AUGUSTA, Maine — Republicans and Democrats on the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee appeared to part ways on Monday during negotiations over a 2013 supplemental budget package for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Some lawmakers had been holding out hope that the two sides might find common ground and pass another bipartisan budget, but it now seems that whatever comes out of the committee will have only Republican support.
“It’s always preferable to have bipartisan support, but it appears that we are at a point where we aren’t quite able to bridge the divide,” Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, co-chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday.
Democrats accused Republicans of capitulating to Gov. Paul LePage and his demands for structural changes to MaineCare.
“The governor has handed down secret marching orders to the Republicans with no intention of informing the public,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, the lead House Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “I’m saddened to see such an end-run around the public and disregard for our working together. As a veteran member of this committee, I’ve never seen such an overstep by a governor. He may as well be chairing the committee.”
Late last week, the governor’s office presented a change package on the 2013 DHHS budget but shared it only with Republicans. Rotundo and Sen. Dawn Hill, D-York, didn’t get copies until late in the day and only after a request.
The Legislature’s non-partisan Office of Fiscal Program and Review was not given a copy of the proposed changes, according to the Democrats.
“The Republicans are choosing to abandon the bipartisan work this committee has done on five other budgets,” said Hill. “We are distressed to see the Republicans caving to the ideological right wing and disarray of their party rather than working together for the good of Maine people. In the aftermath of the convention, the radical right is emboldened and now hijacking the state’s business.”
“The statements made by Rep. Peggy Rotundo and Sen. Dawn Hill are outrageous, exaggerated and, in several cases, simply untrue,” House Speaker Robert Nutting said in a statement Tuesday.
“To say that ‘the governor has handed down secret marching orders’ is untrue,” he added. No Republican member of Appropriations has been told how to vote by the governor. They have their own thoughts and will craft a budget that best serves the people of their districts and of the state of Maine.”
Rosen also disagreed with the Democrats’ characterization of the process.
“I think the positions of both sides have been consistent for awhile,” he said. “Republican members feel it’s very important to modify some of the programs in DHHS in a way that achieves annual savings. We’re not interested in one-time fixes.
“The Democrats have been consistent that they cannot support a number of the changes needed. But it’s getting to the point where we have to move forward.”
In February, lawmakers approved a bipartisan supplemental budget that addressed a shortfall in DHHS for 2012. Many controversial items were removed from that budget, prompting many Democrats to support it.
However, many of the pieces have returned in the 2013 budget package, including eliminating optional coverage for 19- and 20-year olds and reducing coverage of parents of eligible children from 133 percent of poverty level to 100 percent.
Also on the table are major cuts to the Fund for Healthy Maine, the state’s tobacco settlement money, cuts to the Drugs for the Elderly program and the elimination of Head Start funding.
Other possible cuts include eliminating screening services for sexually transmitted diseases and eliminating optional services covered under MaineCare such as vision, chiropractic services, podiatry services, physical therapy and dental care.
Rosen said he expected his committee to pass a budget by the end of this week. It wasn’t clear Tuesday exactly what would be included.
The full Legislature is scheduled to reconvene next Tuesday to vote on the 2013 DHHS budget, five bond proposals totaling $95 million and at least one leftover piece of controversial legislation known as the “takings” bill.
Two weeks ago, the budget gap in the Department of Health and Human Services 2013 budget shrunk by about $7 million and now stands at $82.5 million. Just a few days later, state officials announced that revenues projections for 2013 were up by nearly $50 million.
In theory, those two pieces of good news should have made it easier on the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, but that wasn’t the case.
Lawmakers have put off action on the 2013 DHHS supplemental budget because there are no easy answers. And although the financial outlook seems better on paper, a closer look suggests otherwise.
About $43 million of the increased revenue is pegged for 2012. The growth is much slower in 2013, largely because of income tax cuts that were included in last year’s biennial budget. Some Democrats have made an issue out of this, but most voted for that budget.
Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, also said last week that just because the state has more revenue doesn’t mean it should automatically be spent. “That’s part of why Maine is in such bad shape,” he said. “Anytime we saw extra money come in, we spent it.”
In addition to the MaineCare changes, the budget is likely to include cuts to general assistance, which were the focus of a line-item veto by Gov. LePage last month.
The governor has said recently that he would not consider bonds until lawmakers present him with a budget he likes, a promise he reiterated over the weekend in his remarks at the Maine Republican Party convention.
Committee work on the 2013 DHHS budget has been delayed due to serious computer errors in the MaineCare claims processing system that made the department’s actual financial situation unclear.
DHHS officials recently revealed that 7,000 individuals used MaineCare cards when they no longer were eligible, which resulted in $6.8 million in improper payments of state funds and $3.7 million in improper payments with federal funds.
It makes me laugh to hear the democrats whining about the Republicans passing a majority budget, which is the first one of this legislature, when that’s all the Dems did when they were in power. I’m surprised the Republicans have been as willing to compromise as they have been this session as the Democrats never gave them the time of day when they were in power. To the GOP: keep doing the right thing, even if the Dems are crying and Russell is willing to MAKE a story out of it.
Chear-up Pete, Reporter (a term I use lightly)Russell has been rustled by the Portland Press Herald. His knack for taking Democratic Party press releases in turning them into “stories” will by loved by the Sussman-Pingree family and will feel right at home.
So who are they replacing him with, Peggy Rotundo or Emily Cain?
Sorry been away for a while on business. Actually David Farmer comes to mind. He is of the politically correct persuasion and would fit right in at the BDN.
Tell me how this isn’t a story? The Ds and Rs have compromised on every single budget since LePage took office. This time, they are not going to. That’s a story — and not because the Democrats say so. I understand you want to criticize my work, but seriously, tell me why I shouldn’t have written this story?
-Eric Russell
Do you think that the headline of your story does not present a unnecesssary bias? You apparently took one unsubstantiated comment made by a democrate and used it as the headline, couldn’t this story just as easily been titled “Dem’s -Repub’s divided on budget” or something to that effect..Yes there is a story here but many of us on both sides are tired of writers like you and newspapers like BDN who don’t even attempt to be unbiased.
So, now the problem is the headline? I didn’t write the headline. Read the whole story again and tell me where the bias is. I think you could argue that the Democrats come off looking like complainers and obstructionists in this story, which some commenters have pointed out. I’m happy to take criticism, but I think you’re off base here.
-Eric Russell
My only complaint with the article is the headline which I think you would have to admit creates a bias and over sensationalizes the news contained in the article. I do understand that you as a writer probably have little to no say over the title of the article.
Strength is needed for effective governing but at a certain point leads to diminishing returns and at a certain point beyond that backfires. The jury is still out on whether Governor LePage will be re-elected, I think that it could go either way.
Come this November he becomes the lamest of ducks because his silly party will lose the legislature in huge numbers. Two years later he gets tossed out of office like a bad habit and goes down in history as the WORST excuse for a governor this state has ever, ever had.
