Paul LePage probably is fond of the cliche, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” We can infer as much from his first State of the State address Tuesday night.
The governor, even according to his Democratic critics, dialed back his usual pugnacious delivery. And he refrained from beating up those Democrats as he outlined the problems the state faces.
But inciting legislators to join him in his outrage does little but skate across the ice of ideology. Instead, a more sophisticated understanding of the dynamics of the problems he lists is called for, as are practical approaches to addressing them.
The governor can have plenty of sway by merely identifying a short list of challenges on which the Legislature should focus. If he sets the agenda in this way, he has gone far in stamping his influence on the legislative session. But by trying to persuade legislators and Maine residents to respond as he does is to swing for the fences rather than aim for a base hit.
The budget shortfall in the Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine economy got top billing.
In a span of a minute or two, the governor used the word “welfare” six times. It’s a term so broad and so loaded with disdain by those who use it that it has become a pejorative, not a descriptive term. The governor seems to believe that health insurance for poor, elderly and disabled Mainers, food and heating assistance programs, rent vouchers, early education programs like Head Start and aid for families with young children are all part of what he called “a free lunch.”
He likely doesn’t see the myriad of financial breaks for businesses as part of a free lunch.
And he never acknowledged that heavy reliance on government assistance programs comes in large part because of the worst national economy in 75 years. Our older, less healthy population is also a factor, yet there was no initiative for improving health.
The second thrust of his speech, the economy, certainly deserves the Legislature’s attention. But pointing to the relative prosperity enjoyed by New Hampshire and Massachusetts residents — respective median household incomes of $60,734 and $64,057, compared to Maine’s $45,708 — is only part of the picture. Living in those states costs a lot more, and unless Maine inherits a city from another state, the Greater Boston economy will always produce higher incomes.
“So I ask all of you, where is the outrage? Why should Mainers live in poverty while our neighbors who live on the other side of lines drawn on a map earn a far better income and lead much more prosperous lives?” he asked.
Maine’s small but far-flung population, its historical reliance on natural resource industries and seasonal tourism economy are far more influential in keeping wages low than the causes the governor cites: too many regulations on business and high energy costs. Of course, regulations must be streamlined and more clearly tied to valid threats. And energy remains a disincentive for businesses here (though Maine has lower electric costs than its New England neighbors).
“My friends in the Legislature, it’s time to be outraged,” the governor said, implying that the State of the State demanded it. But good governance isn’t fueled by outrage. It relies instead on clear, practical goals and the ability to compromise in achieving them.
Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo once compared the political process to leaning on a giant millstone being rolled slowly; the effort of a good governor can alter its course only slightly, but that effort is always worthwhile. Gov. LePage seems to want instead to shake his fist at the stone.
Thank you, BDN, for telling it like it is. Like Newt, he plays to our fears and accuses our neighbors of stealing from us. The real thieves are getting their free lunch from those big tax breaks given to corporations and the wealthy.
Well said.
Honey777….. You mean corporations like First Wind?
I’ve always thought First Wind is what a baby does shortly after it is born.
I want to hear from the scamming thieves when they let out their death rattle – LAST WIND!
The Bangor Daily used to be a good paper. I have been reading it for 43 years.
I think your editorial staff should move to New Hampshire and let Governor LePage clean up the past administrations mess.
When the State has enough jobs that pay enough, then he can talk about the people who want a so called free lunch. Looks like he partakes in many free lunches.
Viva Paul LePage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good to see this paper didn’t let us down. Just the usual biased reporting of anything LePage does. Not a single mention of a topic that will be a very hotly contested between now and NOvember – the renewable enrgy issue and referendum.
It sounds to me like the Governor knows that this is just another attempt by the wind lobby to insure it’s continued devastation of our mountain tops and the US Treasury. Legislation designed so that it can only favor wind power masquaradeing as a renewable energy “green” incentive. Just more legal manuvering by big wind.
So don’t continue to develop the great potential of wind? Just keep burning oil and fracking for natural gas to line the pockets of the oil industry robber barrons? You may say hydro and wood pellets. OK, that’s part of the mix, but doesn’t go far enough. To so thoughtlessly dismiss the potential of wind is frankly silly. How shortsighted. It works on Vinalhaven. It works up in Mars Hill. And we have received cutting edge grants at UMaine, strongly supported by REPUBLICAN Senator Collins, for offshore wind development. Maine should be the national leader in offshore wind. We have a great wind resource, and we need to find ways to develop it accordingly offshore and onshore where appropriate. And the greedy filthy dirty oil companies can go pound sand.
I don’t believe the argument is that there should be no wind development, but rather that we shouldn’t isolate wind power as our predetermined, favored power source without any consideration of its down side. Wind power is THE thing Maine is pursuing. No other renewable is being given the red carpet and special deals that wind power gets.
