With recent political firestorms, it can be easy to forget Maine is a leader when it comes to political participation. From town meetings to legislative hearings where all are welcome and heard, Maine is more open to public participation than most other states. The results can be messy — think board of selectmen recalls, school budget referendums and a legislature that considers nearly 1,500 bills a year. The tradeoff is voter turnout that usually leads the nation and a system in which a political newcomer can be elected to the U.S. Senate or the Blaine House.
In a new report, the Center for American Progress Action Fund calls Maine the most democratic state in the nation. Alabama was ranked last. The liberal group gave Maine high marks for its voter registration policies, including same-day registration and pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, public campaign financing and campaign donation limits, as well as for the ease of getting initiatives on the ballot. All these policies have been controversial, but they add up to a system with a high level of citizen participation.
The high level of participation extends to candidates, as well. Not only can someone with strong views on one issue or many issues be elected to a town council, he or she has a reasonable shot at being elected to the Legislature or even becoming governor.
Paul LePage is a case in point. His unorthodox, up-from-the-streets approach appeals to a broad swath of Mainers. It didn’t matter whether he was the top choice of Republican leaders in 2010. What mattered was that he connected with and his message resonated with many Maine voters.
Susan Collins had not held an elected office before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. Neither Angus King nor Jim Longley, the state’s two independent governors, had sought political office before being elected governor.
“The more open and level a political system is, the better chance an outsider has at being elected and of participating in government,” University of Maine political scientist Mark Brewer said recently.
He notes Maine is one of a dwindling number of states where local decisions are made at town meetings and where citizen participation — through public hearings, letters and one-on-one discussions with easily accessible legislators — influences policy decisions.
“Average people matter here,” Brewer said.
So much participation can be messy. Voters have faced numerous referendums on tax policy, civil rights and marijuana. Legislative decisions have been overturned by people’s vetoes. The Maine Legislature considers too many bills — many that have no chance of passage — and spends too much time on inconsequential matters, such as state dog and state dessert designations, and not enough on honest and difficult but needed debates about economic development and job creation.
Brewer suggests hiring more legislative staff, so it is more in line with the size of the staff for the governor’s office; raising legislative pay; and lengthening legislative sessions to address these shortcomings.
But, he emphasizes, change is meant to be difficult. The Founding Fathers spoke of this and didn’t exactly structure Congress to be nimble and quickly responsive. Big changes in policy come as the result of crisis — the Great Depression or the Civil War, for example.
In Maine, the recently passed two-year state budget is neither bold nor revolutionary. But lawmakers rejected many big changes — such as larger tax cuts and the elimination of revenue sharing — because they heard from Maine people.
“The budget maintains the status quo because Maine people spoke out,” Brewer said. They let lawmakers know they didn’t want big cuts in programs and services or big tax shifts.
“The people have spoken” is an overused catchphrase in politics. But, in Maine, it defines our politics. And that’s not something residents of other states can say with as much confidence as Mainers.