Possibly but I believe many want a balance of power between the two major parties and don’t want either to be able to excessively dominate.
LePage has reached his diminishing returns every time he tries to put 2 sentences together regarding the healthcare of Mainer’s. If Paulie had his way we’d all be given an asprin at the Doctor’s office and if that didn’t work, well, we’d be given the number for the local undertaker since whatever we had was beyond the capability of the local medical folk’s to deal with. That’s LePage’s, and his buddies at MHPC, ALEC and the Tea Party folk’s, idea of health care. Anyone else wnat to jump on-board ?
This is simply false. Wrong, incorrect, based on nothing.
Democrats are total and utter hypocrites. Just look at their history.
In the latest “proposal” that he wants his REPUBLICAN lapdogs to slam down the throats of Mainers, Paul Richard LePage has decided to
eliminate the Drugs for the Elderly and Medicare Savings Program. We heard quite a bit about “death panels” from Mrs. Palin a couple of years ago. It seems that LePage has decided against “death panels”. By eliminating Drugs for the Elderly and The Medicare Savings Program he apparently has decided that it is more important to save a few tax dollars for his tea party friends and just let Grandma die.
Sanity and reality based thinking has returned to Maine. Now if we could only get it transplanted to Augusta !
Can’t wait for Nov 2012 >>>> Bye , Bye R’s .
O.K. We’ll see. The only reason the “D’s” may do well in Nov. is they will be reeling in unregistered voters of unknown origins and “getting the vote out”, and giving them a quick education on their choices just before they hit the ballot boxes.All in the name of keeping the train wreck in D.C. alive and assuring marriage equality. I’m sure it will be all above board though.
Either you are lying or you are delusional. These extremely nutty accusations of voter fraud have been thoroughly debunked, even by your own buddy Charlie Summers’ investigations. And yes, your silly, goofy, riduculous joke of a corporate-owned anti-Christian ultra-hyprocrite TeaFool party is going to be pounded into oblivion at the voting booth in November by the vast majority of Mainers who have had enough of the utter disaster that they are along with that goofy fool you call a governor.
I guess Achorn got in hot water with voter fraud for no reason at all. Granted they weren’t a factor in Maine, but they certainly weren’t behind the Republicans. And why else does the left strongly appose same day voter registration, and anything else that would make it more difficult to commit voter fraud? Because they would be the ones that would lose out the greatest on election day. What holds non- resident college students back from voting absentee from their home state, all the while voting here in Maine? But I suppose if this was really a non-problem for the “D”s then you wouldn’t be so defensive would you.
You understand very little about reality, indeed. Too much talk radio is evident in your assumptions. What evidence do you have to back up your claims?
This content in this link sure casts a lot of doubt on what has been going on in the leftist world and their “outreaching” arm ACHORN. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Community_Organizations_for_Reform_Now
And if you are eluding to people that listen to conservative talk radio are delusional, I believe people who get their news from NPR, MSNBC, CBS etc.etc. are also in need of a wake up call. These outlets could hardly be called unbiased. If they can’t report something that makes the left’s cause look bad, they just don’t report it. The left has nothing to stand on other than “everyone they represent is a victim”. It’s getting our country in a world of hurt, and has done so since the sixties.
They were just a big ball of cooperation when they refused to go back and affirm their first vote! I don’t know who you have been listening to! Anyhow, won’t matter after Nov.
Russell will feel right at home at the Pingree Press Herald.
Sorry WhoIsPete, you are wrong about the majority budget thing. Happened once in the last 10 years and it was reworked by a 2/3 vote later in that session. Have to ask John Martin how often it has happened before that, but I know rarely is the answer.
So the right thing is forcing elderly people to choose between prescription drugs and food?
Bring out the lawyers and lawsuits if it does not go the Dumecrats way.
Le Page is in total control – not the GOP – Le Page. What he says goes. His bosses are the Koch brothers, and he must stay within the ideological framework of the Tea Party.
Is LePage’s management style a strength or weakness? Of course it is some of both. Often one’s greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses are in the same area. LePage’s tenure is at a crossroads. He has alienated a lot of people in Maine, putting his re-election in 2014 in doubt. At the same time, his strong (some might say heavy handed) approach has lead to real accomplishments (whether you agree with them or not) that he and others can cite. I do not know whether he will be re-elected but I believe, more generally, that we always elect what we feel most comfortable with collectively, and of course the pendulum also swings. The dynamics of who is running and how the vote is split also obviously plays a role.
I challenge you to highlight how any single aspect of his decision-making process qualifies as a “management style”.
We all manage our lives and interactions whether we are in politics or not. Its an unavoidable aspect of human relationships and activity.
How hilarious. That defines ‘management style’ to be so broad and vague that it’s meaningless and not clear what it would NOT include. Maybe it would not include being in the bathroom, since that involves no ‘human relationships,’ however it IS a ‘human activity’!
It is broad yes but that is far from meeting a criteria of being meaningless. For example, principles are broad but I don’t think many would say that they are meaningless. How you apply something in regard to the specifics is critical.
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Reasoned arguments are in the details. Making generalities is easier but often painting with too broad a brush stroke.
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:)
Thanks to the Lepage Administration we were able to move a portion of our company back to Maine from New Hampshire due to a change in the way business equipment is taxed. We added high paying, professional skills jobs here in Maine as a result. Our company’s Maine division and its employees pay a significant amount of Maine taxes, too.
We spent 6 years and a lot of money working with the prior Democratic Administration and key personnel of the Democratic Majority on this issue to no avail. LePage and his staff and the new Majority in the legislature made it happen in 5 months.
What’s not to like about that? That’s change I can believe in and support–unlike the “change” I voted for in the last Presidential election.
I forced myself to read through the comments completly in order to confirm something to myself
As I suspected, your post was ignored in favor of repeating talking points. I just don’t understand the extent of bitterly clinging to past ,ineffective policys displayed here.
It is true that Governor LePage won with less than 40% of the vote which means that (many) more people did not vote for him than did, but it is equally true that he did win and there is a segment of the population that supports what he is doing.
Gov LePage doesn’t care if he is re-elected or not, and will run on his record of accomplishments, and they are many.
It is up to the people of Maine to decide whether they want to continue to be a welfare state, and whether or not they want to keep being dependent on a federal government that is broke, or, we can get involved politically and help him fight against big government, while we pull on our boots and get to work producing opportunities for our communities and families, as the governor is doing for all of us.
If it is to be, it is up to us…
Contrary to what you assume is true, based on Le Page’s assertions, Maine is not a welfare state.
Washington County Maine Pop. 32,490……all three welfare programs totals 15,240 people….46.9 percent of pop. on some form of welfare.