We had wind development in Maine prior to law changes that have effectively mandated wind power development to the exclusion of other sources, renewable or not. In fact, the majority of Maine’s existing wind capacity was permitted prior to the 2008 law change that added the last batch of grease to the skids for wind power. Already, half of the electricity produced in Maine comes from renewable sources and did so long before the first wind project was built here. (Source: EIA) The current referendum initiative to expand the RPS is just the latest batch of grease proposed for a new coating on the wind power skids.
If you’re not familiar with the policies and laws that accomplished all of this, I hope that you will become so before you get on the wind bandwagon.
Last, I can’t believe that there is still any perception out there that land based wind power is going to do anything significant about oil consumption in Maine. There is simply no logical reason this would be true. Only 0.4% of New England’s electricity was produced with oil in 2010 and it has been on a downward trend for years. (Source: ISO New England) ISO New England has flatly stated that the vast majority of wind generated electricity introduced to the grid would displace natural gas generated electricity.
Then let private industry develop the wind “resource” WITHOUT a taxpayer subsidy.
You buy no oil, propane or gasoline? Corporate entities fail when they have no customers. The “…greedy filthy dirty oil companies ….” exist because YOU and other citizens demand their product.
The answer is hydrogen shipped in from the moon. Hydrogen, when burned, produces only two by-products, oxygen, and water (clean enough to drink). The best news is that we don’t have to put ugly turbines on every mile of coastline, and atop every mountain in Maine. My guess is that when hydrogen is tanked in from space, the ships transporting it will have the ExxonMobil logo on their side. It is the “greedy filthy dirty oil companies” doing the the most research on alternate fuels.
I agree, Tinserblic. See my reply “SheKayLee” above.
Then you’ll be complaining about the greedy, filthy, dirty wind companies. If you morons had a lick of sense you’d see that hydro is a mature technology and that we should be building hydro dams as fast as we can.
Just one question to the BDN editorial writers: You write “energy remains a disincentive for businesses here”. This is certainly true, but why do you continue to support the development of the most costly and least effective form of electricity generation—wind? Why do you continue to support and industry that simply wouldn’t exist without massive subsidies and selling Enron-inspired RECs? Why do you continue to support Renewables mandates that not only push the proliferation of industrial wind sprawl across the vistas of our beautiful state, but also will saddle ratepayers with huge increases when the subsidies go away?
The Governor seems to understand this. He has consistently said since he started campaigning right up to the state of the state address that energy decisions must be made on sound economic basis with the goal of lowering costs, not for special interests, and right now the huge special interest in Maine, the wind industry, is destroying our state.
They told Ford that his cars were too expensive at the time, too. Not until they “tried and tried” again did they manage to make design and manufacturing reasonable. Same way with any new product. Remember the price of the first computers…that is if you could find the room to fit them in? Imagination and innovation are what the USA was made from. Give it a chance.
Imagination and innovation through private investment, not investment to whomever is the most connected to the government.
Wind power will send Maine’s high energy costs FAR FAR higher.
Wind power is just a scam that lines the pockets of Baldacci cronies like his former Chief of Staff Kurt Adams who took over $ 1million in stock options from future employer First Wind while Chairman of the PUC! While there, Adams greased the skids for the $1.5 billion CMP transmission upgrade. It is needed solely for Balacci’s wind friends who without it are dead in the water with their big plans to fleece us. Yet Baldacci and company said it was needed for reliability because our lines were old. BULL. They were and are fine and if Baldacci ever paid a CMP bill he’d know we all pay a monthly charge for maintenance.
Of course when Kurt Adams, who had been interviewing with First Wind for months while running the PUC was hired by First Wind, he comes aboard as Director of Transmission. Is there no shame?
Meanwhile, Baldacci tells us not to worry for we only will pay our 8% share of the ISO-NE grid on the $1.5 billion. But he neglects to tell us that we will also pay the same 8% on the $30 billion of similar wind-required transmission across the New England grid. That is an extra $4,500 per Maine ratepayer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BULL, that wind power does not increase costs.
Read all about this Kurt Adams tale at the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/20…
and
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/20…
and
http://pinetreewatchdog.org/20…
Glad Governor LePage is cleaning things up in Augusta.
These folks do the same thing over & over because they think we the people have no memory.
I remember.
I remember when the politicians sold us nuclear power telling us electricity would be free, because the costs of that industry would be too low to meter……How’s that working?
