Politics
POLLWAYS (blog)
Race, the reporter, and the rest of us
on Jan. 04, 2012, at 8:36 p.m.
Some facts, lessons and concerns Facts On Tuesday, January 3, 2012, reports emerged about a Maine statehouse reporter. Leif Parsell, a writer for the news outlet of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, had written posts on-line that a blog said indicated “white supremacy.” Moreover, that blog reported that: Parsell has ...
Maine environmentalists gearing up for battle this legislative session
AUGUSTA, Maine — While closing another budget gap will be their top priority, lawmakers are expected to grapple with a number of complex and potentially contentious issues dealing with the environment, land use and Maine’s energy mix during the shortened legislative session that began Wednesday. In some instances, lawmakers will ...
Committee kills bill that would weaken clean election law
AUGUSTA, Maine — Members of a legislative committee on Wednesday quickly dispatched a bill that sought to ban gubernatorial candidates from running publicly financed campaigns. LD 120, An Act to End Taxpayer-funded Campaigns for Gubernatorial Candidates, would have removed all references to gubernatorial candidates from the Maine Clean Elections Act. ...
POLL QUESTION
LePage kicks off re-election three years ahead of next gubernatorial vote
AUGUSTA, Maine — A $500-per-person fundraiser was held Tuesday by Gov. Paul LePage’s re-election committee just one day before the start of the 125th Legislature’s second regular session. Since money cannot be raised from lobbyists during a legislative session, many Democratic and Republican groups held fundraisers before the session. But ...
Obama defies Senate, appoints consumer and labor officials
By Lesley Clark and Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers on Jan. 04, 2012, at 7:38 p.m.
WASHINGTON — A defiant President Barack Obama sidestepped Congress on Wednesday and appointed a new consumer watchdog, locking horns with Republicans, who immediately accused the president of exceeding his authority to appoint a director to an agency they oppose. Speaking at a high school in the election battleground state of ...
Maine legislators delay talk on Dirigo Health’s future
AUGUSTA, Maine — A legislative committee will hammer out the details of a state health insurance exchange later this month. The Insurance and Financial Services Committee met Wednesday for the first time in the second legislative session and delayed discussion of two bills concerning implementation of an exchange in Maine. ...
After Iowa, Romney now hopes to pull away in NH
By DAVID ESPO and KASIE HUNT, the Associated Press on Jan. 04, 2012, at 5:54 p.m.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Mitt Romney eagerly pocketed an endorsement from two-time New Hampshire primary winner John McCain on Wednesday and bid to convert a single-digit victory in Iowa into a Republican presidential campaign juggernaut. Unimpressed, Newt Gingrich ridiculed the former Massachusetts governor as a liberal turned moderate now masquerading as ...
Senator who heads Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine resigns from state Legislature
Sen. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, has officially resigned from his seat in the Maine Senate effective Dec. 31, 2011. Trahan’s seat was empty Wednesday when the 125th Legislature’s 2nd regular session convened. Trahan announced earlier this year that he would step down after he was named director of the powerful Sportsman’s ...
CAPITOL INCITE (blog)
Lawmaker sanctioned by Ethics Commission present during 2nd session
on Jan. 04, 2012, at 1:49 p.m.
Rep. David R. Burns, R-Alfred, was in his seat and his name on the board Wednesday when the 125th Legislature convened its 2nd regular session. In late November, the Maine Ethics Commission ruled unanimously that Burns committed several violations of the Maine Clean Elections Act during the 2010 election. The ...
Bachmann ends bid for GOP presidential nomination
By Kasie Hunt, The Associated Press on Jan. 04, 2012, at 11:38 a.m.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Michele Bachmann has ended her presidential campaign — leaving her supporters up for grabs as Rick Santorum tries to become the conservative heavyweight in the Republican race. Santorum’s near-tie with Iowa caucus winner Mitt Romney topped a rise from deep in the polls to contender for ...
CAPITOL INCITE (blog)
New State House news service fires reporter for online racial comments
on Jan. 04, 2012, at 11:25 a.m.
Various media outlets have reported that Leif Parsell, a reporter for The Maine Wire, a new State House news service affiliated with the conservative Maine Heritage Policy Center, has been let go after less than two months on the job. According to the blog The State of Maine, Parsell has ...