Washington County needs to develop its sea-related industries. The mammoth tidal power project, advocated by FDR., got scuttled by Canadians and republicans.
really Briney,
not a welfare state?? you may want to view the information from Maine
Open Gov, to get a clue,(
http://maineopengov.org/index.php/welfare1/ ) or possibly read this news
article from a possible friend of yours, Roxanne Quimby, ( http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2011/10/07/news/state/roxanne-quimby-calls-maine-%E2%80%98a-welfare-state%E2%80%99/ ), where these
stats were made available( http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/fas-10.pdf ) Do you realize one in three Mainers are on some form of welfare now? or
that we are number two on the top ten list in the major categories of
welfare, like food stamps for example, do some research, and check the
facts for yourself, but understand Maine is a welfare state, because
understanding the truth will help set you free, and if more of Maine
would wake up, we could create some opportunities for our kids, so they
can stay here and make a living, and not rely on a handout, like so many
lazy bums here in Maine…wake up and get a clue Briney, it’s you and your families future that is at stake, along with my four kids…
The truth – according to Le Page, or, Romney, who now claims he saved the auto industry?
Remove the violators from state welfare rolls. The DHHS uncovered thousands illegally taking advantage of welfare checks.
You should wake up and seek clues as to why Le Page follows the edicts and ideology of the Tea Party, as founded by the Koch brothers.
Two: Dissolve the Legislature and crown Le Page, King. He has proven he works better unhampered by a Legislature.
I guess he opened that new site for campaign contributions so he could donate the money to charity.
you may want to invest into some reading comprehension lessons gsgofer…I did not say he was not running .
“Gov LePage doesn’t care if he is re-elected or not”
exactly, if you read into that statement, it implies he will run again gsgofer.
Have a good day, and God bless…
It is possible that you are correct that Governor LePage doesn’t care whether he is re-elected, although he has already taken early political steps to attempt to become re-elected. In a more general sense, and I can tell that you speak with passion for what you believe, I believe that no matter how good (or bad) one’s ideas may be, one must, while being a strong advocate, have a healthy respect for others to realize that some may disagree. In Governor LePage’s case, he did win the election but more than 60% voted for a different candidate, so I feel that this should, at the least, temper his approach. He certainly didn’t win, with those vote totals, as a mandate. But in my opinion he acts as perhaps he believes that he did.
Hello Mr Hammer, although the governor only won with around 38% of the vote, I believe Mr Baldacci won with less, and now Gov LePage’s approval rating is around 50%, which shows me that Maine is realizing, although the steps being taken are tough on many of us, they are needed to bring businesses back, needed to get people off the couch and back to work. The governor does want to be re-elected but he is not going to pander for votes, or make promises to voters by giving out tax dollars for votes, in other words, he will work hard to bring opportunity back to every citizen of Maine, to make better lives for ourselves through our own hard work, and get government out of our way so we have that opportunity. The governor is a hard core business man, and learning the process of governing like many of us, because it moves slower than he normally is used to, but, he has made many adjustments personally, and is, as I expected, making the needed adjustments. After the state tried to take over our schools through the consolidation debacle, and our town budgets, I got involved with a goal of getting someone elected to get Maine headed in the right direction, and helped start the tea party of Maine at http://www.themaineteaparty.com and many of us, who are just parents and regular working Mainers, worked relentlessly researching the candidates, and then agreeing for the most part, that Paul LePage was the best candidate running. He promised the right changes of lowing taxes, making Maine a place for jobs to come back, and less government, and he has truly been working in that direction, and keeping his word to us, and to Maine people, and his strategy and tactics have been smoothing out and getting more support everyday, even though they are very direct, people in our state understand he is heading us in the right direction. On, a personal note, please don’t believe much of what you hear about his personal character, because Paul and Ann are just some of the nicest people you would ever meet, and Paul can agree to disagree respectfully, unlike many of the people who work against him…
Baldacci won with the same, and I don’t believe it was right in either case. We should have some sort of runoff election so the governor that we get represents at least a majority of the people. Instant Runoff would be best, so we don’t need to have a whole new election and can get the results the same day.
That 2/3rds number continues to get closer and closer each and every time LePage does something idiotic. He intentionally does this, because, he knows of no other way. He has always managed on the sly, and has never represented anyone in the state house prior to this.
He will soon again, bring Maine to the forefront of negative national headlines. His administration is simply an exercise in futility. I wonder how many tea party poster’s will say that other administrations have acted the same?
This is absurd, disrespectful to those representatives who work just as hard as he does, or thinks he does. This is just another slap in the face of elective government and legislative protocol. It ends soon.
Liberlism is alive and well in Oregon I see.
The liberals had no respect for the Republicans durning their 30/40 years of tenure. I remember durning the Baldacci years when the Democratic party refused to allow any Repubs to chair on any committe and said so openly. The Repubs were told by the Dems to feel lucky if they were allowed on a committe at all… So you want the disrespectful to be respected.. Wait, of course you do…
lepage is a classic example of why the republicans get no resepect, they don’t deserve it–enjoy his 1 term
And the Democrats do, your kidding yourself rube. Your forgetting its Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, Tea Party, Independents (myself) we are the reason why Dems are where they are right now. Rube the Dems need to go ask people who voted against them why they are out of power. They need to ask Greens who they have been aligned with on most issues why the Greens want nothing to do with them. They need to ask Maine Greens , Why the Greens repealed the Dems TAX Reform Bill, Dirigo/Soda Tax Bill, Helped Repeal Gay Marriage supported by Dems. Everyone is sick of the failed status quo, they are sick of the suffacating Welfare and Nanny State. The lack of jobs, the closing of factories at alarming rates under Dems in Maine. Why Dems keep fighting everything from LNG, Natural Gas Pipelines, Casinos/Racinos, Tax Relief , Cheaper Electricity from Canada, Indian Tribal Businesses, East-West Highways, Manufacturing jobs etc.. Rube , The Democrats need to start listening to what the Working Person wants not what the people who are they are buying votes from.
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For what it is worth responding to you…..and it’s not much…..I’m not a liberal. You continue to attack poster’s, but yet have no explanation for the governor’s actions. A governor that few are proud to call him that.
I will not argue the point, I’m a democrat……and you somehow have to legitimize your party’s ineptitude, and you do it by saying, I’m a liberal. Have fun with that, in the meantime, legitimize why your party can’t even consolidate it’s own self, at it’s own convention, explain why YOUR party has lost it’s best spokesperson (Olympia)? She is shunning and leaving the senate for the exact same reason as to why you improperly labelled me as a liberal.
You, David….are the problem, not the solution.
Olympia didn’t represent me, more dems voted for her then repubs… She left Maine long ago and she lives in Virginia, That is where her home is, not Maine. Her mail doesn’t come to her Aunts old house in Maine where she grew up.. How could she represent Maine or even run for office when she is not a Mainer.. Also her huband using taxpaer money over 2 billon a year is being taken to court for issues dealing with the money.
Every day that passes brings another nail in the coffin of republicans in the fall election. Paul LePage single-handedly is doing more with his backroom deals to rid Augusta of republican legislators then even the best financed and organized democratic campaign ever could. Maine people have seen what the LePage administration is all about, don’t like it and will let their voices be heard on November 6th.
