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LePage: Wisconsin protests could come to Maine ‘once they start reading our budget’

By Steve Mistler, Sun Journal
Posted March 01, 2011, at 8:56 a.m.
Last modified March 01, 2011, at 10:54 a.m.
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WASHINGTON – Gov. Paul LePage told reporters in Washington, D.C., this weekend that his administration is gearing up for a fight with state workers.

LePage, in an interview at the National Governors Association, praised Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is trying to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees, and expressed his support for right-to-work legislation currently making its way in the Maine Legislature.

“He’s (Walker) got a big challenge, and quite frankly, once they start reading our budget they’re going to leave Wisconsin and come to Maine because we’re going after right-to-work,” LePage told POLITICO.

LePage also remarked that workers shouldn’t have to join a union.

“I believe that the Declaration of Independence says ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,’” he said. “Whenever someone forces me to do something against my will, they’re infringing upon my freedoms and my liberties. And that’s what I think we’re doing in Maine when we have fair share, which means that you are required to belong to a union, you’re required to pay dues but you don’t want to participate. I find that to be against everything the United States of America stands for.”

LePage’s comment that Maine workers are forced to join a union has sparked debate.

Private sector workers cannot be forced to join a union under the freedom of association clause in the First Amendment, a finding backed by several court decisions.

State laws differ on public employees. According to Marc Ayotte, the executive director of the Maine Labor Relations Board, Maine law follows the guidelines of the association clause in prohibiting public workers from being forced to join a union. However, most collective bargaining agreements in the public sector require workers opting out of the union to pay a “service fee” to unions.

Ayotte said the fee is less than full union dues. It’s required because Maine law currently obligates public employee unions to represent nonunion workers during grievances and other matters.

The service fee obligation for public employees is at the heart of the legislation sponsored by Rep. Tom Winsor, R-Norway. Winsor said last week that his right-to-work bill would eliminate the service fee requirement, as well as the provision requiring unions to represent nonunion employees.

Patrick Semmens, with The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, said that federal courts have reaffirmed a worker’s right to leave a union. However, he said, those decisions have not meant that a worker’s freedom of association rights are fully protected.

“In fact employees are still forced to accept union ‘representation,’” Semmens wrote in an e-mail, adding that workers can’t negotiate their own contract.

He said that public and private workers have to pay the service fee or they can be terminated.

Semmens said many workers are unaware they can leave the union because union officials fail to inform them of that right.

Democrats said Monday that labor groups are expected to begin demonstrating at the State House on Thursday.

On Monday, Matt Schlobohm of the Maine AFL-CIO said LePage’s comments in D.C. showed that he sided with corporations, not working people.

“It’s unfortunate that Gov. LePage is looking to pick a fight with working families in Maine,” Schlobohm said. “Instead of focusing on real problems facing Maine people, the governor appears intent to pursue an extremist agenda that rolls back workers’ rights, makes it harder for working people to make a decent living and moves Maine in the wrong direction.”

He added, “This is an out-of-state agenda that is much more about partisan political attacks than it is about Maine priorities. . . . Instead of focusing on shared prosperity for all, the governor is siding with corporate CEOs who are trying to weaken or eliminate unions so workers can’t restore balance to the economy.”

A counter rally by the group Of the People has also been planned.

Check out this week’s Political Pulse column in the Sun Journal and at sunjournal.com for more on Maine’s looming labor fight.

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  • Anonymous

    Good god when will he stop hurting the people of our State !! Can anyone please call mardens to see if they will have him back, for the betterment of all Mainers !

  • Anonymous

    Governor Bludgeon, aka “Blunt”, continues to speak in broad, fogged statements without inclusion of details as if to do so will speed up his agenda. It is time to consider a recall on this “public servant”.

  • Anonymous

    Agreed, how do we start the process ?

  • Anonymous

    Hurting our state?? Are you kidding me?? MY TAXES PAY THEIR INFLATED SALERIES!! Now you tell me who is hurting? Im struggling to heat my house, and pay my bills on one income, yet i watch state employees making $28-$30 an hour, who would be making 16-18/hr complaining about “working families” – THATS A LOAD OF CRAP! Their paychecks come from the backs of “WORKING FAMILES” Its about time they make equal pay, and if they were paid for the work they actually do, WORKING FAMILES might have have a little money left on thursday night!!

  • Anonymous

    Get over it liberals. I once heard “elections have consequences”.

    I, for one, think LePage is doing a great job.

  • Tedlick Badkey

    THIS is Paul LePage…

    He’s as local as a Washington lawyer…

    http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/115403-lepages-secret-puppeteers/?page=1#TOPCONTENT

    “Robinson — who didn’t return our calls — has found herself in the enviable position of being able to ghost-write the governor’s regulatory policies on behalf of her paying clients, even though they don’t manufacture anything in Maine.”

    Yeah… that’s the way to do it! Hire someone who stands to profit by changing Maine law, and then let her push important decisions…

    Genius!

  • Anonymous

    Get yourself a better paying job if your not happy with the wages you make, also education is available to all people who want to pursue it to further thier job oppurtunities.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve been drinking water out of a plastic bottle.
    Now my Moobs are getting bigger….

  • Anonymous

    You know, I agree to an extent, and if you check you’ll find that a $42K a year State employee actuallly receives a “package” valued at nearly $65K. I don’t feel I need to make less money with more education and help fund that kind of largesse. However, LePage is barking up a tree full of lies. This “right to work” hogwash is big business trying to bust unions and nothing more. A lie. Perpetrated by the VOM radio crowd ad nauseum for the last couple of years.

    I really had hopes LePage would not go “rogue” and pander to the whacks, but that seems to be where things are headed. See Tedlick’s post below. LePage’s finest “gotcha” that most Mainers don’t seem to be aware of. Baldacci was bad for Maine. Mitchell would’ve been worse. Cutler I don’t know, but LePage is headed down the wrong road way too fast. A one term wonder without the common sense to realize his loyalties are with all Mainers, not out of State business interests.

  • Anonymous

    The Penguin must go! Start the recall

  • http://hikinginmaine.com mAineAc

    > Gov. Scott Walker, who is trying to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees,

    Why do they keep reporting this? They are limiting the collective bargaining rights not eliminating them. It is false reporting like this that stirs a lot of the debate.

    On the other hand this is good news. If there is no wailing and gnashing of teeth then LePage is not doing his job and needs to cut more.

  • Anonymous

    please tell me where if you dont want to join the union and pay dues but are made to how you call that freedom??

  • Anonymous

    Our laws and freedoms and liberties are based on the Constitution, not the Declaration of Independence.

  • http://hikinginmaine.com mAineAc

    Are you saying you’re hiring?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    Get your info correct.

  • Anonymous

    I can remember when people would not be cough working for the state because it was to degrading but now those jobs sure look good . Just because people made bad choice in life you do not half to take it out on state workers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    The ONLY thing that Walker would “allow” to be collectively bargained would be salaries based a cap put forth by Walker. False reporting? They leave out many other tyrannical details as well. The same Collective bargaining wipe out occurred in Indiana. 90% of Union employees quit the Union because there was nothing left to negotiate. This is what the Koch boys and the other “financial puppeteers” of Scott Walker want. Out of the top ten contributors to National and state level elections 7 are Republican entities. The remaining three are Unions and they are predominantly Democratic entities. Wipe them out and voila the whole shooting match belongs to the Kochs and their corporate regime heads.

  • Anonymous

    Our freedoms and liberties come from God, for the religious, or natural law, for the non-religious. They are inalienable rights, inherently yours because you are human, not granted to you by any man. The Constitution does not grant you any rights, it merely seeks to prevent the federal government from infringing on those rights.

    Quoting the Declaration of Independence is appropriate as it embodies the sentiments later expressed in the Constitution.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cecil-Gray/1027119962 Cecil Gray

    Does Maine have a recall?

  • Anonymous

    Gawd I love this man.
    94 more months…please.
    That’s 94 more months I would not need pay t.v. (who needs it?).
    …94 x 65.00=6110.00.
    What do think, half that to his re-election campaign?

  • Anonymous

    There are teachers in our school systems that need to go. If this is the way to do it, so be it. I’ve heard teachers complain about other teachers who are not doing their jobs and they have to pick up the slack. You have a teacher who picks up these students the following year and they are not ready to learn the material. They have to put aside the grade level and go back to teach what was not taught.

  • Anonymous

    All some seem to worry about is the —- money. It’s about educating our kids and the stability of their lives and this country. Get these teachers out who can’t teach.

  • Anonymous

    Maybe you can hire out as a wet nurse…. could be a money making oppertunity.

  • Anonymous

    “On Monday, Matt Schlobohm of the Maine AFL-CIO said LePage’s comments in D.C. showed that he sided with corporations, not working people.”

    What corporations? 40 years of progressive policies has driven them out of Maine.

  • Anonymous

    Wow, you should stop at a DD size bra cup, could hurt your back after a while…..

  • Anonymous

    No one can pursue happiness without access to an affordable doctor and a decent wage. The bottom line is that greed creates a few haves and a massive population of have-nots. That’s what’s happening in this country right now.

    There’s a big fat kid in the corner eating one quarter of the pie, while the rest of us (99%) squabble with each other about our tiny pieces of pie.

  • Anonymous

    No one can pursue happiness without access to an affordable doctor and a decent wage. The bottom line is that greed creates a few haves and a massive population of have-nots. That’s what’s happening in this country right now.

    There’s a big fat kid in the corner eating one quarter of the pie, while the rest of us squabble with each other about our tiny pieces of pie.

  • Anonymous

    We the People of Maine Pray that there is !!

  • Anonymous

    And in their jealousy over who gets what pie, progressives would happily kill the baker, leaving no pie for any one.

  • http://hikinginmaine.com mAineAc

    Public service employees should not have collective bargaining anyway so as far as I am concerned it is a moot point. If you want collective bargaining get a private sector job. If you want to help your fellow American get a public service job.

  • Anonymous

    If only it were about education. The retiring General Counsel for the National Education Association said in his retirement speech: It is not about the kids, It is not about the quality of educators, it is about the money and the power we have accumulated. Kind of strikes at the heart of the claims made by many teachers. If his statements are not a true reflection of what it is about then he has set back the problem several years.

  • Anonymous

    Oh oh! If they come to Maine, will they bring all
    the communist supporting groups and all the socialist
    groups with them? Will this be compared to Egypt and
    Lybia? Will someone explain how not having a condition
    of employment to have to pay union dues will break the unions?
    Will we be privy to all the nice things these loving protesters
    are spouting? Will be able to see how cordial these people are?
    Will the media and the BDN actually show any racist or vicious
    rhetoric?
    Does that mean it will bust unions if people who really don’t want
    to be a union member and are forced to pay dues anyway just to work
    are allowed a choice in how their pay is distributed?
    The unions shouldn’t have a concern, after all, everyone just
    wants to be a union member so why would it affect them? Everyone
    would willingly give them a percentage of their pay and say do what
    you want with it. Kind of like us taxpayers footing the bill.

  • Anonymous

    If you’re right, the fat kid wins. If either side in the squabble is that disgusting we’re all going down.

    But the liberals want to take a chunk of that quarter pie away from the fat kid, through taxes, and distribute it to the rest of us.

    I just can’t believe that fat kid is staring at the rest of us, eating his quarter of the pie, while we go down… but it’s happening.

  • Anonymous

    A fat kid with a quarter of the pie is laughing at us while we–the other 99% of the population–squabble over our little slivers.

