This past week was chock-full of political activity from Barack Obama’s first visit to Maine as president to the Legislature’s enactment of an additional $310 million in budget cuts.
In the governor’s race, four candidates — Democrats Elizabeth “Libby” Mitchell, Patrick McGowan and John Richardson and Republican Peter Mills — filed the paperwork and donations needed to qualify for public campaign financing.
Mills has already been certified by the Maine Ethics Commission. But it will be several more days before we know whether the rest of the candidates qualify for funding through Maine’s voter-approved Clean Election Act.
Meanwhile, lawmakers were working through the dwindling pile of bills as legislative leaders attempt to adjourn the session by the middle of next week.
Major issues still left hanging include:
Bonds: The Baldacci administration has offered a $79 million bond package while the Democratic leadership in the Legislature has proposed a $99 million package. Republicans are threatening to fight both.
Solitary confinement: Legislators will consider three reports on a bill that sought to restrict — but not end entirely — use of long-term incarceration in isolation units.
Medical marijuana: A legislative committee has endorsed the bill to implement the successful ballot measure expanding Maine’s medical marijuana law. But provisions within the bill could spark debate if legislators choose to discuss the bill.
Gambling: The House voted Friday to kill a three-party bill to expand gambling in Oxford and Washington counties and allow table games at Hollywood Slots in Bangor. The bill goes to the Senate, where its success appears unlikely.
‘Not my bill’
Making laws is often compared to making sausage with the underlying assumption that neither process is overly attractive to watch.
And in the legislative process, the end products sometimes look so different from the original ingredients that the sponsors find themselves opposing their own bills.
Such was the case with two recent, high-profile issues in Augusta.
Sen. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, was among the most vehement opponents of a bill, passed by the Legislature last week, creating the first-ever registration requirements for saltwater fishermen in Maine.
Unfortunately for Trahan, he is also listed as the bill’s lead sponsor.
Trahan’s original bill, introduced last year, would have created a free registry for saltwater anglers to comply with a federal mandate.
The bill that passed last week will allow many saltwater fishermen to register for free by simply checking a box on their freshwater fishing license. But Trahan objected strongly to a $5 “striped bass endorsement” required for Mainers who want to fish for stripers but don’t already have a freshwater license.
Trahan said Friday he now fears political opponents could use his sponsorship of the original bill to target him among people angry about having to pay for something they’ve always done for free.
“I was staunchly opposed to a fee-based license on principle,” Trahan said. “If I would have known they would turn it into a fee-based license, I never would have introduced the bill.”
Democratic Sen. Dennis Damon of Hancock apparently found himself in a similar situation regarding guns in Acadia National Park. Damon introduced a bill that would have restored Acadia’s long-standing prohibition on firearms in response to a new federal law lifting the ban.
But the version that passed the Legislature this week actually allows people who hold concealed weapons permits to carry loaded firearms in the park. Damon opposed allowing concealed firearms within the park.
So much for unity
Apparently, not even President Barack Obama is motive enough to bring together political rivals.
Earlier this week, gubernatorial candidate Rosa Scarcelli invited the other contenders in the Democratic primary to hold a joint news conference before Obama’s appearance in Portland.
According to a news release from Scarcelli’s campaign, the purpose of the event was to support the recent health care reform bill and counter some of the “misleading and hate-filled rhetoric that has fueled much of the debate so far.”
While most of the Democratic candidates were present for Obama’s speech, none of the others showed up for Scarcelli’s “unity” news conference.
Maine Marine lands Obama
Also on the subject of Obama’s visit, it’s worth noting that the Marine behind the controls of the presidential helicopter that landed Thursday in Portland was a Mainer.
Maj. Jeremy Deveau, an East Millinocket native, let some family members tour Marine One at the airport while Obama was speaking at the Portland Expo.