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Cutting Head Start funding is just short sighted!
Why? Why should I pay for someone else’s daycare costs?
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I suppose you can choose to pay a little for Head Start now, or a lot for other programs later. Research proves that between 0-3 particularly, and then 3-5 being next, the most brain development happens. Address that and kids will turn out better.
The problem with conservatism is it always looks at the now, instead of twenty years from now. If you can save money now, forget whether it will cause huge expenses in the future for your children. Which is what cutting Head Start will do.
I have answered your question, unfortunately, I’m going to guess you will reject empirical data in favor of your personal belief.
Just an observation, but it seemed that children certainly turned out better before this Head Start program, where parents have children for sport and ship them off for someone else to teach them manners because they can’t be bothered. Why do people have children that they know very well that they can’t afford in the first place?
Contrary to Hillary Clinton, it takes responsible parents to raise a child, the “village” is doing a terrible job.
That has always been a puzzlement to me also. I never saw a classroom until kindergarten (I was over 5½ yrs old) I always did very well in school and I wasn’t the exception. I was reading and writing quite well by the end of the 2nd grade. There is an element missing today that we had plenty of in my generation, tho. Our mothers stayed home. (Yes, those mothers that never worked a day in their life) We had nutrional, well-balanced breakfasts and if we lived close enough to walk to school, we could choose to go home for lunch (which I did) Another good lunch by our mother. We received lots of positive attention and discipline as well 3 great squares daily.
Recess was fun and we played games that required lots of physical stamina. Our favorite game …… yes, kickball. (No longer allowed on the padded and insulated playgrounds of today) We played hard, were fed well and grew strong in body, mind and academics. It was next to impossible for us to be fat and tubby.
Well, you have a few choices. You can start forcibly sterilizing everyone you don’t think should have children (which is hyperbole but an option, I’m pretty sure most people don’t want to do this). You can pay benefits to the mothers of the children, so the children can eat. Or you can opt not to, and let them starve. The problem here is that when everyone attacks “welfare”, they’re attacking the system that keeps our children fed.
Why is it that people think we should visit a mother’s poor choices on her child? I support the social safety net not because I support her poor choices, but because I don’t think her kids should starve.
Head Start has been around since 1964. Their own study shows that any “head start” these children received was lost upon entering first grade. I don’t know if that is in your empirical data or not, but it was in their own study.
I dont live near you or use your services–why should the taxes from the southern part of the state keep the northern part functioning?
Maine is one state.
and children of maine are in one state, no?
Well rube until all of Maine prospers then its going to be in an economic mess. If the Liberals in Southern Maine don’t like it they can always become part of Massachusetts they act like it now anyways. That is the problem the Liberal Southern Maine has been dictating the agenda now for way too long and its costing all of Maine for the awful decisions that Liberals have made catering to a the leftist elite.
But it is Northern Maine which is the reason that Maine takes in more federal dollars than it sends out. Which I don’t hold against them, mind, but get your facts straight. It is “Liberal Southern Maine” that builds the schools in what I guess you believe is “Conservative Northern Maine”.
head start is not day care.
So those children can pay your social security someday! Just one reason… Dont want to overwhelm conservative brains.
If Head Start is imperative to children being successful as adults, how on earth did people like myself and my children, now grown, and all the folks that didn’t have this “entitlement” when they were young ever become productive? Liberals can spin anything, can’t they?
And evil.
Not only does LePuke attack the poor, but the children of the poor as well. He is a sociopath hell bent on subjugating the poor now; next it will be the middle class. Actually, he is already coming after them by putting cities and towns in the postion of raising more of their own funding which will have a major impact on middle class property owners. Keep it up and we’ll be ripe for corporate servitude. His attempts to shrink government are aimed at the deregulation of our natural resources so that the multinational corporations can come in, get their money, and get out, leaving us with the clean up.
Are they saying the Dems do not listen to their Democratic leaders when they are in power? The truth is the change we all need is going to hurt and will not be pretty. But it needs to be done just the same. And if that means the Republicans have to go it alone then so be it.
Making stuff up is what the right wing does, then they keep repeating it over and over until they start to believe it and they hope that others start to believe it. Someone said “It is not a
lie if you believe what you are saying” this is how they reconcile their lying with their religion.
You have heard ” he is a Christian so he must be the truth”, this is how they get so many to follow them blindly. It seems to work for them.
The left does that just as much. Also the Liberals often “lie without lying” by making vague and ambiguous promises that don’t explicitly make the claims they are implying. Then they get away with their constant lying. I consider myself an Independent but I get amused by Liberals self righteous attitudes. When they are constantly lying.
LePage is giving “Secret marching orders.” I don’t think it’s much of a secret, he’s telling them how to vote against the people of Maine which will in turn lead us to giving every member of the GOP/Tea Party up for re-election in November their Overt Marching Orders out of Augusta. All thanks to Paulie with a little help from his friends/and of course all those close family members he’s put on our the taxpayer’s payroll.
A governor with back bone, thats why I’ll vote for him again. Great work Mr. LePage
The extra bone you are referring to is in his head.
You are no more a woodsman than LePage is a Governor.
You are no more a Canadian than Pinegree is a Mainer.
Oh, so you’re the ONE who will vote for him again.
I think you find alot more people would vote for him again. Unlike that Lying Liberal Democrat Buffoon who calls himself an Independent Eliot Cutler. As an Independent I am appalled and ashamed to have this useless bum and Angus King apart of the Independent tent. These 2 are no more Independent than if Libby Mitchell or Baldy were Independent. They are 2 useless Ultra-Liberal Democrats very afraid they would lose to a Democrat in a Democrat Primary. Eliot and Angus go away go far away, You two are part of the Liberal Establishment that is destroying our state and country with your awful radical socialist agenda.
100% Right on. There really isn’t a true Independent body in this State, they are liberals trying to fool voters to think they are independent so they can will the votes from both parties. I voted for Gov. King twice…not a third time for any thing now!
I would say, by the nature of your remarks, they are a little closer to being independent than you.
You Sir are no Independent.
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Time to have your doctor adjust your meds again.
You can count my vote for him TWO!
The family member’s jobs were to”Get them off the couch”.
You’re forgetting those ‘secret marching orders’ were writing by the Koch brothers..oh wait, was it the Heritage Foundation, oh no, it was MHCP….Whatever, they’re secret, shsssh….but the democrats can see them, like that zombie over there in the closet and the smirk of Bush from under the bed.
Maybe if the lefties adjust the antennae on their tin foil hats, they’ll be able to intercept these secret messages before they make it to the Appropriations Committee…
Mittwitless (R)money is probably the largest lier I have ever seen, he now is taking credit for the auto bailout, saying this is what I said should be done (bankruptcy), the only problem being who did he say it to, there seems to be no record of that statement only “let them go bankrupt”.
