“I believe this is the appropriate step for him to take, as we Republicans insist our members maintain the highest ethical standards possible,” said Rep. Nutting.

“I’m relieved to see that Rep. Burns finally resigned his seat after months of controversy around his abuse of Clean Elections funds,” said Cain. “No lawmaker – Republican or Democrat – is above the law. We must be held to higher standard and should not tolerate the abuse of taxpayer dollars.”

In December, the Maine Ethics Commission found that Burns committed seven violations of the state law that governs the use of Clean Election Act money. The violations include transferring public campaign money into his personal bank account, using the money for personal expenses and giving false documents to investigators.

The matter was referred to the Attorney General for a criminal investigation following the Ethics Commission ruling. The Attorney General’s Office began its investigation late in December after the state ethics commission found Burns violated multiple campaign finance laws while running for state representative. Earlier in January, Burns resigned from his seat on the Alfred Board of Selectmen.

Democrats have been calling for his resignation for weeks, while Republican leaders have said they wanted to wait for the completion of the criminal investigation.

Article V, Pt. 3, § 3 reads as follows: “The Treasurer shall not, during the Treasurer’s continuance in office, engage in any business of trade or commerce, or as a broker, nor as an agent or factor for any merchant or trader.”

“If the Treasurer is in violation of his Constitutional duties, the Attorney General should be objective and forthright,” said Dion. “The Constitution is clear. We have every reason to expect an opinion that is consistent with that provided to other Treasurers by the Attorney General’s Office.”

A 1978 legal opinion from then Deputy Attorney General Donald Alexander stated that this kind of activity is a violation of the Maine Constitution.

Dion sent his initial request for an opinion to the Attorney General on Jan. 17. As of Jan. 29, he has not received a response or an indication of when the people of Maine may have a ruling on the matter.

In the two letters requesting a formal opinion from the Attorney General, Dion cited a report from the Bangor Daily News from Dec. 9, 2011, which said the Treasurer, acting as an agent of Popham Beach Club, applied for and was granted a permit to allow year-round catering functions at the beach club. Poliquin represented the beach club at the meeting of the Phippsburg Planning Board, which granted the permit.

Poliquin has refused to make public comments on the inquiry into his business activity and its potential violation of the Constitution.

“The Treasurer’s silence speaks volumes,” said Dion. “He’s not the type to shy away from a camera, so it’s telling that he has dodged the press on this issue at every turn.”

The Treasurer’s business ownership and involvement at the Popham Beach Club have not been listed on his legally required Financial Disclosure form.  The Maine Democratic Party filed an Ethics Complaint against the Treasurer for the omission.

The state’s fiscal year begins in July giving lawmakers three months to work out the issue. LePage went on to tell legislators that their failure to cut $221 million from the budget will force him seek cuts to state education to close the gap.

“I will be calling you back and asking you to give the GPA money so that I don’t have to close nursing homes and we will probably close schools, ” he said. “Or by Feb. 1st, you give me curtailment orders so I can start saving money. This is not normal politics, this not rhetoric.”

But this issue would not be able to be classified under a curtailment order.

A curtailment gives executive power to limit spending only when revenues fall short, not when a program outspends its authorized limits.

“This is a program spending issue and wouldn’t fall under the statutory curtailment authority,” said Grant Pennoyer, director of the nonpartisan Office of Fiscal and Program Review to the Bangor Daily News.

The encounter with Gov. LePage in the committee happened after Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew responded to a Medicaid waiver question. LePage had unexpectedly shown up to listen and fidgeted in his chair. Sen. Richard Rosen invited the governor to the speaker’s table where LePage tried to bully lawmakers.

Previously Democratic Appropriations Committee members had asked the director of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) whether the administration’s plans to ask for a waiver from the Affordable Care Act were likely to be granted. CMS Director Cindy Mann replied that to date no state’s request for a waiver of the law has been approved. Which represents $37 million of the $220 million in cuts the administration is proposing. Democrats are worried that the proposed budget may be $257 million because the state has no guarantee they will get the waiver.

