Raye and disclosure
In the piece titled “Raye to go after Michaud’s seat,” (BDN, Jan. 6) Kevin Raye says he didn’t lobby for AdvaMed, but rather “was hired to educate the public about a proposed tax. It was fully disclosed at the time. I don’t know why Ben Grant is going back and talking about this now. This is exactly the kind of thing Maine people are tired of.”
I beg to differ with Mr. Raye, but this Maine person wants to hear all about this because if, as he says it was all disclosed at the time, I missed it. I want to know his connection with AdvaMed, what he was hired to do and how he did it. I want to know what he was paid and how long he was under their employ. These, just for starters, please.
And another heads up for Mr. Raye — this Mainer will never get tired of full disclosure, truth and questioning of ethics, even if these make him uncomfortable.
Mr. Raye goes on to claim, “Poll after poll shows that Mainers feel the country is headed in the wrong direction.” I would ask him to clarify. What were Mainers asked in these polls? Who asked them? Where are these poll results kept? Whose point of view was being advanced?
If he thinks that he speaks for all Mainers, or even all Washington County residents, he is sorely mistaken. I for one, take exception to this claim.
Tonya Troiani
Meddybemps
Angry voter
I am so angry with our Legislature and our governor. We keep hearing about how our state is almost broke. To solve these problems the Legislature and Gov. LePage want to cut aid to homeless, those without heat, those on some kind of assistance from the state and the schools. Gov. LePage proposes a cut of $221 million to the Department of Health and Human Services according to the Jan. 5 Bangor Daily News.
On the same day, the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting reports that the state pays $235 million to legislators’ “private interests.” What’s wrong with this picture? Where are they getting $235 million for legislators but poor and hungry and cold people get cut $221 million?
Also, on that same day, I read that Gov. LePage has started raising funds for his re-election campaign. He has not declared himself a candidate, but he is raising money “just in case.”
The most maddening part of this whole situation is that the “little people” really have no recourse except their one vote.
Debbie Alexander
Blue Hill
Don’t cut early education
We agree with the Bangor business leaders who in a recent OpEd argued for high-quality early education as an effective way to strengthen our economy. As experienced law enforcement leaders, we would add that focusing attention on help for young children is one of the best ways to steer them toward adult success and away from crime and trouble.
Our years in this field have taught us that getting kids on the right path in life is important for future positive outcome for both children and our communities. Research has shown that kids who participate in high-quality early learning programs are better prepared as they enter kindergarten, better students, more likely to graduate on time, more likely to go on to postsecondary education, more likely to be employed as adults and less likely to be involved in crime.
The Chicago Parent-Child Center study shows that that at-risk children from the same neighborhoods not participating in the program were 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by the time they reached age 18.
Other early intervention programs can help strengthen at-risk families and keep children out of abusive situations. Voluntary home visiting programs can help reduce cases of child abuse and neglect, by offering guidance to new parents and pregnant moms.
We respectfully ask legislators to preserve funding for early intervention programs, including Head Start and voluntary home visiting. The safety of our communities demands that we continue to look after our state’s youngest residents.
Michael Gahagan
Caribou chief of police
President, Maine Chiefs of Police Association
Glenn Ross
Penobscot County sheriff
President, Maine Sheriff’s Association
Michael, what happened years ago when the state did not support these programs? Why arent the people helping each other? Why does the state have to send money so you can do your civic duty?
Why are rich people so jealous of the poor. You’d think that the few pennies each of us contributes to them in taxes would be no big deal when you consider it makes our whole Maine community better. Would you rather have desperate people doing desperate things like burglaries, home invasion robberies, bank and convenience store robberies? Where’s your moral compass pointing…downwards? Jesus would want us all to care about the poor and no doubt, would come to the moral conclusion that it’s better to rescind or delay the millionaire’s estate tax cut and the unnecessary income tax cut for millionaires rather than cut benefits from the poor, the elderly and the disabled. So Republicans, you better start checking your moral compass because it appears you’re heading in the wrong direction.
Years ago there were fairly large extended families for the elderly, the handicapped and the unemployed to fall back on. If cousin Rose couldn’t take grandma, Aunt Sue and Uncle Charlie probably could. We are an aging population, our children have left the state for jobs so federal, state and local agencies help out in place of family.