I have never seen such lying by so called religious people, what is going on?? Can’t people tell the truth anymore???
What does this have to do with the article or even about Maine in general.
Two wrongs make a right?
You’re accusing the right wing of making stuff up and, yes, maybe they do sometimes. But while making this accusation you sound like you’re making up stuff up too, aren’t you? No, I have never heard any responsible person say, “he is a Christian so he (it) must be the truth”. By far this attitude certainly doesn’t reflect what most Christians believe, as you falsely imply.
My dictionary defines a lie as “an intentionally false statement”. If someone utters something believed to be true, then that person is not lying regardless of the truthfulness (or lack of it) of the statement. It may be accurate to say that he or she made a false statement, but it is not accurate to say “they lied” when the statement is believed to be true.
Overall your comment sounds like a dig at Christians; for example, your remark: “this (lying) is how they get so many to follow them blindly”. I am a Christian. My faith is certainly not blind. It is based on a lot of solid evidence. I wonder however if your own apparent lack of faith in Christianity, or perhaps in a loving and saving God, is not blind.
Re: He is a Christian so he must be telling the truth. Ask my brother-in-law about the one he kept telling me about how honest he was and I should invest money with him, some $20,000 later (not my money) the honest Christian was gone. An intentional false statement is what many of the right wing do and then they start to believe it themselves so then it is no longer a lie. I am not picking on Christians, they as well as any religious are certainly free to believe whatever they want, just don’t act holier than I and go on with known lies and do things that are against their religion.
I don’t know your brother-in-law, so how can I ask him about what you stated? Besides, a weak or pretentious Christian doesn’t represent Christianity or the political right, we all know that. And neither does an atheist represent anything or anyone with the possible exception of himself. It’s called narcissism.
Did your dictionary have a picture of Al Gore?
Let’s see a few weeks ago, the Legislature’s Republicans rejected LePage’s reforms and the Dem’s danced in glee at his ‘isolation’. Now with the popularity of LePage growing with every victory; the Dem. party line was changed to how he ‘controls’ the R’s in the Legislature.
Conspiracy theories, paranoia, and just plain dumb hatred out of the minority party.
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Sounds to me like you are talking about left wingers, the party where truth is non existent.
Lets see–Obama is a Muslin–Obama was not born in the US.- The health care act has death panels–Taxes will increase–Guns will be taken–Obama is forming a civilian army–The economy has not gotten worse–The auto companies will be gone if we bail out–
I could go on but I think you might get the idea.
I would love to know which of these are true? Like none!!!!!!!!!!
How many balanced budgets did you see the democratic governors pass over the past 30yrs
All state budgets passed since 1820 were balanced.
The state constitution requires it.
You should pick one up and read it sometime.
What Fanta should have asked is: How many budgets did you see the Democratic governors pass over the past three decades without gimmicks and ‘kick the can down the road’ tricks that balanced the budget only on paper? The answer to that would have to be: not many, because money has burned a hole in politicians’ pockets in Augusta for many years – in fact, they argued over spending tobacco money for a year or more before they even received it. Kevin Raye is right…just because Augusta has extra revenue doesn’t mean that it *has* to be spent.
The Dems excluded paying hundreds of millons in bills to pass a balanced budget.. OK we don’t have to add what we owe to hospitals in the budget.
All of them.
Really is that why everyone single Democrat/Democrat-Independent has had a massive shortfall. If you think Democrats balanced the budget keep drinking the kool-aid. Keep supporting the Welfare Gravy Train, The massive bond packages, the huge tax hikes, spending hikes. Because the majority of us have had enough.
Um, the constitution REQUIRES balanced budgets. Kindly get a clue.
only one example here. They used money from the transportion dept to fund outher areas.. Then bonded money for the transportion dept. That is not balanced,
That would be a BIG FAT 0 that’s right NONE. We have had a huge shortfall every year under Democrat/Democrat-Independent Governors. I have lived here nearly 34 years and it has been a mess every single year since.
The Democrats have spent far too much money over the years, especially on the bloated, inefficient, and dare I say corrupt DHHS. Mainers elected Republicans to make the cuts needed so we will have a state government we can afford, and a business climate that will attract and retain jobs.
Republicans are acting responsibly; Democrats are acting otherwise. It is really no more complicated than that.
Unfortunately, they didn’t make the needed cuts, which would be to programs that aren’t efficient. Instead, they hacked and slashed efficient programs because it made them look better to their base. I’m sure that conservatives don’t want their representatives to have a debate over whether HCT is the best way to deal with children with mental illness or not, or whether or not Wraparound Maine was saving us money even though it looked expensive at first glance. They just wanted MaineCare slashed to ribbons.
Well, they got their wish. Enjoy the tax cut, the bill will come due in five years.
Tax cuts, regualtory reform, border enforcement, government accountability…
Need another? Maine moved from 36th to 32nd in business friendliness according to Chief Executive magazine, thanks primarily to the tax cut and regualtory reform.
and ranked 2nd highest at job losses under the current administration! Need another?
Tax cuts, regulatory reform, border enforcement, government accountability…Need another? Maine moved from 36th to 32nd in business friendliness according to Chief Executive magazine, thanks primarily to the tax cut and regualtory reform.
Chief Executive Magazine? So… the tax cut lets them keep more of their salaries. Yes, I’m sure CEOs are thrilled by this news.
you must have forgotten about Forbes calling the governor a liar–because he is
enjoy his 1 term
Forbes. They will be out of business soon.. Unless Obama uses taxpayer $ to bail them out
the magazine, laddie, you know, the national magazine that showed the governor of maine to be a liar
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It also moved to the slowest income growth of any state. It might have helped business a small bit but hurt real people a lot more.
How about all of them in Augusta find another job and have people who have no political knowledge run the State….really how much worse can it get?
I don’t like Professional Politicans.. It shouldn’t be a profession.. there is no need of it…
Maine has over 182,000 laws to restrict by regulations the people of Maine.. Less than 100 voted for by the people… Do this don’t do that can’t you read the signs.
Peggy Rotundo is the poster child for tax and spend, then tax some more and spend some more. Lewiston welfare recipients and liberals just keep sending her back again and again.
And Paul LePage is the poster child for “you’re on your own”. The strongest survive, everyone else doens’t matter.
The rich survive.
That’s a bit disengenuos.
During the years I spent in Augusta nothing happened without the Democrats making it happen, period. Trust me–I worked for both of the parties over the years and the Democrats and the crony base ran the show. The Republicans didn’t stand a chance and wasted their time on silly moral conundrums instead of the fiscal insanity escalating in the Halls of the Marble Playpen.
Remember, the Democrats controlled the State Leislature for almost 30 years. Although the budgets passed, it was always a Democratic party majority that passed them. It would be difficult to place any semblance of bipartisan equality based on the participation of some members of the former minortiy party. Finally, and perhaps most important, the various committees that prepared the appropriations and dictated tax policy were also chaired and stacked with the then majority Democratic party.