Rep. Peggy Rotundo,who serves on the Appropriations Committee, said a letter she received from a federal official this week makes it clear that Maine won’t qualify for waivers to make the cuts.States can get waivers to reduce services only for experimental, pilot or demonstration projects.

“Were not talking about a pilot project. We’re not talking about a demonstration,” said Rep. Rotundo.

However, LePage said he could convince U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius on the merits of Maine’s plan.

“So I just urge you all to really get this done because I need to get to Washington and try to sit with the secretary and convince her,” said LePage.

With fifty states, with separate needs what Sebelius does in one effects them all. If the secretary grants Maine’s request other states may wish to follow. Federal waivers are complex and never should be viewed as a sure deal like LePage’s proposed supplemental budget treats them.

Members of the Legislative Council, made up of six Republicans and four Democrats from the House and Senate Leadership, stopped consideration of Hinck’s legislation which would have barred corporations from making contributions to candidates running at the state level in Maine. The legislation, entitled “An Act to Limit to Natural Persons the Right to Contribute to Political Campaigns,” was submitted on the heels of a Montana Supreme Court decision upholding Montana’s ban less than a month ago.

Hinck’s proposal closely tracked the Montana “Corrupt Practices Act,” which was upheld on December 30, 2011 by the Montana Supreme Court in the Western Tradition Partnership case. The ruling reinforced the “compelling interest” underlying the state’s ban on corporate political donations dating back to 1912. Montana’s Supreme Court held that banning corporate political donations does not violate the First Amendment as previously interpreted at the federal level, but rather protects the integrity of a fair election system. In other words, the Montana law was reviewed in light of the ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case before the United States Supreme Court and was held to pass muster under that case.

Earlier this week, Republican Gov. Paul LePage affirmed during his State of the State address, “I believe it is morally and ethically wrong to take more money from those who can least afford it to line the pockets of those who are politically connected here in Augusta.”

Republicans had a chance to stand up to the politically connected and special interests with Rep. Hink’s legislation.

“Corporations are not people; elections should not be auctions that go to the highest bidder. It is regrettable that this was considered a partisan issue by all of the Republicans on the Legislative Council Committee,” said Rep.Hinck.

“Today we draw the line,” said Maine Women’s Lobby Director of Public Policy Laura Harper, speaking at a press conference announcing the creation of the Maine Working Families Coalition. “With so many Maine people struggling to make ends meet in the worst recession since the Great Depression, we should be working together to find ways to create jobs – not to punish those who have lost theirs.”

The coalition represents a number of civic, service, religious and business organizations from across the state with the shared goal of a balanced approach to growing Maine’s economy that supports both employers and employees. Coalition members assert that economic security for working families is a necessity for future growth of Maine’s businesses and economy.

The coalition urged legislators to take a family- focused approach to a wide range of issues, and speakers attacked L.D. 1725 in particular, a bill to roll back jobless benefits that had a public hearing friday.

“Workers shouldn’t be penalized by having their unemployment insurance delayed just because they had earned vacation time on the books when they were laid off,” said Matt Schlobohm, Executive Director of the Maine AFL-CIO. “The Legislature fixed this problem two years ago and it is senseless to go backwards, especially while so many Maine workers are currently facing the uncertainty and stress of unemployment. We oppose L.D. 1725.”

In addition to delaying assistance, the bill would cut in half the amount of time that unemployed workers have to search for jobs at their prior wage or skill level, eliminate the consideration of childcare and transportation emergencies when penalizing parents looking for work, and would allow the administration to change work search requirements without legislative oversight.

“I know what it is like to struggle to find a job. I have faced unemployment and underemployment in recent years,” said Brenda Akers, a single mother from Lewiston who spoke at the press conference. “I am especially concerned about the part of the bill that would eliminate transportation and child care emergencies as reasons for “good cause” for not participating in re-employment services. This change will only make things harder for parents like me who sometimes have a hard time accessing affordable child care and transportation.”

Zack Keegan, a recent college graduate who lost his temporary employment six months ago, described how he finally decided to apply for jobless benefits after half a year of a fruitless job search.