LePage hopes to be able to save the state some money by eliminating 63,000 people from support programs. Who will take care of the elderly and the handicapped and the sick? There are no families to fall back on. Won’t it cost the state more in medical costs when these people are evicted from their sheltered living or does the governor have in mind simply letting them die?
It’s not clear that the governor has a plan past pulling the rug out from under 63,000 people and watching them fall? What sort of plan do you have for saving money for the state?
Folks like these people were not on the roles in 2004. What did they do then?
Look at the demographics of the state. More young people have left than almost any other ear. That leaves the older and more infirm to be taken care by ….? Surely you don’t believe that everybody on some sort of support is a cheat?
Do you have a plan ………. something that the legislature will actually enact? What do you suggest if you think everybody on assistance is cheating? How much do you expect to expend on hiring investigators. How much fraud do you think they will find? Do you think it will cover the cost of the investigators? Most people have a real enforceable plan in mind before they start making accusation about cheats. Yes, I know you did not make accusations in the post above. Other posts have been less temperate.
No not at all. Just a few short years ago Democrats added these people to the roles. What did they do before? Simple question. Do you have an answer?
Democrats didn’t add people to the roles. Unless you consider the actions of congress that seem to encourage American manufacturers to leave the country. Of course not every member of Congress is a Dem or a Rep.
Touche’.
Touche’ back. Maybe you can answer my question or become the third to deflect.
What did these people do before Democrats added them to the Rolls in 2004?
They all had jobs that payed enough to support themselves. They were “added” to the rolls by both parties when they enacted “free’ trade and shipped all the decent paying manufacturing jobs to China. Our short sighted, dim witted “public servants” failed to realize what happens when you offshore all the jobs and run up $550 billion dollar trade deficits in an attempt to appease their real employers, the top 1%. Tax revenues fall, wages fall, our economy fails, our dependency on government cheese increases, the distribution of wealth becomes lopsided, and our workers and small businesses watch their standard of living slide right into the toilet. I do not want to tax the top 1% more. I want to cut them off completely. I buy as local as possible and spent 90% of my money within a 50 mile radius of my home with locally owned and operated businesses. Does it cost a little more to buy American and buy local? Sure. Is it our only hope for survival? Absolutely. The right says that the social services are breaking us and need to be cut. The left says that the rich are not paying enough in taxes. I am standing here in the middle saying that it is the jobs and a total lack of patriotism at the cash register. Who is more right? Does it really matter? Our economy is in the crapper and will not rebound until we stop shipping jobs and money out of this country, never to return, unless it is in the form of a loan. Every single problem with our economy and our funding of government could be solved with the stroke of a pen. Change our trade agreements until we have balanced trade, especially with communist China. I wouldn’t hold my breath though, the people who control Washington have seen their wealth explode by 300% since the advent of “free” trade. They are quite happy with the way things are. Is this considered an answer, or a deflection? lol.
Why do our jobs go to China? Because Americans are too greedy to accept a living wage. They want more more more. I went to an amusement park recently and saw American teens in action. They were lazy, slow, and did not care about customer service. However, the local restaurant owned by Russians had excellent service, food, and price. American have no real pride, only false pride. Live on a living wage and stop complaining. This goes all the way up and down. If builders charge the right amount instead of getting rich then houses would be cheaper. Everyone wants to be rich. If government would get a living wage then we could afford to pay them and still live.
You could half minimum wage and it would still be cheaper to employ the Chinese. So, when you’re back on planet earth, come and join the discussion.
Minimum wage is China is $1.25 per hour with no overtime pay or benefits.
What do you consider a living wage? The studies I have seen have determined that a single person needs to make a little over $11 to be able to afford to live out of poverty as much as $15 an hour for a family of 4.
Why do our jobs go to China, Mexico, Indonesia, and many other places? You’re partially right. But the main reason is because it’s cheaper to set up factories overseas, ship materials both ways, pay foreign wages, pay foreign taxes, and still make a profit than it is to do it in this country. Why? Three primary reasons are government intrusion, high taxes and fees, and unions.
Yes, many in this country are greedy, lazy, and they believe they deserve to be given things that they haven’t earned or that they don’t even deserve. The 99 are a perfect example of these sort of people. They are protesting with their hands out and palms up demanding that the haves fill their soft little hands with free money and stuff. Envy has overtaken their brains and they would rather steal for a living than work for an honest buck.