JasonWeb can make a passable argument that blame for our current fiscal predicament (debt ratios grossly exceeding any reasonble chance of the tax base to pay for them) can be shared by some Repulicans, too. But, at the end of the day, the Democrats ran the show–lock, stock and barrel until the winds of change swept through Augusta.
Please take a look at the Maine constitution where it describes a majority budget and a 2/3 budget.
You’ll understand the next couple of weeks a lot better.
What hooey. The Liberals started the process of passing Majority Budgets under their control in Augusta. Especially under Mumbles Michaud, Steve Rowe, Chellie Pingree, Liberal Mitchell etc.. They did it to get their party’s awful economic and radical social agenda rammed through so they wouldn’t have it “torn apart” by the Majority of Mainers if they found out. We are paying for the problems caused by Democrats but especially these buffoons. Obama is doing the same thing in Washington and we are seeing the damage done by his agenda.
Secret Marching Orders? Seriously? Republicans don’t need “no stinkin’ secret marching orders.” The agenda and direction are well known.
Sen. Rotundo (D- Lewiston) must be wearing her “tin-foil hat” today. By the way, Ms. Rotundo is the brains and sponsor of “Moxie–Maine soft- drink.” Maybe she mixed up some Moxie with Maine’s other favorite beverage–Allens Coffee Brandy. Something caused her to shout out her conspiracy theory.
Aldin1: Diet Moxie and Allens Coffee Brandy is also known as the “Burnt Trailer” because of its unique smell.http://portland.thephoenix.com/thebest/portland/2010/Food/LiteralDescriptionofTaste/
Moxie and Allens, that would be the “Welfare Mom”:
http://www.drinkmoxie.com/moxology.php?id=129
Yes, the Republican agenda and direction are well known. The agenda is that of the rotten horrid corporate Heritage Foundation, ALEC, the Koch Brothers, and the ultra radical dangerous extremist Grover Norquist alll of whom own that disgusting party and to whom its members worship on their knees. The direction for our state with this rotten to the core party is straight into the sewer.
(Though come November we are going to bring their sickening rotten agenda and direction to a serious halt when we toss them out of the legislature in droves and make LeBUFFOON the lamest of lame ducks that ever existed.)
Well the Democrats used to keep trotting out Maine Center of Economic Policy & Kit St. John along with their other feeling sorry groups including Dana Connors. Mr. St. John used to always have press conferences with King and Baldy always telling us that expanding Welfare created huge economic growth LOL. That raising taxes, borrowing to oblivion , spending money like water was going to create massive amount of jobs that investing in Liberal Programs was going to make Maine a leader in our economy. How’s the “investing” working for you, where’s the jobs. The Liberals are so full of themselves they are so drunk from drinking the kool-aid they are clueless on the damage they have caused our state. They just need to get out of the way and let the Republicans fix the problems and let the private sector come in and take control.
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Two wrongs make a right? You approve the tactics and agenda of ALEC, Koch Bros., Heritage, Norquist, etc. ? You have no problem whatsoever with this brand of politics? Is this how the Founders envisioned our country and is this what made our country great and our political system admired around the world? Really? You are proud of this way of doing business? Honestly?
GOP/TB’s highly political, low information – worst.
The repubicans in the legislature are proving themselves to be unreliable partners. This latest move, a calculated moved promoted by the Governor is the last straw for most democrats. Come fall dems need to remember their are no reliable republicans only a democratic majority will prevent LePage from ruining the State and its’s reputation.
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Your comment sounds like nobody should be responsible for themselves or for the children that they produce. Who’s responsibility is it to buy glasses for your kid or provide dental care?
Would you like to bet how many people who “can’t afford” healthcare, or to provide for their children, have a big screen TV, cable or satellite, cell phones, DSL and a nice computer?
Could it be that people’s priorities are messed up? Where do the liberals get the idea that we are responsible for their welfare and their child’s?
Excellent Post, Mortalis! “Slow, Noisy, Impotent”…Motto of today’s Democrat party.
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If you call defending you and doing the dirty little jobs that are hidden from the public but need doing, then yes, your government is paying the bills.
I’m not talking about “giving” anyone a TV or computer either. I’m talking about priorities. People who have already purchased many of these luxury items, but then turn around and say they can’t afford to properly care for their children or themselves.
Americans seem to have lost track of what a necessity is and what a luxury is.
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outstanding post.
This whole affair is nothing more than political posturing. Of course we can expect the republicans to honor the wishes of the governor, that is how some of them got elected and how they hope to get re-elected. They would certainly side with the governor before the democrats, irregardless of his tactics. They are republicans after all. Yes of course they can be expected to circle the wagons after the shock of their convention. That is what the majority does, they have earned that right. It is not at all surprising that the democrats are decrying the governor’s tactics or the republican legislators who are using their majority status as an advantage. That is their job as the minority. I don’t see the tactics as an end around of the people at all. Yes the majority of the electorate disagree with the governor and his policies, but that is not his concern or the legislators concern right now. They have a philosophy to expound and they are doing so. They have waited a long time to do so and it is their turn after all. There are many examples in political history when a leader rebuffs the majority voices of the electorate. However it is the electorate who ultimately has the final say at election time. From my perspective as a progressive independent, that is the good news. I find it hard to swallow that we can hand over hundreds of millions in tax cuts to businesses and then say we can’t afford to take of old and poor folk. That is just disingenuous. But that is just my philosophy. I will vote accordingly when the time comes.
But they’re only preaching to the choir. This won’t get them any voters and 40% may not do it next time.
Agreed. I do not see a three way race next election cycle for governorship. A republican could win, but it won’t be LePage. He will be challenged within his own party and won’t even win a primary let alone the general election. Many are trying to convince Senator Snowe to run. She would not lose and definately bring Maine back to the sensible middle.
MA-NE.net: Budget contains “detrimental” cuts to social services?…
Two seven-year olds fighting over a toy in a sandbox are better at conflict resolution than our elected representatives.
When these people’s partisanism rules the day, they’re not the ones who are affected. They’re more interested in winning than doing what’s right, and we’re the ones who suffer.
Please join me in electing only those who will cooperate with each other, regardless of party, to provide for a better future for all of us.
I have never figured out why people assume that if both parties cooperate with one another that they are doing the right thing for the people…
Have you ever thought that both sides are wrong?? and both parties are working for special interest….
At least Our Governor Paul LePage is working towards bettering the State of Maine.
Both parties are working for special interests, obviously. LePage is a member of one of those parties. Thusly, using the transitive property. . . . .
I might believe that, if LePage was an independent.
It’s about time the republicans are moving forward in spite of democratic whining. In order for this state to not go broke things have to chance from the borrowing to spend themes of the democrats for the last 30 years. We need to balance the budget. If that means a few more people have to get off the dole… so be it!
Yes, we wouldn’t want the elderly to get their medication.
