AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage says he has not changed his position that any bond issued by any state agency needs to be approved by voters at referendum.
LePage said he is shocked at a vote by the legislature’s Appropriations Committee to kill a bill requiring an advisory referendum on bonds sold by the Maine Educational Loan Authority and said he opposes the measure they did approve requiring voter approval for some bonds issued by the Maine Government Facilities Authority.
“I have not changed my position at all,” he said in an interview. “All this borrowing needs to have voter approval.”
During his campaign for governor and in the first session of the 125th Legislature, LePage has not waivered from his position that even moral obligation bonds, those that are not directly backed by the state, need voter approval in some form.
“I am shocked that they killed that bill for student loans,” he said. “I am shocked that they would kill that.”
The Maine Educational Loan Authority has the authority to issue revenue bonds for loans to students for college. Sen. President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, sponsored the bill that would have the voters approve that borrowing authority for three years so that every bond sale would not need voter approval. Members of the Appropriations Committee unanimously rejected the bill.
“We really didn’t discuss this much in caucus,” said Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, the Democrat lead on the panel. “We don’t see this as necessary.”
Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, the committee co-chairman said his caucus felt the same. He said there is a significant difference between bonds paid by the taxpayers and bonds paid by students that borrow for college.
“We heard the arguments in the testimony, but when we took a look at the existing statutes and the mechanism that is available to that particular entity, and we thought that it has worked well,” he said.
The panel split on party lines over legislation that would require the Maine Government Facilities Authority bonds receive voter approval. Since 1992, the authority has issued hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds to build or renovate courts, state buildings, prisons and psychiatric hospitals.
As of June 30th, 2011, the authority had bonded debt of about $172 million paid for by state Appropriations. General obligation bonds authorized by the voters at referendum totals $725 million.
LePage wants all future bonds issued by the authority to be approved by the voters, but Republicans on the Appropriations Committee voted to exempt those issued for court facilities. Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, offered the amendment to exempt court borrowing.
“The reality is that for instance, a courthouse project in York County is unlikely to get statewide support, or a court project in Aroostook County is not likely going to get statewide support,” he said.
Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, argued that if building projects for general government need to get voter approval, then so should building projects for the courts.
“The effect of this amendment is to only protect the courts,” Martin said.
He said the amendment was made at the request of the courts in a letter to the committee.
Katz agreed that was where he got the language in his amendment. He said his proposal would in effect go back to the days when the Maine Government Facilities Authority was the Maine Court Facilities Authority.
“I have a real problem with that,” LePage said. He said he has not seen the proposal but he will review the bill if lawmakers pass it when they return May 15 and then decide what he will do if it makes it to his desk.
Rep. Rotundo said her caucus opposed the Katz amendment because they believe that if any bonds issued by the Government Facilities Authority need voter approval, they all should need approval. She said Democrats voted against the bill because they do not agree all borrowing needs to have voter approval.
“I am very concerned about the governor blocking bonds in general,” she said. “There are some important projects where hospitals, for example, are paying more to borrow money for construction than they should have to because the governor will not sign off on the bonds.”
Katz stated, “The reality is that for instance, a courthouse project in York County is unlikely to get statewide support, or a court project in Aroostook County is not likely going to get statewide support.” This is the simple reality about why governance is necessary (i.e. To moderate lack of knowledge and or self-indulgences of indivduals or isolated groups). Any moderately intelligent person can see the logic in that. Clearly Mr. LePage is either not bright enough to comprehend this, is playing silly political games, or doing a little bit of both. Thank you for your comments and leadership Mr. Katz. Mr. LePage has a lot to learn from you.
Ohmigosh! LePage is finally learning how to be a politician. And he said he’d never be one.
Are you capable of saying anything positive about the man?
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Sure, I’ll bite on this deflection from the story and attack of someone who’s comment you don’t like. Mr. LePage seems to have some form of “loyalty” to family members who remain subservient to him. I’m unsure however that such loyalty extends to those family members who through either distance or divorce have chosen not to live under his thumb. Still, a form of loyalty to some is still a “positive” thing for that few though, right?
It would be a lot easier to say something positive about the man if he would say something positive about The State of Maine and her Citizens. Can you give us one example of when he has said anything positive about our State or her people?