  • Anonymous

    I have a feeling we’re going to see more than a few “People’s Veto” referendums on the ballot come November!!!

  • Anonymous

    What state employee makes $28 to $30 an hour who doesn’t have a college degree? LePage own daughter started out with her college degree at $41,000 with her dad. Most new jobs created in Maine are in the low paying retail sector. IF people only want low paying jobs in the future we might as well forget college, because no one can afford the $500 per month school loan payment. State of Maine average income is already at the bottom of the US scale. You should be concerned about raising the standard of living for all jobs in Maine.

  • Anonymous

    Time will tell. They don’t call him a “blunt instrument” for nothing.

    Article V, Section 12
    Shall enforce the laws. The Governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

    Article IX, Section 5
    Removal by impeachment or address. Every person holding any civil office under this State, may be removed by impeachment, for misdemeanor in office; and every person holding any office, may be removed by the Governor on the address of both branches of the Legislature. But before such address shall pass either House, the causes of removal shall be stated and entered on the journal of the House in which it originated, and a copy thereof served on the person in office, that the person may be admitted to a hearing in that person’s own defense.

  • Anonymous

    More polls are showing that the majority of people in this country back the public workers than not. LePage may find out that he does not have as much support on this as he thinks.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Goodspeed/5801638 Adam Goodspeed

    If that fat kid has more money than everyone else why shouldn’t he be able to buy a quarter of that pie? Why should any of that pie be cut up and shared with the rest of us?

    It seems like too many people are interested in taking pie from the kid or trying to help him keep it when they should be looking at ways to make their own pie.

  • Anonymous

    He sure is nothing to brag about!

  • Anonymous

    More and more people are starting to see this and see things as they really are, but then there are those who never will as it does not match their ideology.

  • Anonymous

    “A union worker, a tea partier, and a multinational CEO are all sitting at a table. In the middle of the table, there is a plate with 12 cookies. The CEO reaches across the table and grabs 11 cookies. He then points at the tea party person and says, “Look out man! The union guy wants some of your cookie!”

  • Anonymous

    Yes, and in the home the TV should be shut off a whole lot more, and more reading and other beneficial activities pursued.

  • Anonymous

    ” it merely seeks to prevent the federal government from infringing on those rights.”. Exactly – the Constitution was written to limit the power of the Federal Government.

  • Anonymous

    LePage clearly stated, “Our retirees will not get a penny less than last year.” Yet he knew, that while he could not order cash-in-hand reductions, he had already ordered cuts in their benefits. That is the act of a coward trying to continue to hide and sugarcoat what he is actually doing. LePage obviously had some clearly formed ideas about what he planned to propose as legislation and implement by executive order as well as promote via official appointments. If he had filled in the electorate on the specifics of his intentions, he would not have been elected. He is governor due to a general dissatisfaction with government. He is not the answer. He is Hood Robin and will promote union busting, cutting benefits of those already retired and generally stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. LePage and the Heritage Center are not the answer. We need scrupulous government. Not continued trickery and buffoonery.

  • Anonymous

    Honestly, I believe it is wrong for the fat kid to have a quarter of the pie based on my ethical and spiritual views. I believe those who are super-rich while others suffer will have a hard time getting into heaven–as hard as a camel going through the eye of a needle.

    Maybe that’s the difference. I see that fat kid with a quarter of the pie as a sign of greed, corruption and sickness in society. It’s about as far from equality as you can get.

    I think the rest of us look mighty stupid duking it out while that fatty laughs and takes another bite. He knows that he has done his best to keep us fighting.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks, cher! This is a great metaphor.

  • Anonymous

    Once you have a scapegoat in your sights, it is mighty difficult to lower your gun, lose your ferocious anger, and admit you were manipulated by hate mongers.

  • Anonymous

    Like it or not, the amount of tax dollars than will be spent on state employees will be reduced in future budgets out of necessity.

    Either those state employees accept the need to live with less or the state will operate with fewer employees. This is nothing more than what is going on already in the private sector.

    Don’t want to accept the wages of the position? Try living on unemployment. Your perspective will change over time.

  • Anonymous

    I agree that God’s law is the highest law–and I think God condemns greed. I’ve read this is the Bible, and I believe that those who are rich and luxuriant while the great many suffer will be judged harshly.

  • Anonymous

    Yes! And, we see more and more of that these days.

  • Anonymous

    It’s time that people see just a small piece of their pie distributed back to the people paying the taxes to fund Maine State Workers. Small Business in Maine have been paying a disproportionate amount in taxes to support the State Workers and the never ending new programs (taxes) that the Democratic majority came up with every year. This fact has driven away Business in our State and caused our children to leave in droves to States where there is good paying jobs. So Gov. LePage and the Republican have an up hill battle to turn things around, due to the Democrats 40 year reign put us at the very bottom of the economic hill. So give the new Administration time to do this, they have only been in office for about 6 weeks now.

  • Anonymous

    That is your take on it. People see it/experience it differently. I
    do not agree with your assessment at all.

  • Anonymous

    Sounds like you can’t see anybody doing well for themselves.. without thinking… they got that way by robbing and being greedy…

    Honesty and hard work are something you never seen…….. we will pray for you my son…

  • Anonymous

    Some drank the Kool-aide………………also know as Republican Governors “tea”.

    And it’s ONLY month #2

  • Anonymous

    And strange, how you would likely not see how our current President
    was left with quite a disastrous economic legacy from the last
    President’s administration’s policies. Interesting.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XYD4MZNHJVHS6VN5XSM63QC3CM Bonny

    Governor LePage is certainly on the right track as far as budget cuts go. These state workers have been overpaid and overstaffed for too long. I hope this is just the beginning of the budget cuts. He is trying hard to get Maine out of the welfare state status

  • Anonymous

    As if already cued up, the Republicans role out their nationwide union bashing, public employee blaming agenda, just when the consensus was beginning to coalesce around Wall Street as the guilty party in our economic meltdown (read giant swindle of the middle class by the top 2%).
    The Republican paymasters didn’t like the extra scrutiny of their culpability, so they gave orders to distract, distort, and elevate the class warfare to the next level. Anything to hide the truth that they destroyed the lives of millions of people with their unchecked greed. They should all be rotting in jail.

  • Anonymous

    Democrats following Obama:

    A teacher asked her 6th grade class how many of them were Obama fans.

    Not really knowing what an Obama fan is, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny.

    The teacher asked Little Johnny why he has decided to be different… again.

    Little Johnny said, “Because I’m not an Obama fan.”

    The teacher asked, “Why aren’t you a fan of Obama?” Johnny said, “Because I’m a Republican.”

    The teacher asked him why he’s a Republican. Little Johnny answered, “Well, my Mom’s a Republican and my Dad’s a Republican, so I’m a Republican.”

    Annoyed by this answer, the teacher asked, “If your mom was a m@r*n and your dad was an !d!*t, what would that make you?”

    With a big smile, Little Johnny replied, “That would make me an Obama fan.”

    ——————————————————————————–

  • Anonymous

    Nice, but would be even better with WHOOPIE pies!

    Sure looks like tough times are coming and we’re gonna need all the “WHOOPIE” we can get!

    How’s the Gov doing on that new Mardens/Government Cheese program????

  • Anonymous

    Don’t relate to that whatsoever. I don’t spend time on right wing sites either.

  • Anonymous

    Must be pretty “cheesy”.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3X7SFRHODRS2WLWYPQD5G5DEAY bmy

    The gub’nuh won’t be happy until he’s turned Maine into one big, smelly, food stamp reliant Marden’s. After all, you can always trust corporate America to do right by the working man…….can’t you?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Goodspeed/5801638 Adam Goodspeed

    There are rich people and there are greedy people – they are not one in the same. I can’t take credit for this, but i read a statement made by someone online “…as long as there is greed, people will try to game the system.” But you are right, and despite anyones spiritual believes there is one thing for certain: you can’t take it with you when you die.

    The problem with the system is there are two fat kids. The other fat kid is the one that doesn’t buy from the baker but takes small pieces from the rest of us to obtain another quarter of the pie. He does this by convincing us that he’s helping us. With what? Who knows – he could sell ice to Eskimos. The question is: What do we do with that kid?

    And actually there’s more than two fat kids. So what do you do with all the fat kids?

    Also, don’t forget that narcissistic kid who buys pie just to drop it on the floor and befoul the slice.

  • Anonymous

    such a consensus builder….

  • Anonymous

    You win!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Adam-Goodspeed/5801638 Adam Goodspeed

    Matt Schlobohm has a point, LePage is siding with Maine people who aren’t working… but would like to have a job.

    I’m basically reading this whole issue as:
    LePage: We need to make it fair for Mainers who don’t want to join a Union by allowing them to keep their money and choose representation.
    Unions: That’s not fair!

  • Anonymous

    Exactly right, the workers that are being affected by Lepage are the workers WITH a college degree, thousands upon thousands in student loans, and certainly not making $28-$20 an hour.

  • Anonymous

    State Workers are not overpaid or overstaffed, they are understaffed and work their tails off to provide services to the people of Maine. The people that are bleeding the State dry of money are the people collecting TANF year after year with no attempt to get a job and earn their money. People complain that State workers are overpaid, for doing work, while others are collecting money each month for not working at all.

  • Anonymous

    Tax cut after tax cut is what got us here. Ronnie Raygun’s “trickle down” turned out to be as wrong as the numbers used to justify the cuts. 2 of 3 corporations paid no taxes to the US for the last decade. Exxon-Mobil uses offshore accounts to hide their income but was paid Billions in subsidies. Boing paid no taxes but recieved millions in tax cut money while moving as many jobs as they could overseas. General Electric also. The banks that were center to the mortgage fraud, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citicorp, also paid nothing, apparently made enough profit to pay out hundreds of millions in bonus money. I think a good start would be to close the loopholes in the tax code that allow this. Good luck with that as they have plenty of money left for “political contributions”.

  • Anonymous

    Gov said, “That’s the plan”

    They’ve got a plan?

    In the whole of Maine, how many union members are there whom are being “forced” to pay dues? Or are paying the service fee? Why this will cause the lobsterboat sternmen and school bus drivers to go on strike. And what happened to Jimmie Hoffa????

  • Anonymous

    except this collective bargaining has nothing to do with taxpayer money funding State workers, it has to do with some workers wanting to be represented by the Union for free. Secondly it’s easy to attack that taxpayers are funding Maine state workers, but remember the services these workers are providing cost the taxpayers much more money, going to people that aren’t working to earn them.

  • Anonymous

    I have seen honest and hard working people–and they have been crushed by our system.

    I’ve seen people lose their houses to pay for medical expenses.

    I’ve seen business people lose their businesses to big box corporations.

    The movie Inside Job just won the Oscar for best Documentary. It shows the Wall Street wealthy using cocaine and buying the services of prostitutes on an obsessive basis.

    Greed and corruption — the Wall Street types– wrecked our country. And while the rest of us fight and squabble, looking stupid, they sit in their marble halls and laugh at us.

  • Anonymous

    I think the top five percent in this country that are acquiring all the wealth (like hedge fund managers that make a billion dollars a year and are taxed at capital gains rates) are laughing while we squabble over the leftovers.

  • Anonymous

    I still think my metaphor works best. A tiny fraction, 1%, of our population has a quarter of the pie, and the rest of have little tiny slivers. We fight among ourselves, they get richer. It’s classic corruption. It is the same ol’ same ol’ in terms of Satan infiltrating and spreading hate.