If we’re so close to this state going broke, why did we cut taxes? If I have trouble paying my bills, I don’t ask my employer to pay me less.
Get rid of you cable tv and cell phone. that will save you at least$100 mthly and nobody is going to deny the elderly medications. P.S. George Bush (a republican) passed the law that helped the elderly get help on their meds.
Don’t tell me that “no one will deny the elderly their medication”, because I see it happen every day, even with programs as they are now. I see elderly people buying pet food for themselves to eat because they need to save money to buy medication.
Pharmacies want to get paid, and they should be; they shouldn’t have to work for free.
Yes, Bush did a good thing there; though he didn’t pay for it.
And you didn’t answer my question.
And it went straight to the federal deficit, because they never paid for it.
Just like two wars that were not paid for.
With a steam roller in the Blaine House – who’s whining? With less than 1.5 million population, and most of them seniors, who cares? Balancing the budget should be your first priority. So do it. Who cares?
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Get-R-Done Mr.LePage!!!!!
Can you blame the Republicans for following LePage’s orders??? Look at what he says about everyone who gets in his way!
I’m no Conservative but I think the Liberals always resort to insults, lies, and accusations when ever they are unhappy. Also isn’t that sort of the pot calling the kettle black? All too often Liberals are real hypocrites. Oh and in case there are liberals scratching the head asking “well if this guy isn’t one thing shouldn’t be be the oppposite?”, well I say to those Contrarian-liberals I happen to be “Independent but learning towards conservative views”. I voted Liberal once but I found that they are all too often into “reverse discrimination” and “Hypocrisy” and a little too hedonistic for me. So it always gives me an unsettled chuckle when Democrats get up in arms over something like this, or any situation in which suddenly they develop morals.
The implication in your post is that conservatives never resort to insults, lies and accusations- which is just not true, as evidenced by the attacks against President Obama and other Democrats. Perhaps liberals do what you say- but the other side does too.
Charlie Webster and the UMF vans??? Nope, all true!
With all that on your mind, I can’t say as I blame you.
So to all those who speak of the mean ole republicans where do we cut so that we can gain some control of our spending?
How about cutting money out of their own pockets. or some of the other uneeded programs. not programs for our children and the elderly and our vets that fought for our rights for godsake
Nonprofit in the following sentence should be nonpartisan….”The Legislature’s nonprofit Office of Fiscal Program and Review was not given a copy of the proposed changes, according to the Democrats.”
“It makes me laugh to hear the democrats whining about the Republicans passing a majority budget, which is the first one of this legislature, when that’s all the Dems did when they were in power.”
So that makes it OK for the Republicans to do that now. My friend was right. Tea parties are for little girls with imaginary friends.
Weren’t they also the ones who sold the liquor commission to balance a Baldacci budget?
I’m trying to figure how you can cut a budget to Healthy Maine when it’s been funded from cigarette taxes? Oh, cutting the cigarette taxes with all the ones for the wealthy?
The whole plot seems to make sense with the lack of human empathy in this country. Make sure the rich have more money, and the little people have less and less.
Peggy, so what if he did? At least they are together with an agreed approach. They have the majority. Do you really think its called Obummercare for nothing? Remember, that’s the law that the Republican senators were not allowed to debate and reps to even read before the vote, or is that too far distant?
It was Romney’s idea or is that too far distant?
ALEC is so powerful that it kept its name out of the story! Very clever…!
Alec and Rep. Andry Cushing of Hamden Have close Ties . The bills at first sound like they are good for people then when reading them you find out really what they are doing. Something like to help kids get education.
It’s about time the budget committee is following ANY marching orders that are fiscally responsible.
I see several posts here stating truthfully that the Democrats did stuff like this many times; and we saw the eventual result of that- they were voted out of office. If Republicans do this and keep doing it, they will eventually get voted out too. Pushing through one’s agenda might make them feel good but it won’t help them stay in office. Only consensus-building will do that.
Hooray!
Sen. Rosen would cut anything and everything in order to keep his $9,000,000 annual earmark subsidy to the Maine Maritime Academy. $10,000 per student per year and nearly 1/2 are not even from Maine.
I suppose the ones who get secret marching orders are issued magic decoder rings.
Who’s blowing smoke up who’s skirt this time ? Paulie sends his budget directives to Rosen and Nutting. Suddenly the GOP miraculously claims it has their ‘Budget mandate’ ready to go and yet Nutty has the nerve to tell everyone that he never got Paulie’s marching orders ? And then compounds the lie by witholding the same budget directives from the Dem’s and the Fiscal Review folks until the last minute. Nutting and Raye’s ability to tell the truth is now so stretched as to qualify for stripper’s g-string being used on a schooner’s mainmast. This budget nonsense keeps up like this and Raye might as well fold his run for Oly’s seat when the voter’s start seeing his manipulation of the facts for his own end’s. Same goes for Nutty and Company. And with the GOP currently unable to keep their own Party straight, considering Ron Paul’s recent facesmacking, it’s not gonna be to far down the road when the current House and Senate member’s are gonna start asking themselves if loyalty to the GOP, Raye and Nutty is worth the price they are gonna have to pay come November. Reality in the face of facesaving is a brutal wake-up, moreso when you realize that you’ve been lied to to get that loyalty in the 1st place.
The cuts they propose don’t seem draconian. As for the income tax cut, that was miniscule, yet the Democrats are up in arms about it. They really don’t want to give the working stiff a break.
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Disqus generic email templateIt’s becoming Draconian what the government was from the taxpayer.
As soon as possible, every member of the GOP will be given the opportunity to be voted out of office.
I wish them godspeed on that mission.
NOVEMBER NOVEMBER VOTE VOTE
Truth hurts, doesn’t it?
It is so phony and made up. Please see the release from the Speaker of the House on this. Again, total BS.
I’ll vote for Paul LePage again he don’t take any crap that what I like about him
If your referring to the right wing’s making up lies, you are correct.
