Democrat Hillary Clinton has distinguished herself from her opponents by putting forth detailed and realistic policy proposals that answer this county’s most fundamental challenges, from the growing cost of attending college to the addiction epidemic to a woefully inequitable tax system.
Clinton’s extensive public service and her detailed campaign proposals paint the picture of someone who is committed to using government to make a positive difference in people’s lives, while doing so in a fiscally responsible way that allows the economy to flourish and lets as many people as possible share in the benefits.
Republican Donald Trump, on the other hand, is committed only to himself, lies constantly and regularly displays a lack of self-control that disqualifies him from the White House.
During her 10 years in the Maine Legislature, Emily Cain, a Democrat, set herself apart as a pragmatic lawmaker who worked with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle — earning the respect of many Republicans in the process. She helped, for example, to negotiate passage of the first budget in Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s tenure. It contained significant tax cuts, which many in her party opposed, but it also increased funding for education and preserved MaineCare for low-income parents.
Cain’s inclusive, pragmatic and forthcoming approach would better serve the residents of Maine’s 2nd District than current Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s reliable vote for what we consider to be a destructive Republican agenda. This agenda threatens to undo the Affordable Care Act, threatens to transform key social programs into block grants and threatens funding for key reproductive health services for women.
The choice before voters in Maine’s 1st Congressional District is familiar: Vote to re-elect Democrat Chellie Pingree or cast a ballot for a little known Republican challenger with little backing from his party — this time Mark Holbrook of Brunswick. Pingree, who sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, will continue to advocate for small farms, veterans and support for low-income families.
However, the Maine Republican Party has failed moderate voters in southern Maine for years by not building up a cadre of qualified, reasonable candidates who would be able to win a primary and seriously challenge Pingree. The district leans Democratic, but by failing to put up serious candidates, the Republican Party is disenfranchising a large percentage of voters.
Maine is in the midst of a deadly addiction crisis that’s on track to kill at least one Mainer a day this year. At the same time, the state’s public health and addiction treatment systems have been decimated by an administration that cares more about punishment than prevention, intervention and rehabilitation.
Allowing marijuana to be sold in stores and smoked in new public establishments would send the wrong message that substance use is OK at precisely the time when Maine is struggling to combat it.
In addition, the tax rate set in Question 1 — 10 percent — is much too low. Washington charges a 37 percent excise tax. Colorado has a 15 percent excise tax and a 10 percent special state tax on marijuana sales.
With passage of this referendum, Maine would end up with one of the highest top tax rates in the country. Lawmakers would likely consider themselves relieved of the burden of truly fixing the inequities in the state’s school funding system. And, the divide between rich and poor schools would remain as wide as ever.
Question 2 would assess an additional 3 percent tax each year on taxable income above $200,000 and direct the money to a newly established “Fund to Advance Public Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education.” But just as lawmakers have each year found a way to put off meeting the 55 percent school funding target by rewriting the law, it’s easy to envision lawmakers tapping the newly established education fund each year to fill unrelated budget holes.
Question 3 would fill in a clear loophole in Maine law by requiring background checks for all firearms sales and transfers. Requiring background checks is one straight-forward change Maine can enact to make it more difficult for someone who shouldn’t have a gun from getting one — without unreasonably burdening Maine gun owners who break no laws.
There’s little coincidence that the six states with the lowest rates of gun-related deaths in the nation — homicides, suicides and accidental deaths — all require background checks for private firearms sales.
Question 3 does not take rights away from lawful gun owners — the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that background checks are constitutional and do not infringe on 2nd Amendment rights. Instead, it closes off an avenue of unchecked gun sales to people who are prohibited from owning them, making us all safer.
We favor a raise for Maine’s low-wage workers because we know that a meaningful income boost can make a difference for a low-income family, and a minimum wage hike would help many adults who work full-time and live at or near the poverty level.
Question 4 would incrementally raise the state’s minimum wage from the current $7.50 an hour to $12 an hour by 2020 and peg it to inflation. Restaurants would also eventually have to pay their servers the standard minimum wage instead of relying on tips from customers to help their employees get to the minimum.
With ranked-choice voting, supporters argue, Maine won’t have elections in which two reasonable candidates split the vote and a firebrand like Paul LePage wins with far less than 50 percent support. Instead, the argument goes, candidates will moderate their message and attack one another less to get elected and, once in office, they’ll govern more reasonably.
We remain unconvinced that changing the way Maine residents vote will suddenly bring all these positive benefits, just as term limits and public financing of campaigns have not dramatically altered the makeup of the Maine Legislature or how well it functions. And, in a state where half the communities hand-count ballots, we fear that voting and vote counting will become confusing, less transparent and burdensome, further eroding voter turnout and faith in our election systems.
The funding in Question 6 — a $100 million state bond to be matched with $137 million from federal and other sources, is a needed first step in tackling Maine’s backlog of needed road and bridge work that slows commerce and costs Mainers an extra $300 a year on vehicle maintenance.