From the community
President’s Recess Appointment Gives Watchdog Teeth It Needs To Protect Consumers From Wall Street or Payday Lender Financial Shenanigans
Kudos to President Obama for standing up for consumers this week by making a recess appointment of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The President’s action means that the CFPB now has all its powers to protect the public from unfair financial ...
CAPITOL INCITE (blog)
Trahan officially resigns; Senate District 20 seat empty until Feb. 14
on Jan. 04, 2012, at 10:45 a.m.
Sen. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, has officially resigned from his seat in the Maine Senate, effective Dec. 31, 2011. Trahan’s seat was empty Wednesday when the 125th Legislature’s 2nd regular session convened. Trahan announced earlier this year that he would step down after he was named director of the powerful Sportman’s ...
NH bill would expand the death penalty
By Roni Reino, Foster's Daily Democrat (MCT) on Jan. 04, 2012, at 10:37 a.m.
DOVER, N.H. — A bill intended to expand the death penalty is expected to land on the House floor Wednesday. Rep. Phil Greazzo, Manchester, sponsor of House Bill 162, said he doesn’t feel there should be any special circumstances in murder cases. The bill would expand the current death penalty ...
ANALYSIS
In Iowa, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum find victory in very different strategies
By Thomas Beaumont, The Associated Press on Jan. 04, 2012, at 6:42 a.m.
Santorum carried vast tracts of Iowa's rural areas and its conservative northwest, while Romney carried many of Iowa's most populous counties.
Gloomy poll numbers for Obama
By Charles Lane, The Washington Post on Jan. 04, 2012, at 5:53 a.m.
Campaign 2012 is upon us. Time to size up President Obama’s reelection chances. What do the data suggest? In 2011, an average of 17 percent of the public was “satisfied with the way things are going,” according to the Gallup Poll. That is roughly the same as 2008 — so ...
Susan Collins, Delta Shuttle ground TSA scanner argument
By Jeffrey Goldberg, Bloomberg News on Jan. 04, 2012, at 5:39 a.m.
At the Marine Air Terminal, you won't find the TSA's patented Let's-Look-At- Passengers-Naked-While-They-Raise-Their-Hands-Like-We're- Mugging-Them Machines.
Conservation group accuses DEP of intentionally relinquishing oversight of Flagstaff Lake
By Steve Mistler, Lewiston Sun Journal on Jan. 04, 2012, at 5:16 a.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — An environmental group is accusing the state Department of Environmental Protection of deliberately relinquishing oversight of Flagstaff Lake in Eustis. Last month the DEP acknowledged that it had inadvertently ceded oversight of water quality and water levels at the 20,000-acre lake to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ...
Mitt Romney claims 8-vote victory over Rick Santorum in Iowa, but Ron Paul isn’t far behind
The Associated Press on Jan. 04, 2012, at 5:09 a.m.
DES MOINES, Iowa — Mitt Romney eked out a minuscule 8-vote victory over Rick Santorum in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses, the state party chairman said early Wednesday, ringing down the curtain on an improbable first act in the campaign to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama in the fall. ...
Loophole allowed state to pay $235 million to organizations run by lawmakers and their spouses
By Naomi Schalit and John Christie, © Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting on Jan. 04, 2012, at 12:01 a.m.
Between 2003 and 2010, the state paid almost $235 million to private organizations run by legislative leaders or the spouses of high-level state officials. But because of a loophole in state law, not one penny of that spending was ever disclosed to the public in ethics filings. An investigation by ...
Bicyclist in Trek Across Maine was drinking water at time of fatal collision with Canadian truck, police say
LePage vetoes Medicaid expansion, says ‘Maine can do better’
Report: University of Maine System teacher-training programs rank among worst in nation
In support of Bangor library, schools budget
We don’t understand female politicians
Pellerin enthusiastic about job as new Lawrence High School boys varsity basketball coach
Rask gives Bruins 2-1 series lead
Corinth runner’s path to national titles began with adoption by pastor and wife
25 things to do this summer — boats, barbecue, the Bard and everything else
UMPI solar system model expanding into Canada