Everything is Lepages fault, he did nothing over the last 40 years to fix the tyrany of the democrats whom never found a regulation they didn’t want to impose, a tax they didn’t like or a surplus they couldn’t spend. Not to mention bills they never paid for all of these feel good social programs. (sarcasim off)
The BDN and their staff would do well to remember HOW we got in this mess and by WHOM. At least the man is trying to do something, I don’t agree with everything Lepage says, but more of the same policies the Dems are for are just going to dig us deeper and deeper into a hole.
Big spending politicians that lack common sense and basic math skills on both sides of the political spectrum are going to ruin this country.
It would be interesting to know on just what planet you get your facts. Under Democrats we got the homestead property tax exemption, the circuit breaker program, and various other tax-reducing measures. Prior to LePage they closed an $800million budget shortfall in a fair and balanced way without all the bullying and fist pounding you get from LePage. The guy is not a deep thinker. He can not see complex problems. To compare Maine’s median income to New Hampshire’s and Massachsetts’ shows his extreme lack of understanding of demographics and economic and geographical differentiation and history. Yes, Maine has it’s challenges, but they are complex, and we need intelligent, thoughtful leadership to address them. Mardens Man is the wrong guy for that job, and he has proven it over and over and over again.
No way did Baldacci and his Democratic led legislature close the $800 million budget shortfall in a fair and balanced way. Here’s some of how they did it: They cut state workers’ pay through mandatory unpaid furlough days, they just simply did not pay hospitals for MaineCare expenses, they restructured the billing of MaineCare for nursing homes so that instead of paying bi-weekly, they paid the bill monthly–this allowed them to push the last month’s payment into the next fiscal year, thus “saving” money–they used hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government’s one-time stimulus package, they froze COLA for state retirees.
My point here is not that Baldacci’s way was less “fair” than what LePage is proposing. My point is that there is no “fair” way to cut spending. When people rely on the government for their entire sustenance, then they are subject to the whims of the politicians. People suffered because of Baldacci’s cuts–and a lot of those people who suffered were people who paid their bills on time, supported themselves and their families i.e. played by the rules–and instead of being rewarded, they were penalized in favor of those who did not.
So all of the challenges and problems in this state only started when Lepage got into office? Yeah okay.
Like I said at least he’s trying to fix some of these things, he started pretty good too with things like paying the hospitals some long overdue back payments so they can keep afloat.
Coincedentaly, asking “What planet I get my facts from” sounds a lot like Lepages comment to Rep Paradis that was thought of as so rude.
“Prior to LePage they closed an $800million budget shortfall in a fair
and balanced way without all the bullying and fist pounding you get from
LePage.”
What planet were you living on then? Baldacii “balanced” the budget by not paying bills, getting one time infusions of revenue from things like selling the state liquor business to politicially connected Dem insiders at a fire sale price, and using accounting gimmicks that moved revenue and expenses from one year to the next. If a private business did what Baldy did they’d be prosecuted.
You are entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.
Here’s how we got into the this mess, northern. LePage put up a phony budget that was not adequate and was designed to create a “crisis”. Then he gave tax cuts to rich that they do not need or deserve (I’m blessed to be one of those).
there is no crisis and the fixes are simple.
He put up a “phony budget?” Do you wear a tinfoil hat?
Tax cuts to the rich? If you believe this story no one in this state makes enough money to survive!
Beating up granny and taking away her walker is not an economic development strategy.
Exaggeration and drama is no way to repair unsustainable state spending practices.
Too bad LePage doesn’t understand that.
A reasonable article so therefore will be ignored.
I appreciate your opinion and respect your right to post it but I love the man and think that he is doing a wonderful job. His tone irritates you because he is frustrated with 40 years of mismanagement by democrats hell bent on being the answer to every problem know to mankind and spending valuable resources that we no longer have. You make great points but none of it is the result of any common sense thinking. We need the change, and like it or not, its happening.
Well said
LePage has failed to accept the fact that the simplist, quickest solution to the high costs of “welfare” and MaineCare is to put people to work with good jobs and good benefits. He’s not fit to govern.
something about lowering electricity bills so businesses can compete? = jobs
We have the lowest electrical rates in New England
do we really have the lowest rates in New England? please cite you source. My electric bill is outrageous and now that the “smart meter” was just installed, I am waiting with baited breath to see how high my bill is next time!
That’s like being the prettiest girl at the Wytopitlock dance. We aren’t only competing with New England.
Pass the kool aid.
There is a broad stream of criticism in this editorial. I agree with most of it, while disagreeing with certain points. Having lived in both New Hampshire and Maine, I found that the living costs are lower in New Hampshire. The Granite State has no sales or income tax, lower energy costs, lower food costs, and a far higher property tax rate. Interestingly an apartment in Manchester rents for a lower rate than a similar apartment in Portland. the reason for this seeming disparity is that landlords in Manchester do not pay State tax on rental income, and they can deduct their property tax as a business expense on their federal returns.