Political person bashing demonstrats that the person doing the bashing is doing so from an emotional platform rather than from a position of knowledge.
The plans differ; the planners are all alike…
Why not it’s our money
Because LePage is a Republican, and anyone who is a Democrat will disagree with him for the sake of disagreeing with him, that is politics, it is petty and childish. There is absolutely nothing negative, or bad with wanting voter approval for bonds.
What we need is Jobs and decent paying ones. All the BS. about education and ALEC sponsored Bills By Rep. Cushing of Hamden . Send more kids to school to become electricians . What is the point if we do not have JOBs? Just another way to drive wages down. Get people into debt for education to make what$8 to $10 an hour in the Bangor area. In the mean time we put more licensed electricians out of work.
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On the whim of a state agency.
Why would the voters (taxpayers) want any control over where the money goes. After all, if you can’t trust the legislature to recklessly spend money they didn’t earn, who can you trust?
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That is how we finance things like public infrastructure, including roads, bridges, schools and yes, even student loans. BTW, students repay student loans – the state is only providing a last resort backing to help need the borrowing low. Without MEA, imagine how Mainers could not go to college and all the spillover effects. A less educated workforce, fewer jobs and more welfare.
Students and families should not borrow more than they can afford and maybe that a state university instead of a private more expensive school. Good to see that both Republicans and Democrats will work around the Governor. There is some hope after all.
I suspect your credit card gets a lot of use.
He’s big in China.
Smart move, have the voters decide on borrowing…yeah we all know what happens there.
Well, at least in that case you get what you deserve.
More like the others get what they deserve, I don’t need to be part of that borrowing statistic.
Lepage gave $17 million to his pals in Canada without voter approval. He did this even though he knows it is a violation of the state constitution.
Mean while he laughs and plays word game at the American’s being injured on Maine’s rapidly failing roads and bridges.
Really? Can you provide a credible link to this? And, if so, why were there no charges filed?
Section 14. Authority and procedure for issuance of bonds. The credit of the State shall not be directly or indirectly loaned in any case, except as provided in sections 14-A, 14-B, 14-C and 14-D. The Legislature shall not create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, on behalf of the State, which shall singly, or in the aggregate, with previous debts and liabilities hereafter incurred at any one time, exceed $2,000,000,
http://www.maine.gov/legis/const/Constitution2005-14.htm
The link I am alluding to is a link that states LePage gave $17 million to his pals in Canada? And, again, why have no charges been filed?
No charges where filed because the state AG is a crook as well.
http://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/LD-1567-Dolby-Landfill-Letter-to-Attorney-General-6-8-11.pdf
Well if it is against the law then the AG is not the final word for the litigants in this letter. So why have they not filed charges with their own attorney?
It is the AG’s job to protect the state constitution and to prosecute anyone in office who violates the law.
He has determined that since the money has not changed hands yet he doesn’t have to do his job.
This is clearly a violation of both the intent and the wording of the law and can only be explained by “corruption” at the highest levels of the Lepage administration.
Again, if there was criminal wrongdoing in this affair, the AG is not the final word on this. It is possible to file suit outside the AGs office unless, of course, there is actually nothing illegal about this.
Baldacci did his share of robbing the taxpayers also to fund his Dirigo Healthcare fiasco which is costing all of us dearly. If not for that, we could actually afford health care insurance. Here is the link to read for yourself what he did:
http://portland.thephoenix.com/news/70044-baldacci-raids-the-cookie-jar/
Actually you can’t blame that on Baldacci, remember republicans are in power now, so its all their fault. No more blaming past administrations for their screw ups.
Problem is. That LePage and his transition team were all VERY vocal about ending Dirigo as their first act once sworn in. Then they funded it fully in the budget. Wonder why?
Personally I hate the program. But for some reason, LePage and co. let is live. Go figure.
” LePage has not waivered from his position that even moral obligation bonds…”
“Wavered,” not “waivered,” copy desk.
