Libby resolves issues

The fact that Maine State Senate President Elizabeth Mitchell is also a former House Speaker and the only woman in America to have been elected to both positions by her fellow legislators is a huge achievement.

Leadership positions are acquired like every other election — one tough vote at a time. Elected women officials are still quite a minority despite our gender being 52 per cent of the population.

Once you know Libby and see her work, it’s easy to see the strengths people see in her. She’s knowledgeable, involved and non-threatening; she has been successful in her personal and private life because she works at it all the time.

Watching and listening to her during another gubernatorial campaign swing through Aroostook County last week, I marveled at how graciously and thoughtfully she responded to challenges and issues raised by the constituency and how aware she is about the reality of life in the Crown of Maine.

I was reminded that her approach up here was the same as when I saw her build consensus in the Legislature. She respects the individuals in front of her, titled or not, regardless of income or popularity of their position. Her responses, always apropos, show the depth and range of her expertise, experience and thoughtful reflection on problems confronting Mainers.

With Libby it’s all resolving issues — a priority for the men, women and children of Maine — and she’s a girl!

Judy Ayotte Paradis

Frenchville

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Choose your tax

For the first time in 40 years the Maine Legislature has successfully reformed the burdensome tax code. Passed almost a year ago, LD 1495 will reduce state income taxes while applying new taxes to Maine’s growing service economy and other consumption goods. The bill has been praised by several Maine newspapers and the conservative Wall Street Journal, yet Charlie Webster and Maine Republicans have vowed to defeat it.

That’s right — Charlie Webster and the GOP want higher income taxes.

At the College Republicans Convention Mr. Webster waved a list of 100 new goods that would now be taxed; this list is a regrettable misrepresentation. Although the law will apply fresh taxes to certain goods and services, without this reform Maine will continue to have one of the highest income tax rates in the state. Is this what Mr. Webster wants?

Income taxes are drawn directly from our pay checks and in many cases we never see our wages until the governments exact their sum. Consumption taxes, on the other hand, are paid only when an individual makes the decision to purchase a service or goods.

The choice facing Mainers June 8 is between a highly coercive, growth-inhibiting income tax and a consumption-based tax that maximizes free choice and keeps money in the pockets of Mainers.

Vote no on June 8 if you can spend your money more wisely than the government.

Steven Robinson

Brunswick

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A penny saved

William Gallagher’s “1 percent solution” to campaign finance extravagance in his May 18 column is an absolutely terrific idea and one that each and every one of us can subscribe to, whether we be on the right, left or center of the political spectrum or perpendicular to it.

Donating one penny out of every dollar of campaign contributions received to defray the expenses of the particular office being sought would be — at the very least — a symbolic demonstration by the candidate that he or she is serious of purpose and worthy of the office being sought.

And not just symbolic. Dr. Gallagher’s estimate is that the 1 percent solution would, for example, defray the expenses of running the governor’s office by about $26,000. That may seem like a piddling sum compared to the astronomical figures being tossed around today, but it’s $26,000 that wouldn’t have to come out of the taxpayer’s pocket.

Back in the dark days of 1933, the president and everyone in his administration took a 15 percent pay cut in sympathy with the suffering populace. Senators, congressmen and other elected officials had to follow suit or look bad. Can our generation do less?

So, all you would-be governors, senators, congressmen and assorted dog catchers, get with Dr. Gallagher’s “One Percent Solution.” The first to announce will gain the gratitude of the voters and the political advantage that goes with it. The others will have to follow suit or face the consequences

Donald Moffitt

Monroe

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A national emergency

Last year, a national emergency was declared by President Obama for a minor swine flu outbreak that killed far fewer people than an outbreak of ordinary seasonal flu. Now, an undersea oil gusher is wreaking havoc along the shores of Louisiana and has already entered the Gulf Loop Current, by which it could inflict catastrophic environmental damage along the entire East Coast.

Yet President Obama’s response to the British Petroleum spill has so far been to allow BP to police itself, to withhold crucial data from the scientific community, to dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of highly toxic dispersant chemicals into the ocean and to implement other largely ineffective measures.

Meanwhile, weeks go by and the threat to our oceans, our shorelines, our wildlife and the livelihoods of thousands of fishermen grows greater day by day.

It is time the president stops putting his faith in British Petroleum.

It is time to treat the BP spill as a national emergency and mobilize all available government resources to deal with this still-unfolding disaster.

Jeffrey Webb

Bangor

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Emrich wrong

In reference to the May 22-23 letter to the editor by Paul Davis concerning Bob Emrich: Bob Emrich, ready to serve? Who will he be serving when he’s rejecting the concerns of the homosexual population who want to have the legal rights of marriage, who are already in committed relationships and have families to care for?

Marriage is a legal status which comes with rights and responsibilities, establishing a legal kinship between two legally eligible people, except that in Maine marriage is currently defined as between a man and a woman. The right of legal marriage status should include every legal couple who wish to marry, not just a select group. To honor only a few is blatantly discriminatory.

If gay people want marriage rights the same as everyone else, that right should be honored.

Karen Dean

Brownville

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Election notice

The Bangor Daily News will stop accepting letters and columns related to the June 8 election on Wednesday, June 2. We will stop printing such commentary with the June 5-6 edition. Not all submissions can be published.