Ok really. Headstart is an important program whats the sence in cutting its funding. Physcical therapy really, so when my son needed it it was an unneeded spending,when my grandmother has it its unneeded give me a break. Ok enough with the wellfare moms comments. I get maine care and foodstamps only. My old man works nights and i cant find work so if we didnt have them well we couldnt do it. Ok here it is dental is important for kids to have so if he cuts that from maine care what is he saying really. so isnt eye care. By the way your kids are supposed to have their eyes checked every six months. Now my son goes to the eye doctor but maine care pays for his eye exame only. I dont know how it is elsewhere, but where i live there is very few eye doctors that do glasses paid by maine care. maine care paid for his 1st pair but i had to go threw my eye doctor to get them ( he also no longer does eyeglasses threw maine care).I also wear glasses but i have to pay for my own glasses no big deal to me. Is maine care paying $75 for my eye exame really a big deal ( No). Why do they always try to attack elderly help. My grandmother lives on ssi and my grampas vetrine medical why are they always attacking that.As for dental Maincare only covers it for kids so wanting to do cuts to that says he dont care about our kids. I know some abuse Maine care and foodstamps and tanif. But DHHS always finds them and puts an end to it. Better question for our govener is what are you going to do to creat jobs so people cant get off from Maine care, Foodstamps,and TANIF. Though I will agree people without kids unless they are the elderly shouldnt be on any of them. For those who say why should I pay for other peoples kids. Well lets see if you say the same thing when you have kids. Wait till you go into the doctors and get a $3oo bill that they want paid right there and now. Your kids need the check up and the shots to stay and be healthy so what are you going to do not pay them. My son goes to his dentist,and eye doctor every 6 months it required. Thank god hes had healthy teeth. So what Maine care pays for his eye exam its not that much. They dont pay for his glasses I do right at the eye place in walmart. Im sorry but even thinking about doing cuts on care for kids is so wrong. Look like I said we are a one income family if we didnt get the help we do get we couldnt do it. Like I said my old man works nights and I cant find work. We pay our bills we pay our morgage on our house we do what we can. I know people that get $200 foodstamps with no kids just because they have no income so why dont they cut them out. I get 124 foodstamps and still we pay over 300 a month to feed us thats mostly in meat. Instead of complaing about what DHHS spends a year creat jobs, make food prices go down, bring down the price of oil and gas, because the price of those cause a lot of people to need foodstamps. I know we spend $400 dallors for 100 gallons of oil. Yes this time of year we dont need to run our heat but we still need to buy oil to heat our water. Yes we are putting in a woodstove to help us with the oil alone but not everyone can do that. Thinking about cuts on drugs for the elderly is soo wrong. Most of the elderly already have to make decissions on buying food or the meds to keep them healthy or alive. Lets think about this what if it was your parents or grandparents. What if it was your kids or neices or nephews that were having funding cut from programs they need. Last I knew Maine care,foodstamps,and tanif was made to help families but they always seem to be in the frontline to have funding cut makes no sense.Heres another idea if you want to do cuts make doctors and hospitals lower their prices. My son also has to go to a special doctor in portland for his adhd and other behavioral issues going on. What are they going to start doing cuts on that next. When he was going to a developmental school there was talk about lowering what Mainecare pays for that. So basically saying we dont care about the issues parents and kids face. Like saying kids with autism, adhd , and other things dont matter to the state of maine anymore. My sons adhd isnt much of a big deal to us but the other global developmental delays are. If he had to stop going to his specialist in portland it wouldnt be good at all. The pills cost $95 for a months worth alone thats not counting the patch he is on or the axiety pill or anything else. Just because you use generic doesnt make it anycheaper either. There is a lot to worry about and even more to do. Kids need Mainecare and the benifits it supposed to pay for not more cuts. The elderly need the help not cuts. Jobs need to be created, meds need to have lower prices, doctors and hospitals need to have lower prices.But there is never any mention of them just we need to do more cuts to DHHS. Ever thing it might be easier for DHHS if there was more jobs.
As long as we have a two party club, this is the way it will be.
As long as we remain a two party system, this is how it will be.
The Republicans follow ALEC’s marching orders. “The American Legislative Exchange Council was founded in 1973 by the right-wing activist Paul Weyrich; its big funders include Exxon Mobil, the Olin and Scaife families and foundations tied to Koch Industries… Lawmakers who eagerly do ALEC’s bidding have much to answer for. Voters have a right to know whether the representatives they elect are actually writing the laws, or whether the job has been outsourced to big corporate interests.:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/opinion/the-big-money-behind-state-laws.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Since when has Mr LePage or any governor been ordained to come down from his temple with a slate telling our leislators how to budget ? The last I checked the State of Maine was still made up of we the people not a me.
While Mr LePage has every right to promote what he feels is a realistic budget. However it is up to the legislators to develope the budget that they feel their constituents ( we the people ) want. Oh and that would be the majority of their constituents not any fringe groups.
Hopefully once the budget is voted on we the people will be able to compare it to Mr LePage ‘s proposal and see if our legislators voted by concience or by party. We the people do not need legislators , rupublican or democrat, voting by party line. They have constituents they have sworn to represent and they need to do so. If they can not they need to be voted out of office.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the Democrats were able to come up with a plan instead of just throwing rocks at the work of other people.
” secret marching orders” where has Rotundo been? LePage has been quite public, using his veto on expenditures he has a problem with. Democrats have a long history meeting behind closed doors with both Angus King and Baldacci working on the budget, than informing the Republicans that “this was it, take it or leave it”. Rotundo informed Appropriation Committee chairman Pat Flood, last week that the Democrats could never agree to the structural changes needed to make Maine Care solvent, so after months and months, they are still working on their ideas, (tax hikes) to solve the shortfall. Rotundo is just tossing up smoke during a election year to hide the fact that as usual, the Democrats only answer involves removing more money from our wallets to support their spending habits.
Governor LePage has to deal with the likes of the establishment on both sides. I can not imagine the level of frustration he must feel every single day. After experiencing the weekend fiasco of the Maine GOP convention, I have the utmost respect for him. You cannot get anything done in the governmental climate that we are all in.
To the GOP keep the heat on
These Tea party/ Koch bros/ Fox-Heritage society types really hate our country. They are so blinded by their hatred for the USA they have to call their economic platform the ” Austrian plan”
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Let’s see a few weeks ago, the Legislature’s Republicans rejected LePage’s reforms and the Dem’s danced in glee at his ‘isolation’. Now with the popularity of LePage growing with every victory; the Dem. party line was changed to how he ‘controls’ the R’s in the Legislature.
Conspiracy theories, paranoia, and just plain dumb hatred out of the minority party.
We all need a bi-partisan group hug because are all equally smart, good people…all of us except those lying, stupid conservatives, Republicans and everyone else who dares to disagree with us.
For reals…Whatever are they thinking!!! Can they get any dumber?
Time to grow up , stop the BS work together it’s time to make mature decisions for the state of Maine. If you can’t go back to kindergarden
If in fact the GOP is following Lepage’ marching orders, my only question would be WHY?? With the majority of mainers finding Lepage to be disgusting, ruthless, and rude, i would think any politician hoping to get re-elected would seek to get as far away from Paul’s thinking as possible.
JeffCol, your comment should State in my opinion.
For I know many more people including the poor who really like our Great Governor Paul LePage more then dislike him.
My, My Liberals do not like eating crow.. I ate it 30/40 years with the dems in power and didn’t like it either.
Our Great Governor Paul LePage will get re-elected for a second term and liberals will help vote him in. Its the communist who hate him so, that want control over everything.
The Republican’s agenda isn’t a secret any more. Their plan is to drive as many Mainers off the land so they can buy their property at bank foreclosures sales and resell it at huge profits.
pretty simple NEVER EVER VOTE R EVER AGAIN . The consequences are too dear
Only 7 months left before the big change, I hope they enjoy there last few days.