In this one VERY NARROW instance I agree with Paulie. No more Bond’s out unil the current one’s are retired and ALL BOND ISSUE’S ARE PUT TO A VOTE. The State backed Bond’s are bad enough. But to put saddle our kid’s with Educational Bond’s debt is ridiculous, moreso since the current Bond Rate’s are so low, and sure to rise beyond the kid’s ability to re-pay in the not-to-distant future. Bond’s are Bond’s are Bond’s. It’s borrowing anyway you want to say it. And with the current economy ‘in the tank’, it’s going to make it that much tougher for the kid’s to get them re-payed. As far as the courthouse issue goes, the Courthouse’s are a State Building and that makes any building requiring a Bond issue a State matter. That makes it a Voter required referendum issue. And that’s not subject to debate and Raye knows it. If this is a preview of his DC time then I seriously suggest that anyone thinking about how they cast their vote in November take a long hard look down the road that Raye wants us all to join him on.
Fiscal responsibility begins with reality-based risk evaluation and recognized restraint balanced against result’s-oriented investing, not just tossing money at a problem and hoping it will go away on it’s own. Washington has done that for so long that it’s not a wonder why the Federal Budget is such a mess. What’s making it worse is the House’s consistent fantasy that by choking off the investing that the Budget is gonna’ come back into balance all on it’s own. That’s Boehner’s, Cantor’s, Ryan’s and McConnell’s position and we can all see where it’s going to wind up. The same can be said for Washington’s Foreign Aid Program and the current Oil Company subsidy’s. If DC was serious about cutting something, then they would be well advised to start both there and the current subsidies that are literally bleeding the Treasury dry from the oil companies. Even the American Enterprise Institute has acknowledged that the subsidies to oil could, if cut off in the next budget cycle, cut the Federal Budget deficit in half in less than 2 year’s. Likewise, take the current Foreign Profit’s Returning tax position and cut the rate, now at 35% , to 25% and direct half of that return to deficit reuction and how long would it be before we all saw a differnece ? Now, if the House GOP’rs don’t like that, well too bad. It’s high time that the less than Corporate-popular options be seen as the most reasonable, and rapidly becoming only, option left. If the House GOP want’s to be seen as ‘reasonable’ in the upcoming election’s, they would be hard pressed to pass up a better opportunity. If they let this get away from them then they have only themselves to blame when the voter’s go to the poll’s. Who says comedy is only found on SNL ? All you have to do is look at the current House and it’s giggle and grin time everyday they’re in session.
Citizens of the state of Maine should be able to vote on bonds. This is about spending money we don’t have “in the bank” but borrowing it..which means paying interest on top of principal, which potentially means higher taxes. It has always amazed me that a majority of Mainers complain about how high our taxes are and then vote for almost every bond put before them. The state borrowing money always has the threat of raising our tax rates.
Has a bond issue that has been put in front of the voters EVER been defeated? You’re right. The next ” water quality” bond for insert # of millions here___$ will be passed by an 85-15% margin.
Left up to the people of Maine, they’ll be plenty of borrowed $. Mainers have never seen a bond issue they didn’t like.
Sadly you are correct Mainers always love to borrow for projects that should have been done out of the General Fund Budget but never did because of Democrats diverting the money to DHHS/Welfare. Baldacci, King and Democrats are the ones that should get all the blame. Because of their love for expanding Social Programs that not only don’t work but are costing Maine Taxpayers too much. I agree with LePage that we shouldn’t be borrowing . We have borrowed more than 700 million dollars under Baldacci and only ended up with 56 total net jobs. According to WCSH/WLBZ the other night Maine still owes nearly 700 million dollars of debt from borrowing. Do we need to add over 200+ million more (interest etc.) from this bond package. Vote No and let Augusta come up with better alternatives that does not put taxpayers on the hook.
You don’t understand do you, Repubs and dems are all under the same roof, they plot in the same room. It’s a game they play to make suckers get drawn in, so they argue and then the repubs and dems slip stuff by hoping people are too busy arguing to notice. There are ‘parties” so everyone feels all warm and fuzzy inside thinking they are being heard.
I’d like to see a Non-Party voters group, one that says no on most bonds, no family X cannot have anymore welfare, yes politicans get a cost of living decrease…
I am a Mainer and I have voted no, way more than yes.
Me too, Mike. It appears that me, you and darkcat were the ones that voted against previous bonds. I knew there had to be somebody. : )
I vote against all of them, because people seems to think it’s free money. I would suggest that anyone who votes for these bonds must stand up, be identified and then get a loan payment book.