    It’s painful to look at, sure. But there it is. Our country is infected at the top. They are our Masters, and they know how to make us hate each other so we don’t focus on them.

    Yes, some rich people are good and decent, but the Wall Streeters are not. The good won’t mind being taxed to help the poor. Jesus was generous. Even with much more taxes, they will still live better quality of lives materially than most of us–by far.

    Take one Caribbean mansion away from someone who has five mansions, and they really have nothing to complain about.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZOQEHWSZ6EUH5ACXQAIBK5A6KY Forest Beekeeper

    This is great! Go! Governor Go!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3X7SFRHODRS2WLWYPQD5G5DEAY bmy

    Paul LePage is the enemy of working Mainers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lpilot Lisa Pilot

    Good, I hope they do. People didn’t know what they were getting into when they voted for the man and though it’s tempting to want them to reap what they have sown, I don’t want to have to suffer alongside them. That’s one version of solidarity I’m not into.

    See you at the protests!

  • Anonymous

    The state workers are willing and able to give concessions . In ten years they have had only one COLA cost of living adjustment. State workers are already contributing to health insurance premiums per the last contract and are scheduled to contribute more and are willing to necgociate. Yet the Governor wants to draw battle line and bring national attention to a battle that is not even happening. This is just the national politicols doing their best to divide and conquer. Workers will not stand for this kind of rhetoric coming from the likes of Koch brothers and the other corporate contributors.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DK2NSO2GYJSIRQOPYAXLKVEIA4 James

    Our governor is going to use Maine to poll vault himself into federal politics. Marden’s will stay in his rear view mirror while the gong show acts begin. We are in for a lesson that we won’t soon forget, and when it’s all over, even the most staunch tea bagger will have had enough of him. He got lucky and fell into the conductors chair, and, like a kid turned loose in a candy store, he is wild with excitement. Hold on tight, take your blood pressure pills, and keep your wallet in your front pocket.

  • Anonymous

    I have a sister who is a state employee in NH and we had this discussion…we both agreed that EVERYONE needs to take a bit of a hit in times of recession whether you work in the public or private sector. It is hard for me to be real compassionate when I have to pay $757 a month for our health insurance (which is up $100 in the last year, has a $5000 deductible and doesn’t cover any prescriptions or preventative care) and there are state employees ready to take to the streets in protest because the state wants them to pay more (not all) of their insurance. At least someone is paying SOME of their insurance! (all taxpayers!)

  • Anonymous

    What you suggest is assigning to private contractors the whole of state government. Brilliant! We can use the winning bid money to retire the state debt and get on with more serious projects such as making whoopie pies, lighting up the town with fireworks, and coyote snaring, just to mention a few. Paying for surviving services will be easy: if you use it you pay for it, like tolls on the turnpike and campsites at state parks. We should continue with periodic elections to keep the appearance of self-government, but the corporate state will be the order of the day. With enough cheap bread and circuses, it can all be done without jackboots and cudgels. We’ll need a leader to put a public face to it all, someone to tell us how free we are and to make nice noises about the founders, and by gorry he’s here already! Hallelujah!

  • Anonymous

    As a Maine taxpayer, you DO NOT speak for me when you refer to “the People of Maine”.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_C7WSWODNC5J5S2PF7DCW6JOKLQ Rocketman

    This clown couldnt believe he had won the election. And now we know why. He’s not fit to be in public office period.

  • Anonymous

    Turning off the TV does not solve the incompetent teacher problem. Typical diversion.

  • Anonymous

    He doesn’t need support of the majority if he’s got the right backers, unfortunately.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1628932330 Naran Row-Spaulding

    Agreed — the naysayers are just eager to see him fail. Talk about “cut/nose/spite/ face.”

    Meanwhile, the unions are beginning to remind me of a cranky teenager, who insists on having the same expensive cell phone and plan, regardless that Mom and Dad have both lost their jobs. The family has barely enough money for groceries and the mortgage, but Junior throws a hissy fit over his cell phone, and slams the door.

  • Anonymous

    And if the fat kid was buying the quarter of the pie with money he got by holding the other kids upside down by the ankles?

  • Anonymous

    OMGSOCIALISM!

    /kidding…

  • Anonymous

    “And yet, the empire faces a crisis, a global recession, growing poverty, rampant violence, corruption in politics, and threats to personal freedom. As it was before in other times of crisis, the old stories have begun to repeat themselves. The half truths, this time repeated nightly on cable news and echoed through a series of tubes onto the internet: the empire is strong, change is unwise, business as usual is the answer. In times of uncertainty there are those who seek to add to the confusion, to prey on our insecurities and fears. Those who would seek to keep us divided for their own gain. The pervasive strategy takes many very convincing forms: Liberals and Conservatives, Christians and Muslims, Black and White, Saved and sinner.”

    But if I’m correct, you’ve probably already read this. :p

    /rule1 only applies during raids…

  • Anonymous

    it ain’t easy being green…

  • Tedlick Badkey

    Oh yes… I’ve read it… our /b/rothers are onto something big here.

  • Anonymous

    Who let this guy near a live microphone? You really have to wonder who is pulling the strings.

  • Anonymous

    A union worker, a tea partier, and a multinational CEO are all sitting at a table. In the middle of the table, there is a plate with 12 cookies, provide by the CEO’s bakery division. The union member calls up his bought and paid for legislator and gets him to pass a law barring the tea partier from baking his own cookies. Then he demands a pay increase, more sick days, minimum staffing levels, and for Viagra to be covered by the company health plan. He also demands that laid off workers be kept on payroll, paid to hang out at a “job bank”. He and his fellow union thugs go break the kneecaps of the Keebler elves to pressure them to go to a closed shop. Then the union member gets the politician to pass more laws and regulations on the bakery, and to increase the CEO’s taxes.

    Meanwhile, the price of cookies soars due to all the increased costs and regulations. The tea partier can no longer afford cookies and stops buying them. The CEO closes the factory.

    Somehow, this pleases the union member.

  • Anonymous

    I really like your comment and agree with you wholeheartedly, well said.

  • Anonymous

    Great job LePage for once Maine may have a real Governor. Keep it up!!! At one point are these people going to understand that when government salaries and benefits surpass private sector it will not take long to go broke…Thanks Mr. LePage

  • Anonymous

    So, LePage’s daughter’s package really costs the Maine taxpayer $65K? Verrrrrry interesting …

  • Anonymous

    Oh wait now ruhim Mr. Obama says that if you make over 200k you are rich…so they should be laughing too…at what point will people realize you can’t continue to steal from the successful to pay for the unsuccessful pretty soon you will only have unsuccessful…we all have the same opportunities to succeed in life…as our forefathers said “Right to pursue happiness” not the “Right to Happiness”

  • Anonymous

    I have a hard time sympathizing with the unions. At one time your union head was a guy on the assembly line or working in the mine next to you. Now they are professional “organizers” who make more money than most of the people they represent will ever make. They have become the same as the “suits” that run the companies.

    One of my relatives worked for AT&T a few decades ago. After a prolonged strike that cost her car, house and drove her deep into debt, in exchange for some minor concessions from the company, the union had the audacity to tell them all what a wonderful job they had done for the workers. The only ones that profited from the whole mess were the union reps.

    Unions were once a necessary part of American labor. They used to protect American workers from corporate abuse, but they have become bloated moneymakers that only exist to benefit their own leadership. Government and unions both need to go on the same diet, as we can no longer afford the care and feeding of either one.

  • Anonymous

    What if I don’t want your stinking services? The fact is your crumby services are forced down my throat and the money to pay for them is taken from me at the point of a gun! That’s right, if I refuse to pay, state employees will come to my house to put me in jail. If I resist they will shoot me to death. I’m an American and I am capable of taking care of myself – I don’t need no stinking state employees or crumby state services!

  • Anonymous

    You won’t get enough recall signatures to fill a date book! LaPage is hugely popular outside of the “public worker community”.

  • Anonymous

    LePage wants a fight. He is doing everything possible to instigate a fight. Well, he will have one.

  • Anonymous

    Explaine this to us. Lepage is a blessing to this state. the past 8 years I never have seen so many bussness shut its doors faster than any other time because of higher taxes more regulation. Now he will have to deal with these union thuggs trying to force there will on the people. This man will go down fighting for the taxpayer. He is not going to give in.The unions will destroy this great nation. Look at how they destroyed Detroit for exsample.

  • Anonymous

    LOL…..

    This is truly funny. Blame it on the ones that actually create jobs…nice How about you take an economics class…I think Maine has a welfare program for that like they everything else…

  • Anonymous

    Yeh my husband worked at a job for nearly 40 years under a union, and they only thing he and nearly 300 workers got was no job and no severance pay, and no vacation pay that the workers had already earned. the only thing I felt they ever did was take money out of his paycheck.

  • Anonymous

    Maine is already is a complete Socialist welfare state so LePage is only trying to fix all the liberal tree hugger policies that have been in place forever in the backwards state…

  • Anonymous

    I think it is high time to revolt and not pay state taxes, the state of maine takes money from us at a higher rate per $1000., than the feds do. Does this make sense to anyone??

  • Anonymous

    Why not use collective bargaining to raise the wages of the private sector employees you cite to match the wages of the state employees? Maybe those people are underpaid because they have no leverage to negotiate their wages. Can you give an example of your 16-18/28-30 wages, it’s tough arguing with a hypothetical.

  • Anonymous

    It didn’t stop your boy Lepage from increasing government salaries by hiring his daughter now did it?

  • Anonymous

    One more thing than I will leave for now, I think it is wrong to give breaks to the higher income people than expect the rest of us to pay thru the nose, wake up LePage, time to give the little people a break, and let the rich ones pay for a chang.!!!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    I would love it if you would educate yourself as to the facts. Perhaps, this link will help:
    http://www.kjonline.com/news/state-workers-already-sacrificed_2011-02-28.html

  • Anonymous

    The cuts need to be made in the state house office holders. Don’t waste time “union-busting.” He should be looking into trying to create and keep more jobs in Maine.

  • Anonymous

    Give her a break!..She has over 20 years experience in that job. (Good morning Dad)

  • Centaurmyst

    He really needs to stay away from microphones. It’s bad enough that he runs his mouth here in Maine. Keep that fool off of the national stage, please!

  • Anonymous

    Yes it does make sense Maine has more welfare and entitlement programs that most states and paying public employees on average more than private….any money they are collecting from the few people not on welfare goes to the entitlements…get real

  • Anonymous

    Where she said “yes” she was agreeing. Where she said “and” she was adding another component. Not at all a diversion.

  • Anonymous

    All I can tell you about this is that from first hand experience, my union saved my job from a corrupt and immoral supervisor. He got canned instead of me when the sh.. hit the fan, and I was grateful I had the union to help me.

  • Anonymous

    Hows this one ” the majority of the people of Maine ” Sorry I hurt your feelings was not my intention.

  • Anonymous

    I take it that spelling lessons were not part of your education?

  • http://twitter.com/z_gryphon Ben Hutchins

    You know, I sometimes think we’d be better off if we’d elected the cartoon governor from the Governor’s Restaurant menu; and then I look more closely and realize that we did.

  • Anonymous

    i hope the unions are ready as well, this man will not back down

  • Anonymous

    I have an idea SpruceDweller move to Canada so you can have your Utopia. Leave our Republic alone…

  • Anonymous

    The corporations left because of NAFTA, a Republican brainchild, and greed, a republican way of life. Why pay a Maine worker minimum wage when they can make more money paying slave wages like a dollar per day. Thanks GOP for ruining America!

