In the aftermath of the most recent abuse of the New Markets Capital Investment Program, a bill proposed by Rep. Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, served as a beacon of hope for Maine taxpayers. The bill he proposed would do several things: It would collect the $16 million in Maine taxpayer dollars taken by investors following their questionable investment in the Great Northern paper mill, it would provide the Finance Authority of Maine with more authority to maintain greater oversight over the program and it would create a standard of quality for any jobs created by the program.
However, this hope was crushed by all the Republican leaders on the Legislative Council on Nov. 19, when all five voted to prevent this bill from reaching the state Legislature for debate this legislative session. With this refusal, Republican leaders inadvertently revealed their misguided priorities.
From 2012-2015, Cate Street Capital and Louisiana-based investment firms — Stonehenge Community Development and Enhanced Community Development — executed a complex financial scheme to invest $40 million in the Great Northern paper mill on paper but in reality left these out-of-state investors with $16 million in Maine tax dollars after the mill closed, causing more than 200 hardworking Mainers to lose their jobs.
Instead of upholding the interests of Maine people by holding these out-of-state companies accountable while working to prevent this from happening again in our state, Republican leaders have shown they are more concerned with defending the interests of these investment companies. All four of these firms took advantage of Maine’s struggling economy, and they are getting away with it because Republican leadership is actively looking the other way.
One would think Republican legislators would be all for ensuring accountability of those using Maine’s tax credit programs. After all, many Republican lawmakers have gone above and beyond to scrutinize the use of Maine’s social welfare programs by its impoverished residents by proposing legislation to make it harder for impoverished Maine families to access these programs. Their rhetoric tells us all these efforts have been done in an attempt to ensure Maine residents are not “abusing” the state’s welfare programs. However, when it comes to looking at clear evidence of corporate welfare abuse, those same Republicans purposefully ignore it and refuse to address it.
In their refusal to address this clear case of corporate welfare abuse, Republican leaders on the Legislative Council have revealed who they are really representing in the State House. Of these five Republicans, Rep. Kenneth Fredette of Newport, Senate President Michael Thibodeau of Winterport and Sen. Andre Cushing of Newport all received money — either their campaigns directly or the PACs they run — from the investment firms that abused the New Markets program.
Their actions send a loud message with this information at hand. These Republican leaders are telling us they are more concerned with protecting the investment firms than representing the interests of Maine people.
The political spotlight has been pointed in the wrong direction for a while. Instead of continuously scrutinizing our state’s most vulnerable, our Republican legislators need to be directing just as much of their attention and actions to ensuring our state’s tax credit programs are not abused.
This is not the time to look the other way and ignore the immense negative economic impacts this scheme has had on our state. Now is the time to hold these companies accountable and prevent anything like this from happening in the future. Any scheme that doesn’t actually invest money in a mill that is closed, leaving hundreds unemployed, is much more damaging to our state’s economy than a hypothetical small percentage of Mainers misusing their $75 in monthly food stamp benefits.
Robert Marcroft is a social worker working with individuals and families who are impoverished and homeless in Maine. He lives in Westbrook.