You should worry about higher taxes. 74 million in tax cuts for the wealthy has to be made up somewhere. The middle class and the poor take the hit on this one. Supporting this agenda put forth by LaRage means less services for you and at some point with rising interest rates more money paid in taxes and fees. No getting around it pay now or pay more later.
But on point. We should vote on it.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who do not really understand what a “issuing a bond” means. If the referendum questions used more explicit language, like “should the state go into debt and borrow money in order to…”, it might make a difference. Sort of a truth-in-lending requirement for bond referendum questions.
That is a fact and when people see that funds will be matched they just think about the money that someone else is going to “give” them. They don’t consider the fact that the bond will cost the state (aka its citizens) money. However, if they vote for it they “own” it. They can’t blame it on the government…they will only have themselves to blame.
I AGREE WITH YOU ON THIS. I HAVE RARELY VOTED YES ON ANY BOND AND I’M A LIFELONG DEM. SOME OF US ARE CONSERVATIVES BELIEVE IT OR NOT.
It TRULY KILLS ME, to have to say this, but I actually agree with Paul for the very first time….now i am going to go cry.
I applaud you for doing what many others are unable to do and put their political biases aside and acknowledge a good idea regardless of the political party it comes from. If only everybody could be like that.
It is sickening to see so many attempt to turn this into a negative thing and make LePage look bad. Voter approval for bonds, how in any way is that a bad thing?
I agree…and, even though our governments are divided into republicans and democrats, the people do not have to be. The republicans and the democrats are both responsible for the mess we are in. So, we the people need to start looking, not at a particular party, but at who will do the best job to get us out of the big all controlling government mess we are in.
It is wise to not borrow money that cannot be paid back. When I look at the numbers and then compare to Maine’s population (not even adjusting for those under 18 who do not have an income to tax), our debt is extremely high per person. I completely agree, let the voters decide if they want more taxes.
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I got a few of those myself.
u go Paul! if u can’t pay for it don’t borrow it!!! duh!!! wonder why we;re in a mess?
We are in this mess because of the financial collapse caused by deregulating the financial industry, because Bush cut taxes twice for the wealthy, because of 2 wars that were not paid for by war taxes, and because the extreme right (now the GOP center) has obstructed policy that will stimulate the economy.
Need more reasons?
Actually the collapse was caused by giving home loans to people that couldn’t afford them when CLINTON signed off on lowering the standards for qualifying for a loan. And BTW-unemployment went down to 4.5% under Bush after the tax cuts.
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Regrettably Sir, you forget that the House and Senate were GOP controlled and did all they could to use the Monica factor to hide what they were doing while they kept Monica and Willie on the front page. This one Bill was the GOP’s version of a wet dream and no one was gonna upset that applecart, more so since that applecart also funded a huge number of GOP campaign’s. Now, after seeing just how quickly the GOP and the Financial Service’s communities have abuse the public’s trust, the inevitable reckoning has occured in the Dodd-Frank Act. The GOP had a good thing going, government regulator’s included, since they knew the in’s and out’s of Glass-Steagall since the 1930’s. But when the GOP’s Leadership Caucus went and got all brain dead and common sense stupid, and rushed Gramm-Leach into law, they did so thru the now very public financial effort’s of the same Financial Service’s and Banking communities. These same communities now have no excuse for getting their ‘Johnson’s’ caught by both the Fed’s and the media in the public spotlight and having to suffer the consequences. Operating as a business, these same 2 business community’s need to remember that they operate for the public benefit first, since without the public consumer they wouldn’t be operating at all, and then for their own benefit. Not exactly Wharton or Harvard Business School MBA-type material but it has the advantage of being seen both transparent and understandable. And that is what the public expect’s and deserves.
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If he’d kept his philandering out of the Oval Office, you might have a shred of credibility with that “MYOB” argument. Instead, he used the White House like a ***** house.
The man is a disgrace to the honored office of the President.
Bush cut taxes for the middle class. You don’t every hear that, why? Yes, Bush cut taxes for the wealthy, but he also cut them for everyone else. Should everyone get cuts except the wealthy? Apparently you don’t realize how much money Bush has saved you in federal income taxes over the past decade, not sure? Wait until the Bush tax cuts expire and see how much more in federal income taxes you will be paying.