  • Anonymous

    The love for your state is just so obvious…….suggestion, try another state where you can excercise your desire to be self sufficiant.

  • Anonymous

    Remember, as the democrats said ’08, elections have consequences…………….

  • Anonymous

    The governor doesn’t seem to mind his woman with facial hair. I guess a living wage for the people is even less important to him. First, they need to limit welfare and free medical for people able to work. Then put the convicts to work feeding themselves and make them pay for being in jail as part of the sentence, take whatever they can get from them, that’s not cruel and unusual, just harsh and severe. Next start with some consolidation on the management level of government and include the university system in that thinning. Then start trimming benefits if it is still needed.

  • Anonymous

    Adam you’re missing the bigger picture. If the GOP can destroy the union system, then they eliminate the Democrat Party”s organizational and financial support so that the big corporations will be the only ones spending big bucks to win elections. It’s all about politics. In the last election cycle, corporate backed PACS donated much more than unions. Of the top 10 contributors, only 3 were unions, The GOP wants that number to be zero. The GOP doesn’t want the working man to have any say in elections.

  • Anonymous

    Perhaps the rich and luxuriant will be so judged.

    You still have no right to steal from them.

  • Anonymous

    We can all go right to a link on the State of Maine website to see what they all make. Bad Apples spoil the whole barrel but can we agree that there are bad apples? Can we agree that there are state programs that are not working or not producing very well?

    Can we agree that that State Workers should be able to do something more than scream bloody murder and accept no compromises when it comes to a new contract?

  • Anonymous

    WRONG WRONG WRONG. The highest Maine income tax rate is 8.5%. Fed income tax rates start at 10% and go up from there, 15%, 28% and 35%.

  • Anonymous

    Good because that will insure that he’s not elected to a second term.

  • Anonymous

    Not this one. I like the fact that my business taxes might be going down along with my personal income taxes. I like the fact that maybe no more working nurses will get laid of at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital becuase LePage is paying money that the hospital has been owed for years. That money not being paid in the past administration created layoffs at the hospital.

    I like the fact that I may not be seeing two DMR guys at my fish and shellfish facility, one who works while the older guy ¨supervises¨him and keeps going out to smoke cigarettes. That is going to save me some money in the long run. Not much, maybe a dollar a year, but that is good enough for me.

  • Anonymous

    FACT Government workers do not get more than the equivalent private sector. You have been hoodwinked by FOX again. If you measure equal jobs and education factors, state workers are still paid less.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder if what happenend in Indiana is one of the reasons they are one of only four or five states not facing a budget crisis? The 90% that you refer to, was that Public Employees or did include private workers as well?

  • Anonymous

    Again something i expected from LaPage!! This is not just a hit on state workers this is a hit on unionized labor.. This will reduce wages and benefit packages across the board.. This will not help Mainers put cash in their pockets or will it help the economy.. All these people that are getting their wages and or benefits cut are gonna be looking for help at the welfare dept.. Only thing is LaPage is cutting that too.. The only people that this will benefit is the ceo’s of each company.. They are to be paying less for our health care, they are getting huge tax breaks, and they are gonna be paying less wages.. There fore increasing their bottom line..

  • Anonymous

    The FOX “news” analysis includes minimum wage workers, of which there are not many in the state’s workforce. Also the percentage of college grads working for the state is much higher than with the general workforce. It’s like comparing apples to oranges.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: You are flat out wrong as far back as 2007 public workers in Maine have made more than public. It is simply a mathematical fact. In Maine, government employees receive substantially more compensation than private-sector workers, according to a new study published by The Maine Heritage Policy Center.

    “The Government Gravy Train: An Analysis of Private versus Public Sector Compensation,” released April 17, was written by J. Scott Moody, the organization’s vice president of policy and chief economist, and Jason A. Fortin, its director of communications.

    Using data published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Moody and Fortin compared compensation levels in Maine between calendar year 1969 and 2005 for private-sector employees and both state and local government employees (the “public sector”).

    Employment compensation has two components. The first part is the wage or salary paid to the employee for services rendered. The second part is benefits–commonly health insurance, retirement, etc.–which are paid in addition to a wage or salary.

    Private vs. Public

    “This report reveals that in Maine it pays to work for the government,” said Fortin. “Government employees earn equal salaries and wages [when compared with their private-sector counterparts], but receive substantially richer benefits.”

    The analysis revealed that in 2005, public-sector employees on average received 12.6 percent higher overall compensation than private-sector employees–$43,487 versus $38,617.

    “The large disparity in compensation levels is disturbing on several levels,” added Moody, “but none more than the fact that these relatively well-paid government positions are funded by private-sector employees who are paid much less.”

    The report also revealed compensation varies significantly between state government workers and local government workers. The average state position was compensated at $51,003 per year, while the average local position was paid $40,268. In both cases, compensation exceeded the private sector.

  • Anonymous

    Wow, you must really hate guys who worked hard to make their own money. Guys like Ted Turner or some of those millionaire actors like Sean Penn or Johnny Depp.You know the are big democrat party supporters right. You must hate a guy who writes a book and gets paid millions for it. A guy like Barack Obama. What about three millionaire politicians who were all brothers and were wealthy too? The Kennedys?
    How much does Bill Clinton have hanging around these days from giving his speeches?

    All those guys above earned their money. Its not mine, its not yours. Its not the governments to take and redistribute. It is THEIRS!

  • Anonymous

    WRONG WRONG WRONG.
    Neglecting an effective negative tax bracket for those collecting EITC, and the 0% tax bracket (some of your income is shielded by exemptions and deductions. Long term capital gains are taxed at 0% if your ordinary tax bracket is 10 or 15%), the current tax brackets are: 10, 15, 25, 28, 33, and 35%.

    I agree, though, it is unlikely anyone’s effective tax rate could be higher for the state than the feds. However, given the many federal credits not available on state tax returns, and Maine’s non-conformity with federal tax laws, I suspect I could create a hypothetical situation in which that would be the case.

  • Anonymous

    Funny, Charlie Sheen is a big Democrat Supporter and he uses whores and coke too. Bill Clinton was quite a ladies man too and Al Gore likes to purchase the services of Massage Therapists, the ones that massage you but dont have the degree that is.

    I

  • Anonymous

    Are you describing yourself?

  • Anonymous

    According to tax stats, only 2% of the population make $200,000 or more. To say that people making $200,000 or more can’t afford to pay a couple pennies more in taxes for the dollars they earn ABOVE $200,000 is ridiculous. So the question is: Would you prefer a rich person keep a little more or would you prefer we pull the rug out from under the poor? You might be a rich guy cheerleader now, but when crimes like theft, burglary, and home invasions increase, you might regret it, especially if the desparate poor figure out which houses are owned by rich GOP cheerleaders who fought to cut their benefits.

  • Anonymous

    Is that why most of his first choices for Cabinet positions, refused a large pay cut to work for him?

    http://new.bangordailynews.com/2010/12/29/politics/lepage-slow-to-fill-cabinet/

  • Anonymous

    Private vs. Public

    “This report reveals that in Maine it pays to work for the government,” said Fortin. “Government employees earn equal salaries and wages [when compared with their private-sector counterparts], but receive substantially richer benefits.”

    The analysis revealed that in 2005, public-sector employees on average received 12.6 percent higher overall compensation than private-sector employees–$43,487 versus $38,617.

    “The large disparity in compensation levels is disturbing on several levels,” added Moody, “but none more than the fact that these relatively well-paid government positions are funded by private-sector employees who are paid much less.”

    The report also revealed compensation varies significantly between state government workers and local government workers. The average state position was compensated at $51,003 per year, while the average local position was paid $40,268. In both cases, compensation exceeded the private sector.

  • Anonymous

    That is an old joke but I heard it the other way around. It was much funnier then, and more factual.

  • Anonymous

    Where did you get that ridiculous idea. The Declaration of Independence is a bill of divorcement. In fact, it follows very closely to notes Jefferson kept on a divorce he was involved in. It outlines the reasons the colonies can and should break their political relationship to Great Britian. Jefferson was an anti-federalist and opponent of the Constitution. In 1798 he invented out of whole cloth the mythical concept of State-rights and state nullification of Federal Laws. The intellectual justification for the Civil War. Nothing in the Declaration embodies any sentiments later expressed in the Constitution.
    The Constitution is a foundation document detailing the powers of the Federal and State governments. Specifically it give Congress the power to defend the Nation and to manage the national economy and revokes certain powers from the states (Article I Section 10).
    One tears down; one creates.

  • Anonymous

    Gerry,
    Do you mean Roxanne Quimby’s a “whack” for her choice to move Bert’s Bees to a southern, Right To Work State, before selling out for millions and moving back to Maine to purchase huge tracts of land to post against historic Maine uses?

    Before it closed, GP’s property tax bill averaged $12.50 per ton of paper made. By comparison, GP’s mill in Savannah, GA (a Right To Work State but I’m uncertain if there’s a tight corelation) was a mere $2.50 per ton of paper made. Add in Union Work Rule inefficiency, and there’s no wonder the Wall Street Wise Guys decided to pull the plug on Old Town.

    However, I do agree with you, especially in letting Ann Robinson lead the Environmental Charge that best represents her out-of-state lobby clients and not Maine businesses: LePage is in dire risk of, like Obama, of moving too fast and laying the groundwork to lose one, more, bodies of our Legislature in two, very short, years!

    Oh, how’d I do with the spelling?

  • Anonymous

    Type your comment here.Maybe you should join a UNION.

  • Anonymous

    But how’s the “little beard” coming along these days…?

  • Anonymous

    Now, that’s what I call a “well-recycled” story…

  • MainahinAtlanta

    You and bubbalouie are the two goodest reasons to read the comments section.

  • Anonymous

    Why do you assume I’m full of hate when I point out gross injustice?

    You bring up a good point–how do various rich people make their money? What I’ve seen, in the movie Inside Job, is that it is Wall Street that tanked our entire economy through extremely sinful methods.

    I like the small businessman. Unfortunately, such people (perhaps you are one) are squeezed out by corporations with great frequency.

    This is different from earning your money by writing a book, as you point out.

    If we don’t stop Wall Street, they’ll destroy us again.

  • http://www.facebook.com/patrickleo11 Patrick Worster

    Ahh, the unions are so great, look what happened to Detroit, look at what has happened to most of the “Union” mills around, most of them are downsizing laying people off, closing because its costing to much, i will take my NON Union job where i know its secure and my boss can pay my wages instead of what the “Union” tells him to pay Us, Keep up the Good Work LePage

  • Anonymous

    I couldn’t agree with you any less, at least your essential point regarding “From Each To His Ability… To Each According To His Need” approach. Far too Maxist for me.

    I’d suggest reading Alexis D’Toqueville’s DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA to see a Frenchman’s observations of America in the late 1800′s along with Ayn Rand’s ATLAS SHRUGED, written in the 40′s, as what happens when Producers are outnumbered by Consumers, as we’re currently headed these days.

    To paraphrase Churchill, “Capitalism is a tough, mean and nasty way to conduct a nation’s business…. it’s just the best system ever invented”.

  • Anonymous

    Lepage won with 38% and an ~7,600 vote victory less than 4 months ago. Unless he’s swayed a lot of people since then with his charms, calling him “hugely popular” is a bit of a stretch.

  • Anonymous

    Lepage is just another Republican Governor Paid for Buy Big Buisness to Destroy Your Right to Collective Bargaining.