Ultimately, however, the government must shoulder the most blame. Our wonderfully compassionate government has promised to take care of everyone from cradle to grave on borrowed and stolen money. Everyone that wants to suck off the government teat, that is. And they’re doing that by stealing from the wealthy and middle class in order to build and maintain a solid voting base. So far, they’re doing quite well. But, in the end, it’s we, the people, that will suffer. All of us will suffer if the government goes bankrupt. And that day will come sooner than later if we allow them to keep going the way the are.
The 2010 election showed the establishment politicians in both parties that the American people are fed up. This year it’s going to be even more evident that we are fed up. Because this year, if thing don’t get cleaned up in DC, it just may be too late.
Not true. These people in this classification we are speaking of, were added to the rolls by the Maine Democrat legislature in 2004.
Do you have an answer to my question?
No? Then you just made up lot of crap.
If your question is “what did they do before the roles exploded”? I think I stated that a large number of them had decent paying jobs. The jobs left this country, most of which left this continent. The fact is that there are lines everytime there is an announcement of job openings.
A large percentage of them had jobs that paid a living wage. The jobs left the country. Should the jobless learn to speak one of several Asian languages and migrate to one of these countries?
Many of our young people are doing just that because there are more opportunities for them overseas. Pretty soon there will be nothing but old and poor people left in this country.
What do you mean there are no families to fall back on. We are all a family. It is called society and if we cant take care of eachother we are screwed. Maybe if we stop hating eachother so much we could.
Ummmm years ago these programs were supported… because they work. Head Start began in the 60’s and has been making a difference in children’s lives ever since. Before that poor children were failing and dropping out of school at much higher rates. Read the letter again. It states pretty clearly why. And, unless you have a degree in early childhood education I would not want you doing your civic duty in this arena.
There were enough jobs and middle class people who actually cared and helped people. Today people help themselves and hide behind moral issues they pull from the Bible and accuse anyone who disagrees with them of being lazy heathens, left wing ,welfare bums druggies, and alanther insults they hear from their church buddies, GOP idols and Murdocks Rupert FOX whatever u call it. NOT NEWS PLEASE fair andbalanced. I hope someone confessed about fair and balanced at least at the molestary.
Republicans have done more harm to America the past ten years than the harm caused by 9/11. They are the Party of No and need to become the Party of no longer exists. Please folks don’t get fooled into voting in another GOP Prez becomes we still haven’t recovered from Bush and their incompetence last time.
Kevin Raye’s actions have been those of a self- promoting, ultra right conservative opportunist, very much at home with the Heritage Foundation fascism ……….a glib but decidedly rancorous combination.
During his last campaign he talked about bringing jobs back to Washington County and the importance of supporting Washington County businesses but then he turns around and has all of his campaign materials printed in southern Maine rather than Washington County. I suspect so that he could save a few dollars. A typical politician.
Debbie, you’ve been reading the Democrat Press Releases again, haven’t you? LePage is not cutting aid to the homeless, he is working to bring more money into LiHeap from the Federal Gov., and he increased funding to schools—for example, Bath school district superintendent just commented that without the additional aid from the state this year, the school budget would be in an even more dire mess. As for the money gone to legislators–that’s not really how it worked. The point of the article is that legislators and/or their spouses had some vested interest in organizations that received state aid. This leads to a question of conflict of interest on the legislators part. There is no evidence, yet, that any legislator used his or her position to solicit funds from the state.
As for the DHHS cuts–well, if you can find a way to pay hospitals what is owed them from the state MaineCare system, I would love to hear your suggestions.
Avoiding the appearance of a conflict of interest as well as an actual conflict of interest is a core principle of ethical behavior. Skirting the edges of ‘legal’ sure makes it look like you have something to hide, deny, or otherwise obfuscate.
Tonya–maybe you missed it because you weren’t paying attention at the time. If Mr. Grant has a charge to levy at Raye, then do so and provide some evidence. Stop insinuating misconduct when you have no proof of any.
So, I took a poll of my household and 90% agreed the country was heading in the wrong direction. The baby just drooled, but I took that to mean he thought things were okay. Another poll in my workplace got me 100% thinking the country is heading down hill. Looks like we got some Raye supporters here.
