Poliquin votes to gut health care
People should know about Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s vote on the House fiscal year 2016 budget resolution. The resolution would have ended traditional Medicare by creating a voucher program, increased the Medicare eligibility age, increased Medicare beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket costs, slashed Medicaid funding (including for long-term care coverage) and repealed Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, according to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Poliquin voted for the resolution, and it passed in the House of Representatives, but it did not become law.
Karl K. Norton
Bangor
Weil wrong on voting
Gordon Weil, whose three-part series opposing ranked-choice voting was posted recently by the Bangor Daily News website, is on a crusade to block the popular referendum proposition, Question 5 on the Maine November ballot.
Almost one-third of his essay was devoted to a history of the current election-by-plurality law, but it gave no consideration to why so many Mainers want to change it. I’d say it’s because 40 percent of Maine voters don’t belong to the two traditional parties, causing more and more of our elected officials to win office with less than 50 percent of the vote, undermining their authority and ability to work for the good of our state. Weil’s ”history lesson” ignores prior ranked-choice advocacy and falsely attributes the reform effort to partisan opposition to Gov. Paul LePage.
He goes on to demean the motives of the many Mainers of all political persuasions who support this reform. He also insults the intelligence of Maine voters, doubting their ability to deal with a voting system that the city of Portland has been using with remarkable success for mayoral elections.
Weil drags in many other specious arguments, apparently hoping one of them will prove credible with the Maine voters for whom he seems to have such a low opinion. Finally, after stating that there’s no need to change the current system, he ends by proposing four alternative changes to it.
There may be convincing reasons to oppose Question 5, but Weil hasn’t produced them.
Charles Graham
Camden
Re-elect Saucier
I urge the voters of District 147 to re-elect Bob Saucier as your representative in the state Legislature. Saucier has never been one to offer pre-election platitudes and promises and then disappear for two years. He means what he says and follows through with hard work, intelligence and integrity.
As a state retiree, I have followed Saucier’s voting record carefully. He has proven himself to be a caring, honest and supportive friend of hard-working state employees. He fights to bring fairness, common sense and real progress back to state government. Help fight gridlock in Augusta by re-electing a true voice of the people. We need Saucier in the Legislature now more than ever.
Gary Smith
Presque Isle
O’Neill for Senate
Jill Goldthwait recently wrote for the Ellsworth American about Brian Langley in which she emphasized his background as a teacher and as a small business owner as attributes for his position as a state senator from District 7. I agree, but I want more.
Moira O’Neill provides that “more.” O’Neill is a nurse who has in-depth experience in child advocacy. She obtained her Ph.D. in nursing with an emphasis on policy analysis and program development, and she has a masters degree in public health with an emphasis on community development. She has a public health orientation to issues that affect the health of all Maine residents and has experience with the retired and elderly and their needs and issues.
Further, O’Neill has been a teacher at the Husson University School of Nursing with creative service-based approaches to student learning that took them outside the walls of the classroom. She serves on the Surry Finance Committee and provides a “forever” home for rescue dogs. O’Neill is a member of Friends of Acadia and volunteers maintaining Bates Cairns, the trail markers for hikers in the park.
O’Neill has the hallmark of listening and problem solving. She has the background to represent us, the citizens of Maine, on the broad spectrum of issues and concerns and to provide meaningful input in the development of solutions.
Helen Varney Burst
Addison
Support for Willey
Although I have been a Democrat my entire life, I support Larry Willey for state Senate to represent Bangor and Hermon. As a lawyer in Maine I have had the pleasure of working with Willey and from firsthand experience I can say that he is a true advocate who always puts his clients’ interests first. He approaches every case with integrity and an open mind. He has a deep-seeded passion for justice, and he thinks outside of the box to obtain a favorable result for his clients.
Willey puts his heart into everything he sets his mind to and there is no doubt in my mind that he will take the same approach in the Maine Senate. His actions will not be dictated by one party or the other but will be based upon a careful analysis of what will be best for the people of Maine. His years of experience and advocacy have made him a wonderful negotiator, and he will not be afraid to work across the aisle to do what is best for our state. For these reasons, I support Willey’s candidacy, and I believe you should, too.
Chris Harmon
Portland
Better way to vote
With election season upon us, it’s not easy to escape the ubiquitous campaign commercials on TV and radio. And it’s undeniable that campaign commercials have gotten progressively more negative and nasty.
The winner-take-all electoral system promotes negative campaigning because, through negative advertising, candidates hope that voters won’t waste their vote on their opponent(s). Unfortunately, we, the public, are at the receiving end of all this dirt.
Fortunately, there is an antidote to both negative campaign ads and “wasted votes” — ranked-choice voting. This system discourages negative campaigning because candidates know they need all the votes they can get, and tend to show greater civility when potential votes are on the line.
I encourage Mainers to vote for ranked-choice voting by voting yes on Question 5 on this year’s ballot. It’s time for more voice, more choice and more civility.
Ted Markow
Brunswick