if any sea-run fish return. Whether fishing groups in Connecticut, marine biologists at Orono, or a recently closed fishing tackle shop on the shores of the Kennebec in Bath, there are serious doubts being expressed. Sure some may come back, but not enough to justify taking down the dam.…

By Leif Parsell This week Maine legislative leaders Representatives Andre Cushing (R-Hampden) and Emily Cain (D-Orono) both declared their candidacy for Maine state senate seats. Cushing, the current House majority whip, will run in the Republican primary for Senate district 33, which includes the towns in Penobscot County of Hampden, Newburgh, Dixmont, Carmel, Etna, Plymouth, Glenburn, Kenduskeag, Levant, Stetson, Newport, Corinth, Exeter, Corinna, Charleston, Garland, and Dexter.  He has served in Augusta since 2009 and will be opposed by former representative Brian Duprey of Hampden in the primary.  Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, who defeated Democrat Sherman Leighton in 2010 69% to…

By Leif Parsell Rallies in Augusta this week organized by an alliance of Progressive organizations and so-called Patient Advocacy Groups (PAGS) to push back against the Governor’s supplemental Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) budget have raised the specter of a serious conflict of interest.  Some in Maine have begun to raise the question: do organizations who receive state money, some of whom are even instrumentalities of the state, have a conflict of interest in lobbying against funding cuts? A consortium of non-profit liberal advocacy groups, under the banner of the organization Maine Can Do Better (MCDB), has mobilized…

Rallied by a variety of Patient Advocacy Groups, hundreds of protestors converged on the capital building in Augusta on Wednesday, December 14th to express their dissatisfaction with the Governor’s proposed Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) supplemental budget.  The budget, which was proposed last week, aims to cut $220 million dollars over two years from state health insurance and care spending, in order to address long-standing structural deficits in the department. Speaking before the Appropriations and Financial Services committee (AFS) on December 13th, DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew and her staff explained in detail the nature of the shortfalls, and the…

by Leif Parsell To begin a contentious week of hearings on the shortfall and proposed fixes in the budget of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of Fiscal and Program Review (OFPR) analyst Christopher Nolan and DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew and her staff gave more than six hours of testimony on Tuesday, December 13th concerning the departments’ structural deficits.  Facing tough questions regarding the shortfall from the representatives of the Appropriations and Financial Services Committee, Mayhew defended the in-depth analysis that her staff, in conjunction with Deloitte Consulting and OFPR, has been doing for the past few months.…

Maine House Assistant Majority Leader Andre Cushing (R-Hampden) announced yesterday that he will seek election to the state senate for District 33, which will be vacated next year by Senate Assistant Majority Leader Debra Plowman (R-Hampden), who is term-limited out. Cushing sent the following release yesterday: ANDRE CUSHING ANNOUNCES HIS CANDIDACY FOR STATE SENATE Assistant Majority Leader to run for open District 33 State Senate seat HAMPDEN- Representative Andre Cushing announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination to the Maine State Senate in District 33, to represent the 16 Penobscot County towns of; Carmel, Charleston, Corinth, Corrina, Dexter, Dixmont, Etna,…

State Representative Kathy Chase (R- Wells) joins host MD Harmon to discuss her views on the state legislature’s accomplishments

State Representative and U.S. Senate candidate Jon Hinck (D- Portland) joins host MD Harmon to discuss his take on the current legislature, and his motivation for public service.

Maine State Housing Authority Director Dale McCormick recently appeared in this promotional video, funded by three natural gas corporations from Pennsylvania,and claimed that a decrease in federal fuel and weatherization subsidies will cause Maine people to die.

by Leif Parsell The election for Maine’s 138th House District may begin earlier than expected, as speculation swirls around the fate of current Representative David Burns (R-Alfred), found guilty by the Ethics Commission last week of campaign finance violations. Burns also finds himself as Exhibit A in the debate over Maine’s publicly-funded campaign system. Burns, serving his first term as a state representative, faces re-election in November 2012, but the ethics violations and a possible criminal investigation have led to speculation that he may be forced to resign. Though further publicity over the matter is likely the last thing Republicans…

The Second Session of Maine’s 125th Legislature convenes in January, and we’ve got a rundown of the bills on tap for consideration. Bills Carried Over from First Session: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry LD: 362 – Resolve, Directing the Department of Conservation To Acquire    an Easement To Provide Access to the Dead River.  McCabe LD: 1109 – Resolve, To Target Job Creation in the Agricultural Sector To  Improve the Stability and Economic Strength of Rural Maine. McCabe LD: 1120 – An Act To Move the Land for Maine’s Future Program to the  Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources. Moulton Appropriations…

Dale McCormick resorted to quoting Bob Dylan.

Though it may not have provided the answer sought, it did provide a curious and somewhat entertaining moment in one of McCormickʼs first official interactions with new state officials attempting to untangle the bureaucratic quagmire at the Maine State Housing Authority, of which McCormick is director.

And it may have set the tone for interactions between McCormick and MSHA board members newly appointed by newly elected Governor Paul LePage.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center, the parent organization of this website, released the following information regarding Maine State Housing Authority payroll trends: Data shows 30% increase in total payroll cost in just five years Today, MaineOpenGov.org has been updated and expanded to show five years of salary and benefits data for employees of the Maine State Housing Authority (MSHA). The data from Maine Housing was provided in response to a Freedom of Access Act request made by The Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC). The data shows that in the past five calendar years (2005 – 2010) total payroll and benefits…