And all but 9% think that the hard right wing of the US Congress is doing a lousy job. Where as all but 36% think the President is doing a lousy job.
Yeah, but you know the Congress approval rating thing never seems quite right to me. Congress includes over 500 individuals ranging from far left all the way to far right in political persuasion. It’s easy to disapprove of Congress because that body needs to pass legislation that a majority will vote for—and there is always a lot of deal making and arguments to do that. Congress always looks messy.
So, while most people disapprove of Congress as a whole, these same people usually approve of their own particular Congress persons.
Now, the President can present a unified front to the public. Of course, he or she sinks or swims by how things are going in the world and at home—but it seems easier to me to get a higher approval rating when you are rating just one person vs the over 500.
You don’t get to simply dismiss facts because you don’t like them.
I am not dismissing the facts. I am attempting to analyze their true meaning. It is a fact that water turns to ice at 0 degrees Celsius, but the more interesting part of that fact is why it does that. So I find it interesting to examine why Congress should have such consistently low approval ratings–but individual Congressmen have high approval ratings from their constituents. I merely presented my hypothesis.
What do you all think of Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree?? Approve or disapporove? What about Snowe and Collins?
That’s not the issue though. Congress has had consistent piss-poor approval ratings because of their collective behavior as a whole. There is obviously going to be disagreements and negotiations, which are good because they produce a more thoughtful product, however, the behavior of Congress right now is unprecedented. For example, the filibuster has never been used in such a way before. We’ve never had members admitting their number one priority is denying a second-term to a sitting President, you know, as apposed to the economy. Congress has earned the approval rating they have and I think it’s silly to dismiss it by comparing numbers of the whole to numbers of the individual. Their bad behavior only becomes possible when they’re working as a group.
Good luck getting eagles to analyze anything. And forget logic or balance.
Notice: He didn’t answer your question, as usual. And went off on another tangent.
I did answer the question actually. Individual approval ratings aren’t relevant for Senate or House members as they function collectively. They’ve earned their low approval rating as a group.
Please don’t patronize me because you didn’t read or didn’t like what I had to say.
Approve of all four.
I would think with this current Congress with it’s recent infusion of far right Tea Party backed members that ran on improving the jobs situation in this country. The people have yet to see these improvements. Instead they have witnessed an attempt to block any and everything that doesn’t pass Grover Norquist approval. I for one would NEVER vote for any representative that has signed a pledge to govern as some un-elected private citizen decrees.
Good letters all.
Tonya Troiani–I’m with you, I will never get tired of full disclosure, truth and questioning of ethics, even if these make our candidates and public servants uncomfortable. The recent “Citizens United” SCOTUS ruling that says corporations are people and allows them to spend as much money as they want influencing voters in the name of free speech is a travesty of justice that is going to unleash a landslide of advertising, probably mostly negative, in our upcoming elections. I want to know who these “people” are and why they want to install politicians who will favor their narrow corporate agenda at the expense of “we the people”.
A lot can be learned about candidates from Project Vote Smart. Here is the link for Kevin Raye: http://www.votesmart.org/candidate/36606/kevin-raye
Like most full time politicians, he refuses to answer the political courage test questions but it is pretty easy to see where he stands on the issues by researching his past votes and his major contributors. His strong stand on Maine voter rights suppression laws is all I need to know about him. He’s another one of those politics before people types.
I guess the sentiment concerning pre-kindergarten learning would be in line with Walter Mondale’s Humanist Manifesto II from the 70’s that “all children at birth need to be placed in daycare, because parents don’t know how to care for them.” It is inevitable that even intellectuals with supposed common sense will side with our children being taken from the home.
What are you quoting from?
A paranoid imagination.
DEBBIE,
Little people have recourse, ” Work Harder “.
MICHAEL & GLENN,
It’s all about parenting and the family. The family is broke and so is our society. No amount of liberal education is going to fix it.
Working harder for the ‘little people’ just means more profit for the corporation/owner and quite possibly a reduction of the work force.
I wonder if Kevin Raye has already signed the Grover Norquist pledge. Does anyone out there know?