    Politicians told us That Free Trade Agreements Where good for America =
    The Jobs Went Oversees!

    They Told Us that we didn’t need a Manufacturing Base, =
    The Value of Our homes was the Basis for Our Economy!=
    The Bubble Burst!

    The Economy Tanked and they gave the Banks a Bail out.==
    People Lost Their homes!

    Record Unemployment and now they tell us we need to bight the bullet Because the States have lost Revenues and cant Balance The Budget!

    They can’t Tax Big Buisness Because we need them to invest in America!==
    (Isn’t That where we Started?)
    Didn’t they allready have the opportunity to invest in America? Didn’t they all ready show their colours and run to CHINA , Mexico?
    Lets give them some more bailouts! Lets Give them some more Free trade Agreements!

    Lets put the Budget Balancing to the Teachers and the Government workers! To You and Me!

    Don’t be fooled by this Right to Work Agenda!

  • Anonymous

    Gee I thought we did. Maybe we should all work for Mardden”s. After all min.wage with no bennies is what the republicans want,right ?

  • Anonymous

    Why is it that the people making the least amount of money are the ones who bear the burden of the Republicans’ financial shake down and shenanigans?

    Why do the top two percent keep getting tax breaks?

    Why is Defense spending $1.35 trillion in fiscal year 2010?

    Why do many of our largest corporations pay no tax and hide revenue in offshore accounts?

    All while Wall St., Health Insurance, and Big Oil record obscene profits.

    The most outrageous part of this whole mess is when you ask any of the previously mentioned to sacrifice anything — they go start an ad campaign war featuring some obtuse ruse that leads you to believe the world will come to an end if they don’t get their way. These very same people have the nuts to ask the working people who live from paycheck to paycheck to give up more and more. Most people are almost out of “give” and they’re getting tired of being asked by those who have so much to give.

    Good, hard-working (and unemployed) people are being backed into a corner. We’re seeing peaceful demonstrations now. These demonstrations are fueled by desperation. People are fed-up.

  • Anonymous

    The only difference is within a week you will be seeing non union workers sleeping in the Truck!

  • Anonymous

    I make over 350k a year combined with my wife and I do not mind paying taxes as long as I am paying the same rate as everyone else. Taking from the successful to give to the unsuccessful is wrong. Just ask Thomas Jefferson if you do not believe me…

    “A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned – this is the sum of good government.”
    Thomas Jefferson

  • Anonymous

    The neat thing about Any Rand is her great descriptions of greedy corrupt bankers–she hated them–and corrupt greedy bankers (and politician allies) dominate this country. (see Inside Job)

    There are different kinds of capitalism. I do prefer the Swedish system. Even the conservative politicians in Sweden are fighting to preserve it.

    Once the people taste the true basis for “the purse of happiness” they don’t want to go back to vicious and cruel competition that leaves children without access to medical attention.

    It’s a myth that society must be so cruel. In fact, many societies aren’t.

    I’d rather live in a world where medical, daycare and college are paid for, rather than a world where 1% of the population owns multiple mansions and the rest bicker and hate each other in their bitter poverty and struggle, and everyone sinks.

    It’s classic moral failure.

  • Anonymous

    no

  • Anonymous

    Typical incomprehension from you. I never stated anything about it
    solving the teacher problem . It is just one of many factors, but not
    surprised you don’t get it.

  • Anonymous

    “The right backers”. Oh, I get what you mean….”right” but really wrong!

  • Anonymous

    A public union employee, a tea party activist and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, “Watch out for that union guy he wants a piece of your cookie.

  • Anonymous

    I feel just as fed up with the Unions the liberals and their BS class warfare they have created. Why is it you feel the “rich” (what is the definition by the way) should pay anymore than anyone else. We all have the “Right to pursue happiness” not the “Right to happiness”…

  • Anonymous

    Have you ever heard of the People Veto?
    You will.

  • Anonymous

    (cough) MHPC

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WUXQMOMFW26EODLA7I3WZLSNPM Jeff C

    Already done, he was marked “Not Rehireable” as he left the building.

  • Anonymous

    I dont know how many have seen this. Everyone should listen to the Scot Walker Prank Calls because there is about to be a Right to Work Bomb Dropped in this State.
    Follow along to what is going on in Wisconsin Because it is About to Happen Here!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBnSv3a6Nh4
    http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045

  • Anonymous

    Why? Are you an out-of-stater?
    I wonder how many Heritage foundation contributors we have here?
    Their comments reflect the programming and talking points that are embedded in their speech. Insult, talking point, lie- repeat often until population sickens.
    It’s like listening to a malfunctioning android.

  • Anonymous

    good

  • Anonymous

    http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p=5045

    Here is the Prank Call For the Governor in Wisconsin.

    It Should be seen as the Bomb is going to be dropped here!

    Seems as though there are a lot of BACK ROOM Deals These Days!

  • Anonymous

    They can have those Slave States!

  • Anonymous

    Don’t confuse love for state with hate for leviathon government!

  • Anonymous

    That’s how the republicans do it in Washington.
    The corporation that pay to get them elected write the laws that they pass.
    With the supreme court ruling in Citizens United we don’t even know who paid to get the laws passed.
    This is what were up against in Maine now.
    They have bought and paid for this new Maine government.
    And they’ll get their money’s worth and then some.

  • Anonymous

    Here come the Koch brothers. Kiss goodbye to your quality of life in such areas such as clean air, clean water, and occupational safety. Their objective is maximum profits to themselves by reducing those pesky costs that they incur to assure the health of the communities in which they do business. There are such business owners in Maine, too.

  • Anonymous

    Crisis is the plan.
    Money and power to be had during crisis.

  • Anonymous

    Meet the real boss-Koch and corporations.
    Crisis=money and power.

  • Anonymous

    Roxanne did what any intelligent businessperson would do. But she wasn’t hampered by unionized workers up in Dover Foxcroft. That happened circa 1997 or so. Smart move. Saved money. And I don’t disagree that a lot of union workers are overpaid. I had friends at St. Regis years ago that were making $50K with a high school diploma in the late ’80′s. Really ridiculous. But when the union boys in NY called a strike, everyone was screwed. So no, I’m not into and have never been into unions. I think the MSEA is absolutely wrong headed. You want to work in “civil service”? Take the expected hit for the expected retirement. Do NOT expect to be paid on par with industry where you could be laid off in a heartbeat.

    I’m just saying LePage seems to be mimicking some bad people. You want to take a double bitter to Maine’s problems, you’re going to create more problems. A concerted pruning instead of clearcutting is going to accomplish a lot more, with a lot more diplomacy, than trying to completely shift gears overnight. And it might get him reelected. Right now, he’s on his way to flash-in-the-pan status.

    I think Roxanne is a bit of a whack for other reasons. Gerry? You think I’m Gerry P? Never met the man.

  • Anonymous

    the objective is too bring real industry and jobs to the state give me a break 40 years of liberal tree hugger bs has created a welfare state with no industry

  • Anonymous

    You chose if you’re so savvy …. Corporatism vs. Democracy is the only issue. As long as we have corporations and their lobbyists writing laws and legislating them in their interests, people will continue to react.

    These corporations who fund corporatism will pay a price for their choice. In fact it’s already happening (Bank of America) just got shut down yesterday, you can trust you will see more of the same very soon.

    We know our vote is meaningless and the Supreme Court a right nutwing joke. The only thing we have left to make to make any difference is our buying power or lack thereof which equates to your bottom line.

  • Anonymous

    Thomas Jefferson the same guy who thought slavery was OK is who you are relying on to say that the rich who have benefitted the most from Bush and the GOP rape of America for 8 years shouldn’t pay a little more. Frankly, we’d get more taxes out of the rich if we made corporations pay the same rate as individuals and eliminated all the tax loopholes and the special 15% capital gains tax. Recently, corprations let the GOP know that they didn’t want them to push the flat tax BECAUSE THE RICH MAKE OUT BETTER THE WAY THE TAX SYSTEM IS NOW. Greed is bad for America.

  • Anonymous

    I resemeble that remark, I’ll have you know I have twenty years of formal education.I graduated tenth grade twice, and quit tryin to get on my good side with your flattering comment !

  • Anonymous

    Typical liberal response to call me a bigot. You have nothing else. Thomas Jefferson was a great man and one of our forefathers. You proved my point by your last post that you hate the constitution our country and what it stands for…..Move to Canada or North Korea pal you will get what you are looking for….

  • Anonymous

    I am not a Consumer. I am a person and a citizen of the United States of America.

  • Anonymous

    Congratulations you won the grand prize ! Using the word hate only once in a single sentence!

  • Anonymous

    The only difference is within a week you will be seeing non union workers sleeping in the Truck!
    ********************************
    ahhh, yeaaahhhh, really? How many PRIVATE plowing contractors sleep in their truck? Hint: NONE—they are out there doing a JOB to EARN money…..they sleep when they get home.

  • Anonymous

    Dude, you are so lame. Always the same litany of being the victim. Youré the most abused millionaire in America, for God’s sake. Share the wealth or pipe down.

  • Anonymous

    One last thing why is it because I am successful I should pay for your failures of not being successful.In the last year and half I lost a job and a 17 year old daughter to a car accident and I pulled myself out of the rut….Years ago I went through a horrible divorce when I had no job no education and no future….I worked two jobs went back to school and am now very successful…You and your cronies need to get off your a__s and get to work and stop blaming the government….

  • Anonymous

    Lepage won with 38% and an ~7,600 vote victory less than 4 months ago. Unless he’s swayed a lot of people since then with his charms, calling him “hugely popular” is a bit of a stretch.
    **************************************************
    ….and all the “public worker community” members voted for Cutler.

  • Anonymous

    I never even came close to calling you a bigot but you must be feeling guilty about it anyways apparently. Jefferson was a great man but had plenty of flaws, just like you’re thinking that because you are rich, we shouldn’t feel that you can pay more in taxes. So I say to you Take your greed and shove it.

  • Anonymous

    There is nothing wrong with being ‘rich’ in money (there are other ways to be ‘rich’). There IS something wrong with the ‘have-mores’ (remember Mr. Bush’s constituency?) buying legislators and rigging the game with lies and misinformation. There is something wrong with the Supreme Court saying that corporations are ‘people’ and giving these for-profit entities all the rights of the people. There’s something wrong with the Wisconsin governor plotting with the Koch Brothers to bust a union that is full of good, hard workers. Yes, there’s something vastly wrong with it – and with Mr. LePage who thinks that, with only 38% of the vote he has a mandate to hurt hard working Mainers.

  • Anonymous

    Saveit! I saw Ya Snoozing!

  • Anonymous

    Typical lame GOP supporter, you think that anyone who’s not greedy must not have a job. I do very well myself, but I give a care about my fellow man. You, on the other hand, are only looking out for #1. Sad.

  • Anonymous

    Define real industry. Since it is the corporations who outsourced many of the jobs, what will we manufacture in this country that can’t be done at a fraction of the cost in a country where they use slave labor or pay workers fifty cents a month?
    What about the billions given away as corporate welfare?

  • Anonymous

    Greedy people think success is measured by how many dollars they make.

    You don’t even know me but immediately jump to the conclusion that because I’m not greedy, that I’m a deadbeat. Your assumptions are typical rightwing nonsense. I make a good living, have a million dollars in assets, have Never collected welfare , own a $300,00 dollar home and have less than $10,000 of debt. I used to be a Republican too but that’s back when they gave a care about the middle class as opposed to their work for the rich 24/7 mentality today.