I think this is what the governor is speaking of. It would be good to have a discussion about alternate ways to run the State.
The other big point is where I disagree with LaPage. The elderly who played by the rules, worked all their lives, and now through no fault of their own find themselves sinking, deserve our support. I for one do not mind paying something to keep the heads of our elderly folks above water….ditto for children. Administrative costs for agencies serving these groups are too high. Also for each agency taxpayers must foot the bill for energy, rent, and ancillary (non-direct service) staff. I suggest that cutting out some vendors, and moving the service piece to others would save money while not deep-sixing consumers.
As for selling outrage, don’t all politicians do that? Obama sells outrage about Mitt’s tax rate, and Bush sold outrage about 9/11
Can you please point out where the property tax rates in New Hampshire are higher than Maine. The mil rates are similar as far as I can tell. Maybe the difference is that New Hampshire residents can afford more expensive houses than the tax poor people of Maine.
….
Just throwing this out there, but I think if you support the “welfare” system the way it is and investing tax payer money in things like wind and tidal power, there should be a little box on our income tax form where you can donate as much as you want. The rest of us can maybe enjoy a lower tax bill and you can just feel good about ” paying it forward”
You at the BDN just don’t get it. Even facts don’t sway you. Just another daily attack on our Governor.
Unfortunately daily attacks are not enough. LePage needs to be run out of the state on a rail.
what we should be outraged about is a governor who is clueless to real issues facing the state, who manufacturers “crises” and has only a simplistic hard line partisan answer to the complex problems our state faces every day.
Where’s the Outrage, indeed!
no he is used buying factory rejects and selling at higher prices. to the poor.
The best, most accurate indication that we are headed in the right direction is the whining, squealing, and caterwauling of the Bolsheviks at the Bangor Daily News.
Paulie should be outraged at whoever gave him that “Moe” haircut. Like his cabinet choices, Paulie vetted by politics rather than credentials.
The basic responses here are, someone else is responsible (Dems or Reps or Libs or Teas or the BDN and anything else you can point a finger at) for everything that’s wrong. We’ve either been living under tyranny for decades or one year into a new dark age.
Here’s a new spin, we’re all responsible. Funny thing about living in a democracy is that “we the people” thingy. We’re in a contract together folks. That’s what it means to be American, and we’re a work in progress.
I’m no fan of LePage, but I try like hell every day to give him the benefit of the doubt. Regardless of my personal opinion, I can’t abide his most avid supporters with their “love it or leave it” attitude. It’s a total cop-out. It’s so much easier to amputate the problem, then actually try and solve it. And for those less supportive of our Governor it breaks my heart each time you resort to petty comments and sarcastic remarks. You only fuel the fire of resistance, and further perpetuate disdain for your cause.
No doubt about it, we’ve got worries. But until we all own up to our part in the problem and start understanding what it means to be an American we won’t be able to solve anything. Stop trying to come up with the best shock jock comments and quippy zingers and actually contribute. The anonymity of the internet has given some a false sense of entitlement to speak in a way they would never allow themselves to do when face to face.
So come on people, you’re better than all this embarrassing insult volleying.
Then again, it is your right to speak your mind. I just hope you use your mind before you speak.
The BDN today ran three pieces, a news analysis, an editorial, and an OpEd, all designed to undermine any positive response readers might have to Governor LePage’s State of the State speech. Wouldn’t there be some value in applauding some of it–the emphasis on technical education, for example, the outrage that we ARE poorer than our neighbors (is that only because we live further away from Boston and should we comforted that life in Maine is also so much cheaper?). What we badly need in Maine is to come together on practical initiatives we can support together. The BDN claims that the Governor is not good at bringing us together. Is the BDN? What would happen if the editorial today were to say that while there are issues on which we disagree, there are issues on which we CAN work together? Anyone who reads the comments on this blog will notice how little the BDN is doing to create a common ground where we can work respectably and responsibly together. What if that were the BDN’s editorial emphasis? For many of us the Governor’s outrage at poverty in Maine has a welcome eloquence even when we disagree with him on specifics?
Well said TB. It’s got to be bad when people like myself, who struggle to support our Governor, start being put off by the constant negative spin. It makes the overall credibility start to sink, even if the majority is editorial.
Its a shame that we close a nursing home in Washinton County where employment is so low and transfer to Hancock County…something smells in this…We dont protect our elderly but we continue to build methadone clinics….What does this say to our elderly, disabled and poorer citizens???We tax cigarettes and let alcohol stay without increasing tax on that…something tells me this is another incident that needs looking into…When is our legislature going to address some of the problems caused by not addressing the pressing problems with DHS? We have many needy in Maine and we reduce taxes on the wealthy….This is wrong.