Also, the financial collapse was not caused by deregulating the financial industry, that is not to say that the financial institutions do not share some of the blame. It was created by government incentives to loan money to anyone and everyone to buy a home, because somehow not loaning money to people is racist. This is why the government needs to get out of the economics business, all they are capable of doing is screwing things up.
I will agree with you that the wars were/are excessive, but so isn’t nearly every other aspect of government spending.
u gonna be surprised how many other than rep or dems vote!!
He is forgetting that Independents, Greens, Reform Party, Libertarians etc. vote as well most of them folks are the reason why Democrats are in the minority where they belong. Only Liberals want the Maine Democrat Party running the show again. So they can have it going back to business as usual with the ones living off of Government checks , handouts, subsidies living the good life.
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The voters have elected representatives and senators to take care of the money matters of the state and to do it such a way as to cause the greatest good for the state and its citizens. For the most part, much of the voting public doesn’t really pay attention to the state’s fiscal matters and are less informed as to the basic needs of the state that are addressed in these bond proposals. The Immense One is aware that he and his cronies can sway the less informed voters by spinning it as some huge tax increase and thus subvert the legislator’s bi-partisan efforts to show fiscal responsibility.
I have heard this before…”the people elected us so we should be making the decisions”. Well, that is fine until our elected officials are doing things that the citizens are against. Then we not only have a right…but we have a responsibility…to raise our voices in opposition. We do not have to be sheep being led to the slaughter just because someone with too large an ego thinks we do not have a right to question them. I vote for who I think will best represent me (and the people) and if they are not doing that I will speak up.
And I would have more faith in the legislators than in the one whose huge ego is trying to destroy the state.
Bring em’ on and while where at lets get the dot back to using salt instead of the stuff that rusts out our cars and trucks, which makes it impossible to pass the gop inspection laws.
I hate what he does and I’m not on welfare, so it’s not “everyone”.
Thank you.
WELL I’M NOT ON WELFARE AND A VETERAN WHO HATES DRAFT DODGERS AND I HAVE NO USE FOR LEPENGUIN SEND HIM BACK TO CANADA IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM DURING THE NAM.
I don’t want no bonds i don’t care how bad our roads get .
Lepage illegally sent $17 million of our tax dollars to his countrymen in Canada but he refuses to fix the roads and bridges even if it means more Mainers will die in car accidents.
Ummm…didn’t you state this in a prior comment for this article?
Yes. He was wrong then, too. No proof of what he alleges.
Illegaly? I’m not saying you’re wrong, but what are the specifics or details? What statutes did he violate? This could be big!
Seems to me we have always voted on a Bond Package. Who is he trying to kid.
What a day I agree with Governor LePage, all debt needs to be sent to the voters who pay the debt, this is reasonable and fair.
I looked in the dictionary under incompetence it read: Maine legislators. I wouldn’t buy a car from their company, State of Maine Inc.
The protection of the courts from scrutiny is the motivation for exempting them from this legislation. The courts are MILITARY COURTS and the judges are military GENERALS, attorneys general. The courts are from Martial law and are a Military Government. (Military Government and Martial Law by US Army Major Burkheimer, 1892; at UMO library).
The only way to curtail the military government is with the power to vote control of the money expenditure; Paul LePage knows this, he is far from stupid.
Thank you Governor General LePage for your help in instilling a civilian government over this oppressive military rule of law.
TunaCanJane
More bonds mean
less assistance for those of us that need it. I can’t even afford a gallon of
Allen’s anymore because the cost of everything else is going up. I have to make
hard decisions between Nasytgansett, Rolling Rock, or cigarettes, and it’s
getting harder to get up off the sofa to shut the oxygen off so I don’t blow up
the trailer when I want a smoke.
LePage’s mistake here is his faith in Maine voters. There are way too many Maine voters who go to the polls and don’t have a clue of the consequenses of their vote. Want to pass a bond for the stupidist thing you can think of? Just call it a jobs bill, get it on the ballot, and Presto! You got it! This is a liberal strategy. And it is one reason the Dems and libs (all the same) rejected advanced registration for voting………it allows people to vote before they learn the issues.
and the Republican strategy is a nation wide effort to restrict as many voters as possible, because they know if they can’t win they’ll steal the election …. you make their point well.