  • Anonymous

    I have a good friend, a woman, who is a carpenter in the Bar Harbor area. She built her own house, she does good work for other people and she was doing well. But she could not afford to buy health insurance. Just too expensive. Last summer she broke her ankle – a bad compound fracture – and could not work during the ‘busy’ time of year. Now she is inundated with medical bills and having a difficult time recovering. Why should a hard-working American suffer so much? Why can’t health insurance be a reasonable expense met by a working person? One slip off of a ladder and your life plummets. It is not right.

  • Anonymous

    These comments above are meant for businesssavvy below, but BDN put them here for some reason.

  • blueeyes1970

    State employees are running around shooting people? What are you smoking????????

  • blueeyes1970

    They have the women around them because they do not look like Jabba the Hut! State workers do not want to protest at State House, they may be eaten!

  • Anonymous

    I’m sorry about you’re daughter that must be tough.

    But your assumptions about people who don’t share your “money is success” mentality is dead wrong. Liberals aren’t all deadbeats as you no doubt know. By your standards, I would be considered successful, but I give a care about my fellow man and understand that government can’t function if it’s as small as your side wants to see it.

  • Anonymous

    Our intellectual in the Blaine House will cause more dmage to this state than Quadaffi did in in Libya.

  • Anonymous

    If you make less money with more education than a State Employee, you need to look in the mirror and ask where you motivation, capabilities and smarts are.

  • Anonymous

    What I wonder is after all these year of the Bush Tax Cuts, which were supposed to trickle down, and increase local revenue, why are there any budget problems at all now ?

    The budget facts belie the conservitive mythology that you just have see it for yourself.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms
    1 Gross federal debt

    I’d be called a liar for speaking the truth of , here.

  • Anonymous

    State employees are running around shooting people? What are you smoking????????
    **************************
    Gee, is THAT what I said??? What are YOU smoking???? I said (if you can’t understand) that if I don’t PAY for state government services that are forced upon me, whether I need or ask for them or not, the STATE (agent) will come to my home or place of business to seize any and all assets to PAY for these services. I’ll give you a hint, since you seem to be having trouble….it’s called TAXES. If you or I don’t pay the taxes that the state of Maine demands, the state agent(s) will come to my home or business and TAKE what they deem necessary to satisfy their demands. If I resist their efforts to seize my property, I will be shot. They are armed. They have done it in the past. An aquaintance owns a very small business and he was hit with an unexpected tax, along with fines, fees, interest, etc. State agents came to his business one day, ARMED, and displaying their weapons. Scared the bejeezus out of his wife—which infuriated him.
    …oh, and btw, in case you forgot, police officers, sheriffs, state police, are agents of the state. they have no problems with shooting people.

  • Anonymous

    Congratulations you won the grand prize ! Using the word hate only once in a single sentence!
    **********************************
    are you that silly that you do not know what a leviathan government is?

  • Anonymous

    Congratulations you won the grand prize ! Using the word hate only once in a single sentence!
    **********************************
    are you that silly that you do not know what a leviathan government is?

  • Anonymous

    Good luck, Gov. LePage. You can include me in your great number of supporters. It is past time to downsize state govt and downsize the pay, benefits, and pensions of state employees. I am gratified to see that you, like Gov. Walker, are doing exactly what you said you would do.

  • Anonymous

    Good luck, Gov. LePage. You can include me in your great number of supporters. It is past time to downsize state govt and downsize the pay, benefits, and pensions of state employees. I am gratified to see that you, like Gov. Walker, are doing exactly what you said you would do.

  • Anonymous

    What an utterly idiotic comment!

  • Anonymous

    “give me a break 40 years of liberal tree hugger bs has created a welfare state with no industry”

    So is he just an idoit we shouldn’t have to pay any attention to, or does he really think that John Reed, John McKernan, and Angus King, were all too damn liberal tree huggers ?

    How scary is that thinking ?

  • Anonymous

    Yes let’s START with eliminating the tax loopholes for the rich and subsidies, but I’m sure the GOP will howl because that would affect the same people/corporations who fund their campaigns. Republicans aren’t asking for that kind of smaller government/ deficit reduction. They want the only sacrifices to be made by the middle class and the poor.

  • Anonymous

    If we had universal healthcare funded by every individual through taxation, the states wouldn’t have the employee benefits budget problems they have now and this whole union busting problem wouldn’t probably be an issue. AND businesses in this country without the burden of paying their employees’ health insurance, would be better able to hire new workers and compete better in the global economy.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_DK2NSO2GYJSIRQOPYAXLKVEIA4 James

    If Lepage gets his way and busts the union, then all teachers will be Republican. All others need not apply. If you don’t believe it, then you are not up to date on todays political atmosphere. The Republicans and Tea Baggers will expect nothing less.

  • Anonymous

    I agree. Americans are blind to their own collective power. Whoops! I
    said a bad word, ‘collective’, I must be a socialist, a communist or worse!
    They keep us divided, to their own advantage.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1628932330 Naran Row-Spaulding

    An exact mirror image of the Democrat side of the situation. There’s idiocy and unfairness on both sides.

  • Anonymous

    I dont know how many have seen this. Everyone should listen to the Scot Walker Prank Calls because there is about to be a Right to Work Bomb Dropped in this State.
    Follow along to what is going on in Wisconsin Because it is About to Happen Here!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
    http://www.buffalobeast.com/?p…

  • Anonymous

    that was Bush in 2005 who said that. And then he proceeded to ruin America.

  • Anonymous

    holy friggin’ mackerel. Do you have any idea at all about the sort of comment you just made? I know it must be for shock value because anyone who had ever been to that part of the world would laugh in your face. Seriously, take a few days off and catch a flight to the middle east. then come back and kiss the ground at your feet.

  • Anonymous

    Oh stop it will ya ! lets just have a game of scrabble, and we will see how well you know your vocabulary…..it means simply “whale.”

  • http://twitter.com/mnkk Kathleen March

    It’s pretty naïve to think unions aren’t necessary. The examples of what happens when workers aren’t unionized are pretty scary.

  • Anonymous

    Sing along….The bible tells me so…

  • Anonymous

    Well, Bub, when you’re self employed, after you pay all the business bills, you get to pay 15.4% or so in self employment tax, then your federal taxes, then 8.5% State income tax. There’s ways to hide it, and make life deductible, which I’ve done over the years. Tax avoidance is legal. Tax dodging is illegal. There’s a fine line, but it can be done. If I make $65,000.00 net of deductible expenses, after taxes the take is in the low 40′s. And I don’t get the bennies that State employees do. The system is broken, and the entitlement attitude of State employees is ridiculous. I’m not paying for it any more.

  • Anonymous

    We can agree, but I’m not sure that what I have seen is State workers screaming bloody murder and accepting no compromises when it comes to new contracts. It’s been years since any of them have received any kind of raise, health insurance costs have gone up for them, and they accepted shutdown days for two years, I’d say they were hit pretty hard with changes each time the budget came up.

  • Anonymous

    I’m pretty sure that you are not required to accept things like TANF. There are services provided by the State that are not wanted by most clients, but are not voluntary, like Child protective but if you can’t be a responsible parent, that’s your problem. Child support, you gotta pay.

  • Anonymous

    Wrong. Period. It’s time for the entitlement of State employ to end. I looked up a friend’s State pay. He works for IF&W . As of a couple years ago his pay was $42K. Bachelor’s degree, but that’s what you get when you WANT to do a particular thing. Not a lot of private industry demand in that area. However, his “total” package was over $65K. So that’s $23K in bennies which must mean retirement, medical, etc., etc.

    People don’t collect TANF year after year. Those that need it have to qualify first. The fiction that there are a bunch of people out there bleeding the system their entire lives is an outright lie. You’re a State employee, aincha? THERE’S the “entitlement” programs. State employment, and the taxpayer forced to bear the costs of the MSEA.

  • Anonymous

    Now THAT says it all! Perfect, yet yo’ boy bw68, below, doesn’t get it, nor do 99.99% of alll the teabaggers.

  • Anonymous

    Wow, if he’s an enemy Baldacci must have been a frigen natural disaster. LePage is making the decisions no one has wanted to make in some years, this is why we are in the situation that we are in. Everyone else in the private sector is paying more in and making the cuts in their lives. Why are state workers exempt, do they think that they are a class above everyone else and are immune to these cuts. After seeing the little thing on the fruad of the turnpike workers it will be pretty hard for me to feel sympathy.

  • Anonymous

    Some of the things in the budget, that might bring out protesters.

    gutting necessities for hardworking Main Street Mainers to finance tax cuts for some of the richest in the state. In his budget that was released yesterday, the governor has unveiled a slew of tax cuts, cutbacks in public services, and the gutting of public employee benefits and pensions.

    Included in the budget is a provision that would raise the retirement age of public workers from 62 to 65, cut Maine’s prescription drug and health coverage for working parents program, end $400 of property tax relief for more than 75,000 middle-income Maine households, and freeze cost of living adjustments for state employee retirees — which already provides a meager average pension of only $18,500 per year.

    Yet at the same time, LePage is pushing through hundreds of millions of dollars of tax cuts. While most Mainers will receive a tax cut under the governor’s plan, the lion’s share of the cuts will go to the wealthiest of state residents. The Maine Center for Economic Policy notes that the average tax cut for most working families in Maine will be a measly $83, while upper income earners will take home an average of $874, and those who earn more than $363,438 — just one percent of the population of the state — will take home a whopping extra $2,770, on average:

    And while Millett and business groups gave the tax cuts high marks, the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a liberal think tank, said the cuts give the rich much better benefits than the poor. “Where’s the sacrifice that’s being asked of Maine’s wealthiest residents?” said Garrett Martin, associate director of the center.

  • Anonymous

    I got this from a national website. Is it just me or does this article describe LePage’s budget . ….where the Bangor Daily News alludes to it.

  • Diogenes

    A public union employee, a tea party activist and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, “Watch out for that union guy he wants a piece of your cookie.”

  • Anonymous

    Really??????

  • Anonymous

    You want to recall him for doing his job of balancing a budget that no one else has managed to tackle in the last 8 years. I am sure that process you have going will just take right off, especially with a republican house and senate….good luck.

  • Anonymous

    It is????? Well read “Madison and Jefferson” new book confirms all the info on the DoI. Jefferson was in France during the Constitutional Convention and ratification debates. He took no part in any part of the process. His letters state his agreement with George Mason, Gerry, Patrick Henry and the other anti-federalists that the Constitution could not be ratified without a Bill of Rights. The Virginia Resolves of 1798 include the ideas of nullification and state’s rights(?). Jefferson was the sole author.
    So what’s utterly idiotic is people who don’t understand even the basics of American History and pretend knowing what the Constitution means.

  • Anonymous

    The cheeseheads consider Chicago the east coast so I doubt they even know where Maine is.

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely false and the result of taking the Constitution out of context. The Constitution was written to “create a more perfect union” by expanding the power of the Federal Government and curtailing the power of the states. If the founders wanted to limit the power of the federal government they had to do nothing. The Federal Government under the Articles of Confederation could not tax, could not control the economy. In fact it couldn’t do anything except negiotiate treaties and beg the states for resources. See comment above.

  • Anonymous

    I am afraid you are a little bit late to the discussion with that one. At least 2 other people wrote that in several places yesterday. Do you all have the same joke writer or live at the same ill-informed website. Get something original!!!

