Cain’s budget stance
I’ve heard this a lot of from the Maine Republican Party: Democrat Emily Cain “hated” the budget she helped pass in 2011 as the House minority leader in Augusta. Cain didn’t say she hated it. She said in an interview with the Portland Press Herald’s editorial board that several of her Democratic colleagues hated it.
In fact, at the time she called it some of the Legislature’s “ best work.” That budget received substantial praise from Maine newspapers as a rare bipartisan success. It was the largest tax cut in our history, and there were no major cuts to programs on which most Maine residents rely. Her political opponents suddenly say that she shouldn’t take credit for it. Cain negotiated it, voted for it and convinced her colleagues to vote for it as well.
A little sanity in our federal government is needed, and Cain provided a great deal of sanity in Maine.
Joan Connorton
Newport
Zeigler for Legislature
I’m a sophomore political science major at the University of Maine in Orono. This summer my father’s friend asked me to help with his campaign. He is Stanley Paige Zeigler, and he is running as a Democrat for Maine House District 96, which consists of the seven towns of Belmont, Liberty, Lincolnville, Montville, Morrill, Palermo and Searsmont.
I have known him since we went to a Sea Dogs game when I was 10, but I didn’t know what his politics were. As we drove throughout the district knocking on doors, he asked me what I wanted the state government to be concerned about. I said I was concerned about student debt and the environment. I found out those were issues for him, too.
From our talking together, I got the feeling Zeigler really does want to help my generation. He also figured out that I was more interested in policy and letting him knock on doors. By being engaged in a political campaign through driving and writing letters for Zeigler, I feel I am helping to shape my future.
Asher Sizeler-Fletcher
Montville
Sick political culture
In his Sept. 1 BDN column, Matthew Gagnon spreads the blame for Gov. Paul LePage’s obscene voicemail left for a lawmaker to the person who asked the question at the town hall meeting, to other politicians, to the media and to all of us. He writes, “We live in a sick, twisted political culture full of people who eagerly seek the destruction of political adversaries, promoting not just division, but irrational hatred of opposing views and those who hold them.”
Gagnon failed to mention the role Donald Trump plays in this. In this regard, Trump makes everyone else look like amateurs. His strategy in the primary and the present campaign has been to spread anger through his vicious name-calling, spreading deplorable rumors, encouraging violence, demeaning people and saying whatever he thinks is necessary to demonize an opponent.
When he is called out for his most outrageous and untruthful statements, he blames it on the media or says it was sarcasm. When did sarcasm become a trait we want in our president? Trump is extremely proud of how this behavior wins him the support of his voters. In January, he said he could shoot a person on Fifth Avenue in New York and still not lose any of his voters.
Donald M. Kimmelman
Lamoine
No on Question 3
It is already against the law to sell a gun to a felon or prohibited person. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg of New York has dumped millions on his crusade against guns in Maine. I hope the National Rifle Association has spent a lot of money to defeat this.
There are thousand of NRA members in Maine. We are the NRA. Doctors, lawyers, police officers and people from every walk of life. That’s what we pay dues for: to protect our Second Amendment rights.
Richard Gassett’s comment in his Sept. 5 BDN letter to the editor that “the purpose of a handgun is to injure or kill some” is wrong. I use mine for competitive shooting matches, hunting and self defense.
Michael McEwen
Dexter
Drones a boon for the economy
The latest technological innovation for consumers in the U.S. and around the world, the commercial use of drones, is indisputably a wonderful, promising idea, and recently announced regulations for the industry deserve praise. Not only are drones forecast to be a boon to our economy, adding thousands of jobs and billions of dollars, but they also are slated to save lives, assist farmers and help aid in disasters. Yet their use will have to be scrupulously monitored, for any tool can be used for good as well as bad.
Every drone that is used legally has to be registered, much like a car. But it is doubtful there will be roving marshals who can stop an errant drone to demand its operator’s license and registration.
For as easily as a drone can carry a camera, it can carry a gun. As easily as it can spray crops, it can dispense a poison. As easily as it can drop a package for Amazon, it can unload a grenade or worse for Islamic State.
Let’s make sure drones are not a good idea gone bad.
Steve Colhoun
Addison
Democracy requires participation
I enjoyed the Sept. 5 BDN article on the upcoming election season. There are many important issues — locally and nationally — that we need to be informed about.
I was disheartened when the article referred to the many people who half follow politics or shut it out altogether. What a disturbing thought. Living in a democracy gives us the opportunity to work for a better future. There is much at stake in this election. I encourage people to become informed and resist the temptation to stick their heads in the sand.
As Pete Seeger said, “participation — that’s gonna save the human race.”
Carol Rosinski
Ellsworth