MAINE
Gov. Paul R. LePage
4 Senators of 35
Nichi Farnham (S-32)
Lois Snowe-Mello (S-15)
Doug Thomas (S-27)
David Trahan (S-20)
31 House members of 151
Bruce Bickford (H-70)
David Burns (H-32)
Richard M. Cebra (H-101)
Mike Celli (H-21)
Kathleen Chase (H-147)
Dale Crafts (H-104)
Dean A. Cray (H-28)
Jarrod S. Crockett (H-91)
Philip A. Curtis (H-86)
Andre Cushing (H-39)
Dana L. Dow (H-50)
Peter Edgecomb (H-4)
Stacey A. Fitts (H-29)
Leslie Fossel (H-53)
Jeffery Gifford (H-12)
Peter Johnson (H-27)
Dennis Keschl (H-83)
L. Gary Knight (H-81)
Ricky Long (H-9)
Michael D. McClellan (H-103)
Jonathan McKane (H-51)
Susan Morissette (H-54)
Robert Nutting (H-78)
Beth A. O’Connor (H-145)
Wayne Parry (H-140)
John Picchiotti (H-84)
Wesley E. Richardson (H-49)
Deborah Sanderson (S-52)
Ralph Sarty Jr. (H-99)
Heather Sirocki (H-128)
G. Paul Waterhouse (H-98)
Source – http://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/120111-federalpledgesigners.pdf
Thanks for the source. I had never read the pledge and found it interesting that there is a sentence in there that also obliges these people from eliminating any deductions. I wonder wich group of people have the most deductions.
Taxpayer Protection Pledge
I, _____, pledge to the taxpayers of the (____
district of the) state of ______ and to the American
people that I will: ONE, oppose any and all efforts
to increase the marginal income tax rate for
individuals and business; and TWO, oppose any
net reduction or elimination of deductions and
credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further
reducing tax rates.
The fact of the matter is that Kevin Raye was HIRED to educate the people on a particular political proposal. That’s the bottom line. He’s upset at Ben Grant, because he knows that Ben Grant has a point. Actually Ben Grant doesn’t matter, because only he is accountable for his past actions, not Ben Grant.
You would think that he would be used to being scrutinized, what do you think that people are looking forward for him now: is he going to cave to this Governor, or is he going to put his foot down and say “governor, that’s not going to work”.
We will see , it all about legitimacy…..meaning; if you can’t stand up to this Governor, how on earth are you going to stand up to the Speaker in Washington?
C’mon Debbie…The rich get richer and everyone else gets screwed. That’s the purpose of government. Doesn’t matter the party…Although one party is a little more blatant about it.
Tonya Troiani – If anyone in Maine thinks this country is going in the right direction, they need help. Unless, of course, they think the right direction is straight down.
If that’s the case, I can name quite a few villains, and most of them carry the Republican or Tea Party name badge.
Actually, most of them pose as R’s and D’s, but they are really Progressives.
There are no progressive Republicans, no liberal Republicans, and almost no moderate Republicans (Snowe and Collins, both former moderates, have kept moving farther to the right, and now really vote like conservatives). But you already knew that, EJ. You just like to throw around the word “progressive” as if it didn’t have any actual meaning.
Progressive Republicans – Snowe, Collins, McCain, Romney, Christie, Huntsman, McConnell….. and quite a few more. Both George H. W. and George W. were Progressives. Newt Gingrich has shown that he is somewhat Progressive, but only on issues where compromise is the only way to solve something.
Redefining words is the only way the one-party system here in America works.
Oh Orwell, what year is it?
You are so far to the right that conservatives look like progressives to you.
You don’t like anyone who is to the left of Atilla the Hun.
You are trying to define a far right-winger like George W. Bush as something other than a conservative because he is now discredited.
But I will agree that Romney, at one time, pretended to be a moderate, and now he is pretending to be a conservative. He is really an opportunist who doesn’t stand for anything except for himself. And he will be the nominee of your party. Better start goose-stepping behind him.
Bravo to the President, Maine Chiefs of Police Association and the President, Maine Sheriff’s Association for this appeal to the legislature on the behalf of Head Start and early intervention programs. Research after research study concludes that they make a difference in the lives of children, their families and their communities. Now is not the time to cut these programs back. If anything, it would behoove us to increase their outreach.