  • Anonymous

    I agree that Bush made some really bad decisions that paved the way for Obama’s election, however, in early ’09 when Obama had a meeting with both democrat & republican congressional members, his argument over tax policy was & I quote, “I won”. I think it would be wise to withhold judgement of Lepage’s budget until it becomes public knowledge, but you must admit that the general public had to have been dissatisfied with the democratic leadership in Maine to have brought in a republican governor as well as the legislature.

  • Anonymous

    Wait a second, I thought unions were for the worker and not a political instrument. What your saying is if I get a job and am forced to join the union my contributions go to democratic election funds. If I am a conservitive how are they representing me, aren’t they just looking out for their best interest. If I refuse entrance to the union I can also not be hired, the unions are only worried about themselves and if they weren’t than they wouldn’t push ideas such as these.

  • Anonymous

    If you really believe that then you haven’t paid much attention at what is happening at that bastion of liberal education, The Univ of Maine.

  • Anonymous

    f you really believe that then you haven’t paid much attention at what is happening at that bastion of liberal education, The Univ of Maine.

  • Anonymous

    Protesting really helps, I am sure you will change his mind. Make sure when you leave the capital you clean up after yourself unlike the people in Wisconsin

  • Anonymous

    You really want the government running your healthcare. I do not disagree that the system is broken but in light of all the blunders with the economy I am not eager to let them control my healthcare.

  • Anonymous

    Do You mean President Obama? He lied about that didn’t he. I don’t believe Gov LePage ran as a “consensus builder”. He ran to get the economy running again.

  • Anonymous

    Gov. Walker of Wisconsin starting to use mafia like tactics that dictators resort to when the people do not support them. Don’t think it is going to work anymore.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/02/951668/-Suppressing-Dissent:-An-Inside-View-of-WI-Governor-Walkers-Budget-Address

  • Anonymous

    Please don’t bury this moderators.

    Some of the things in the budget, that might bring out protesters.

    gutting necessities for hardworking Main Street Mainers to finance tax cuts for some of the richest in the state. In his budget that was released yesterday, the governor has unveiled a slew of tax cuts, cutbacks in public services, and the gutting of public employee benefits and pensions.

    Included in the budget is a provision that would raise the retirement age of public workers from 62 to 65, cut Maine’s prescription drug and health coverage for working parents program, end $400 of property tax relief for more than 75,000 middle-income Maine households, and freeze cost of living adjustments for state employee retirees — which already provides a meager average pension of only $18,500 per year.

    Yet at the same time, LePage is pushing through hundreds of millions of dollars of tax cuts. While most Mainers will receive a tax cut under the governor’s plan, the lion’s share of the cuts will go to the wealthiest of state residents. The Maine Center for Economic Policy notes that the average tax cut for most working families in Maine will be a measly $83, while upper income earners will take home an average of $874, and those who earn more than $363,438 — just one percent of the population of the state — will take home a whopping extra $2,770, on average:

    And while Millett and business groups gave the tax cuts high marks, the Maine Center for Economic Policy, a liberal think tank, said the cuts give the rich much better benefits than the poor. “Where’s the sacrifice that’s being asked of Maine’s wealthiest residents?” said Garrett Martin, associate director of the center.
    Flag

  • Anonymous

    I know some people are painting them with a broad brush as lazy and useless. We all know those types of people exist and we also know that a few bad apples spoil the whole barrel.

    I dont know lots about state workers contracts. I do know that they have a right to negotiate for a fair contract that the state can afford to pay. I know that you and I pay those salaries. I also know that threatening protests and showing no ability to compromise will not sit well with many of us private citizens who have had to endure the same things that the state workers have.

  • Anonymous

    I´ll bite and say that Baldacci was no gem either. Maybe thats why there was quite a lack of attractive women in his administration?
    Ohh, well, its fun to kid around at times isnt?

  • Anonymous

    why is that the most popular form of discussion on this web site is the ‘deflect’ method?

    Two wrongs don’t make a right. I take it you are not an Obama fan, yet you see to be defending his actions via your comparison with LePage.

    That is morally confusing (to me) and completely irrelevant to the point.

    have a nice day

  • Anonymous

    I was simply pointing out that Gov LePage never ran as a “consensus builder” as your post implies.
    Obama on the other hand did run as a “consensus builder” then threw that notion completely out the window.
    You must have a lot of difficulty with your morality on a variety of issues if you can’t see that hypocrisy.

  • Anonymous

    If what you claim is true, perhaps you’d explain why 23 states are now suing the Federal Government over a clause in the national healthcare bill claiming that the Feds overstepped their constitutional authority.
    After what happened to people in England who lived under the tyranny of a monarchy, it’s pretty easy to see why the Constitution was written as it was.

  • Anonymous

    What I claim is absolutely true as any reading of the Anapolis and Philadelphia Conventions shows.
    How many of those 23 states have Republican attorney’s General – 23? The Obama Healthcare law modelled on Romneycare in Mass – a republican proposal. The provision that everyone buys insurance which has no enforce mechanism first proposed by a Republican Senator in 1993. If McCain was President and he had presented a health care bill it would have been very close to what was passed under Obama and would have included the same provision as Romney did. Why are the 23 suing the Federal Government – pure partisan gain at the expense of the American People?
    I don’t understand your last sentence. The Constitution did not grow out of conditions in England although the ideas of radical whigs did make it across the Atlantic. Our Constitution is American exceptionalism. The Constitution reflects the genius of Madison and the truely new and radical ideas he developed balanced by practical political considerations like protecting slavery for the forseeable future and the radical cultural changes that swept over the country as a result of the collapse of the English colonial system.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you, Jon. I’ve been working on this same teaching effort in these columns for some time, but with little luck. If some people hope to get serious about thinking about the Constitution of the United States of America and the defense for separation known by its abbreviated title as The Declaration of Independence , they must also know something about the Enlightenment, the course of events which led to each, and the personalities involved. Otherwise they are vulnerable to the lunkhead “history” peddled by the likes of delusional liars like Glenn Beck and their parrots – possibly some of them governors.

  • Anonymous

    Oh stop it will ya ! lets just have a game of scrabble, and we will see how well you know your vocabulary…..it means simply “whale.”
    **************************************
    oh, how sweet and precious—did you get that out of your little bible? forcryinoutloud! Just ADMIT already, that you are an apologist for BIG government…or, that you can’t figure out the difference between love for your state and disdain for the unruly, obsessive and unnecessarily invasive governmnet ruling class it has become.

  • Anonymous

    I’m tired of hearing about “big business trying to bust unions”, when the opposite is closer to the truth. I have no problem with the rank and file union members who, like the rest of us, are just trying to feed their families. Having said that, the unions as a whole are bankrupting this nation and public sector unions in particular are sucking the lifeblood from our states’ economies at a time when workers in the private sector are being compensated for half of what the people who pay for that compensation receive, and THAT is no lie. Furthermore, I resent the thuggish tactics employed by SEIU and AFSCME in response to the American taxpayer saying “ENOUGH”. They b*tch and bellyache about their pensions, while people in the private sector have seen their 401k’s disappear. They squawk about having salaries frozen while those who pay those salaries just feel lucky to have a job, never mind not getting a raise. The actions of SEIU, NEA, the AFL/CIO, and AFSCME in Wisconsin and elsewhere are despicable. The cowards in the Wisconsin legislature are even worse, running away like a bunch of two year olds, rather than accepting the will of the voters of Wisconsin. Governor Walker didn’t blindside anyone- he ran on a platform in which he said this was the course his administration would take. The fact that the unions have partnered with the American Communist Party and the SDS in Wisconsin ought to tell people something about the true motives of the union thugs. I guess you libs have forgotten what your hero, Barak Obama, said following his election- “Elections have consequences”. As for “out of state” business interests, count the number of buses coming into Maine if the governor is right!

  • Anonymous

    No fascist LePage is trying to punish working people while transferring their wealth to the rich as Walker is doing in Wisconsin and Christie is doing in New Jersey. One of the first things Hilter did was on May 2, 1933 after assuming power was to arrest labor leaders, repeal collective bargaining powers, make unions and strikes illegal. Then they started after the socialist, communists, mentally ill, and eventually the Jews.
    LePage has much lower goals; he just wants to destroy the middle class and poor.

  • Anonymous

    BS. Americans pay less in total taxes today than they have since 1928 (in real dollars of course). No business has been driven away from Maine because of taxes. Please provide any evidence you have to the contrary. We aren’t at the bottom of the economic hill. Maine’s median income has risen faster than the national average since 1972.
    A 6 week horror show. Cut taxes for the rich and propose poisoning babies.

  • Anonymous

    Sing along….The bible tells me so…
    *****************************
    No thanks, Skeev—I don’t do the Sunday school thing.

  • Anonymous

    Because your argument has no merit at all. You aren’t paying for the unsucessful. You are contributing your fair share to the national needs. You know, oh well maybe you don’t – patriotism. You gain 90% of the benefits of our system of government, you should pay 90% of the taxes. Most people on welfare also work many more than 2 jobs.

  • Anonymous

    I’m pretty sure that you are not required to accept things like TANF. There are services provided by the State that are not wanted by most clients, but are not voluntary
    ***********************************
    I’m not talking about TANF or any kind of welfare services.

  • Anonymous

    The Constitution has no political affiliation, so it is inappropriate to infer that 23 states chose to challenge the Federal Government’s authority based on political beliefs.
    In England, under the Crown, you could be(and many were) jailed for failure to attend the [Crown-approved] church on Sunday. That’s why framers of our Constitution wisely chose to limit the power of the Federal Government by providing for freedom of worship and separation of church and state. This was not some off-the-wall idea that the framers had, but was based in fact on what occurred in England.

  • Anonymous

    Jon, please provide the documentation for your statement saying Americans pay less in total taxes today than they have since 1928 (in real dollars of course). Don’t forget fees and sales tax, fuel taxes, entrance fees administration fees licenses taxes on medical equipment & devices that you pay through your insurance premiums. Also please consider the tax deductions that were available to individuals and small business that do not exist anymore.

  • Anonymous

    If I had the opportunity to talk to all the people in this country who belong to a union I would say this; “Stop being so greedy and be happy that you even have a job!!” These people get very generous benefits, get paid much higher wages than most of us do, and generous pensions that most of us would only dream of getting. At a time when millions of people are still unemployed and when it is still very difficult for the unemployed to even find any job, these people still think that they aren’t getting enough and want more, more, more!! Look at companies like GM, Chrysler, and Ford. One of the big reasons why we, the taxpayers, had to foot the bill to save them from the brink of going out of business was because they had to fund these unaffordable pension plans, pay these ridiculously high wages, and pay these generous benefits to their workers, and people wonder why manufacturing jobs have been leaving our country in droves in recent years. If unions and management don’t learn to work together and get along, then nothing is going to be made in the United States anymore!

  • Anonymous

    Oh to argue with the uneducated is very frustrating. You mention fair share well as someone who makes over 350k a year I am paying far more than my fair share considering my tax rate is much higher than lower income….How is that fair…there should be a Flat Tax period…As far as Welfare goes how exactly is that my problem…there are school programs to get educated….there are churches I give 10% to mine do you? I am so tired of this country and the laziness we have created…this sense of entitlement you have is sickening too me and it would be to our forefathers…As far as Patriotism goes I fought for my country in the first Gulf war how about you

  • Anonymous

    Teacher union heads have made that statement many times in many forms.

    “When school children start paying union dues, that ‘s when I’ll start representing the interests of school children.”

    Albert Shanker

    These Wisconsin teachers trading on the trust of their students by bringing them to demonstrations are no more than predators. If a teacher ever betrays the trust my son puts in them they will wish they hadn’t.

  • Anonymous

    I agree with you %100! What makes these public sector employees think they’re so special? The rest of us have had to make sacrifices and take cuts due to the recession, why shouldn’t they?

  • Anonymous

    Hey It’s no little bible , I read the BIG book !! Are you hittin on me with words like “sweet and precious”

  • Anonymous

    OMG. Have I struck gold. A blooger who understands the context, purpose, and meaning of the Constitution.
    They don’t want to know the Constitution. Instead, they want to impose their ideology on the Constitution and then use the manged product to provide authority to their argument.
    To me all political principles should begin with the Constitution. Mine do.

  • Anonymous

    I am an active union leader and I actually support the right to work legislation. There are two sides to it and I really don’t think it will destroy unions. It allows people to not be in a union but it also repeals the requirement that unions represent non-union workers. I prefer the all in or all out approach because in my experience union reps spend a lot of time and dues money working on grievances for non-union members. It is not right that someone can avoid paying union dues and still get 100% of the benefits as full members. In a way, this legislation will give unions a little more power and it will be just as likely to cause people to join a union as quit. If employees have the option to not be members but still reap the benefits, I can’t understand why so many people still join unions.

  • Anonymous

    Be careful to not lump the UAW and MSEA or MEA in the same category. Not even close. Teachers and state workers are not highly paid. Yes, we do get good insurance but it comes as a bit of a trade off for salary. As for the pension, what is wrong with having a good pension? Especially when it is cheaper to fund than social security or the amount you would need to put into a 401(k) to get something comparable. I take strong offense to the idea that we are greedy. We are just sticking up for ourselves, which is exactly what everyone else is doing when they say taxes should be lowered or money should be spent elsewhere. It is hypocritical to ask us to roll over and play dead because we should “just be happy we have a job.” I am happy that I have a job and I am good at my job. I feel like I get what I deserve and I plan to protect what I have.

  • Anonymous

    Your first sense makes absolutely no sense.
    Sorry, you are still wrong on separation of church and state. Religious persecution which was real enough in England and America. But the Madisonian idea of separation of church and state came from his specific experiences in Virginia not from persecutions some hundreds of years before in England although he was well aware of the history. More important is the detention of four baptist ministers in the country next to his home.
    The framers of the Constitution – the 55 men who attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia – did not chose to limit the Federal Government by providing freedom of worship. The Constitution was ratified without any amendments. The first Congress passed (after modifying them) the first 10 amendments after Madison submitted them then the states ratified them. Some of the first Congress were framers of the Constitution most were not and those ratifying them were not framers. The Constitution was adopted in 1788 and the amendments in 1791 and later.
    The amendments are not the Constitution, but a small part of it. Limiting some of the powers of the Federal Government years after granting it huge additional powers does not mean that the Constitution was “written” to limit the power of the Federal Government.
    And nothing in the Constitution stands as modivation for the 23 AG’s who have filed suit.

  • Anonymous

    not sense, sentence

  • Anonymous

    Hey Jon you can try to educate them if you want, but the GOP cult members are single-minded and simple-minded. If they didn’t hear it on FOX, then it’s not true. Of course, some of the GOP supporters here are rich and are just looking out for their own self-interest and don’t give a damn about anybody but #1. Good luck and thanks for your comments.

  • Anonymous

    First, I doubt fees were included because they are not taxes. Not all government revenue is a tax. Source CBS news about two weeks ago and then repeated on MSNBC the next night. But it should be easy enough to take 1928 tax revenues apply the price deflator and then divide by gross personal income and compare to 2010 comparable numbers. But its also very obvious. The federal income tax marginal rate was 91% under Eisenhower (1955-1961) and Kennedy. It was a couple of % during the 1920′s. Plus we have many more deductions now than we have ever had. So you can’t just account for the no longer existing deductions only.

  • Anonymous

    A flat tax i.e. same tax rate allied to earning of rich and poor is completely unfair. You benefit far more than the poor therefore you should contribute more. Government protects your property; the poor have none. Government protects your freedom (money is freedom); poor have none. Government provides equal, to some degree, opportunities, the rich can take advantage of those opportunities much more than the poor can (what good does a free college education mean to a 75 year old 100% disabled citizen who has no car and no drivers license nor the money to move near the school). Truth is the working poor pay higher tax rates than the rich. Study done by MCEP shows the lowest 20% of Maine income earners pay twice the tax rate of the top 20% of income earners. The Poor work as many hours if not more than the rich; lazy my butt.
    Why is welfare your problem? Its your country that’s why its your problem. I appreciate you service in the Gulf War but patriotism is a lifetime committment not just for a summer (thank you Mr. Paine).

  • Anonymous

    With your last post you have demonstrated exactly what I am saying. I weep for my country….I have an idea why don’t you get out of my country and move to the UK since you love government and Socialism so much….leave my country alone…

  • Anonymous

    I notice that you don’t refute or even attempt to refute a single point I made nor any of the facts I presented. I have to assume you can’t. Because you can’t, your arguments must be based solely on your self-interest and self-delusion and not the interests of OUR country or its history and laws. Its a real shame to see people who have defended their country for all the wrong reasons. Many reports in the last dozen years have pinpointed the infiltration of our armed forces by neo-fascist groups. Seems it might be true.

  • Anonymous

    I could give you plenty of facts like the top 20 percent of income earners paid 86.3 percent of all federal income taxes in 2006. However I am convinced that you are either not bright enough to understand them or you just chose to ignore them…I am done with this argument as you have been brainwashed by mainstream media and have not one original thought in tiny head…

  • http://www.facebook.com/patrickleo11 Patrick Worster

    really, im non union and my job is alot more secure than the Union mill jobs around here

  • Anonymous

    Everyone can be replaced!
    Most of these mills have been around for Decades! They have provided employement for generations. Most of these Union People Retired without being unemployed at every opportunity of economic down turn. They worked it out with their employer and life went on.
    This new generation of governors brought to you by the Republican Party are trying to turn the Unions into the Whipping boys for the Banking/ Wall Street Meltdown.
    Most people see it for what it is, and those who don’t I hope get enlightened before it is to late.
    Unions have set the wages for the rest of America.
    Minimum wages wont make it!

  • Anonymous

    Hey It’s no little bible , I read the BIG book !! Are you hittin on me with words like “sweet and precious”
    ************************
    lol naw, 31 years ago I waited tables in a diner to pay for my first year in college—I called everyone “hon”, “dear”, “precious”, “sugar”, “sweetie”…ahhh, old habits. The new Denny’s commercial brings back fun memories!

  • Anonymous

    if you feel like you have to insult my morality, of which you know nothing, in order to make a point, you have proven that you have no point to make.

  • Anonymous

    True indeed, however, this comment got some people “upset” because it was said by a upper level management person from the NEA. In many circles it is not viewed as a union. Believe it or not.

  • Anonymous

    Those are WORKING FAMILIES you are talking about (public workers). Just as much as you!!

  • Anonymous

    A big stretch…..he is not “hugely popular” with many.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, but didn’t you know that the Heritage Foundation = “the People of Maine.” !!!!!

  • Anonymous

    I ‘ll bet you are much more honest than that poster!!

  • Anonymous

    “Funny” , but you ought to get your facts straight. It is Martin Sheen, Charlie’s father, who is the Democrat.
    Charlie talks against Obama.
    Seems like you are mixed up and misinformed.

  • Anonymous

    They aren’t very intelligent. If you disagree with them you are a “hater.” They can’t take a varying point of view.
    On another thread, some right winger is calling someone a hater because they aren’t a right winger. This same poster is always expressing his dislike, strongly , for liberals. It is called projection, but they don’t even get it.

  • Anonymous

    Right to work should pass and any politician that doesn’t vote for it needs to go in 2012.
    Sure wish the bdn would print some of the notices sent to state employees that threatened their jobs if they refused to pay their “Fair Share”. Course Baldacci balked on that and instead just started stealing the money from checks automatically. As soon as it’s passed the union is going to have a huge budget gap too.
    There are a lot of state employees that support what the Governor is trying to do. Hopefully he will find the support from the legislature. For once a politician that follows through on what he actually ran on! Go Paul, Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Anonymous

    Why not have an American Workers Union to represent ALL workers? They can use collective bargaining to fight the criminal republican corporate elite, and keep jobs here in the US. Or, why can’t every employee in this country be given the right to bargain for their own rights and wages? Wonder how that would work? Well, like the gov. says ” life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” right? I think that must be what he’s trying to do, give us the right to fight the corporate crims and get justice for all! Right!

  • Anonymous

    Yes! We should ALL be able to make a living wage instead struggling to live with a wage deficit! We should ALL have decent working conditions and no fear of being fired if we don’t go along with corporate! We need an American Workers Union, NOW!

  • Anonymous

    Why shouldn’t average American workers complain when they see the criminal republican corporate elite making record breaking profits? Time for an American Workers Union for all workers in this country! So that we can collectively bargain against the crims sending jobs overseas! Maybe we can get a petition going during the Middle Class March on Washington!

  • Anonymous

    Yes, there is a wage deficit in this country that just continues to grow. And Maine will never be a silicon valley. We have more minimum wage earners in this country and this state, and that won’t change. That’s reality. Raising the minimum wage would help grow the middle class, which is the driver of economies all over the world. This would put more into the tax coffers, social security and medicare, free up those second and third jobs for others to work, and stop low income earners from collecting the eic at tax time, thus leaving more tax dollars to spend on services and education for Americans, NOT in foreign countries. And put in place a jury style public oversight committee to reign in the government spending at the state and federal levels. But I doubt that the criminal republican corporate elite has that in mind. I think they must really like China, because that’s what they are turning the US into. I’ve never heard of a corporation fighting to keep jobs here or fighting for better wages and working conditions, have you? No, just the opposite. But unions do. There are examples of bad management in unions as well as our own government. Instead of scrapping it, make it work better, for the majority of Americans,which are still the working poor middle class. Taking away the collective voice of American citizens isn’t democratic, it’s communism.

  • Anonymous

    Now you’re talking! Address the wage deficit! It’s time for an American Workers Union for ALL workers in this country! To fight the criminal republican corporate elite from sending jobs to foreign shores in their bid to enslave the American worker, and make us work for 18 cents a day like the Chinese do, so that they can have record breaking profits this year to.

  • Anonymous

    Thought you would desert rather than engage the facts. Again your comment is a perfect example of “projection” – accusing your opponent of your own faults.
    Its a question of values; either you value this country, appauld its real traditions, find joy in its unity or you are in it for yourself. We know where you stand. So slink away.
    Oh! 20% paying 86.3 % of the taxes are too low. 1% own 90% of the nations assets. 1% have quadrupled their income over the last 30 years; the other 99% have added $350 (meaning they have taken a severe cut in standard of living over those 30 years. Not because of individual effort, hard work, smart living, or any other self-serving nonsense, but because the laws have been changed to re-direct wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 1%.

  • Anonymous

    I weep for my country….This last comment is a perfect example…please I beg move to the UK and get the h_ll out of my country…When was it this country became so obsessed with what everyone else has but themselves if you do not like your situation get off your a_ss and change it good day sir…do not assume to tell me I am rich I will make that determination…

  • Anonymous

    Its not yours. At least it isn’t until you and your friends overthrow the government and destroy the Constitution as your friends tried and failed in 1934.

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