“When I heard that there was a proposal that would weaken the unemployment insurance program I was stunned,” said Keegan. “I just can’t believe the legislature is focused on making it harder for workers to get this type of support during the worst economic climate in our lifetime. The focus should be on creating jobs.”

The coalition also announced opposition to L.D. 309, which would discourage working Mainers from engaging in collective bargaining in the workplace, L.D. 1680 and L.D. 1693, which would make it more difficult for Mainers to find tax relief through the Circuit-breaker Program and a number of attempts to weaken worker and consumer protections and rights including L.D. 1207 (commonly referred to as the DeCoster bill), L.D. 1786, which would remove Maine’s annual livable wage calculation.

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Members of the Working Families Coalition include: Maine Centers for Women Work and Community, Legal Services for the Elderly, Maine People’s Alliance, Maine Women’s Lobby, League of Young Voters, Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, Maine Children’s Alliance, Mabel Wadsworth Health Center, Child Care Services of York County, The Alzheimer’s Association- Maine Chapter, National Association of Social Workers – Maine Chapter, Maine Council of Senior Citizens, Maine Nurses Association, Family Planning Association of Maine, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Disability Rights Center of Maine, Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Business and Professional Women, Maine, Maine Equal Justice Partners, Maine Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods, Maine Center for Economic Policy, American Association of University Women of Maine, Maine AFL-CIO, Consumer for Affordable Health Care, Maine Fair Trade Campaign, Equality Maine, AFSCME Council 93 Maine, Maine State Employees Association/SEIU, Maine Education Association, Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Maine Public Health Association, Maine Developmental Disabilities Council, Maine Head Start Directors Association, Food and Medicine, Southern Maine Labor Council, Maine Council of Churches, Maine Small Business Coalition

“We are here representing the people who cannot be here to speak for themselves. We are here because we believe Maine can do better,” said Betsey Sweet, a founding member of the Maine Can Do Better coalition. “We believe the budget proposal is irresponsible. And while some politicians only think as far as the next election, we are Mainers for the long haul. When we look at the numbers, it is clear that we don’t have a fiscal crisis, we have a priorities crisis.”

Gov. LePage’s budget proposals would eliminate health care coverage for thousands of Mainers, while ending prescription drug coverage for elderly Mainers, reducing services and supports for the elderly and people with disabilities, stopping funding for preventative public health and eliminating state support for Head Start, among a long list of cuts to important programs that help our state’s most vulnerable populations.

“Let us invoke the spirit of compassion to be in our midst tonight, and in the gathering about to happen inside,” said Rev. Jill Saxby, the executive director of the Maine Council of Churches. “It’s been said that all we need to prosper as a state or a nation is the invisible hand of capitalism. But we know that while the free market may have an invisible hand, it does not have an invisible heart. We must supply the heart ourselves. We’re here tonight to make that heart visible, with our presence, with our words and with these lights.”

The Maine Can Do Better Coalition made the decision to hold the vigil because members believe that the voices of voters matter to Maine’s elected officials.

“As the most powerful people in the state gather inside to hear the words of the governor, we want them to see that there are people behind all those numbers in the state budget. That they have faces, and names, and stories,” said Ben Dudley, the executive director of Engage Maine, a Maine Can Do Better partner organization. “And all the political rhetoric, big numbers and false choices in the world can’t erase them or make them go away. We will not turn our backs and let them face these hard times alone.”

“Too much time has been spent on distractions on needless fighting, on baseless attacks and on extreme policies that don’t create jobs, that don’t help working families and that don’t strengthen our economy,” said House Minority Leader Emily Cain of Orono.

According to a recent Department of Labor report Maine has lost 4,400 jobs since LePage’s was inaugurated. Department of Labor, while unemployment levels have remained flat.

“When our economy needed a shot in the arm, the governor and Republicans in the majority held public investment hostage, stalled our work on proven energy efficiency programs, tried to limit voting rights, made health care more expensive for many Mainers and ignored critical work force training initiatives that would help get more Maine people back to work,” said Cain.

Democrats said they are willing to work with Republicans on a bond package to grow jobs if the Governor allows bonding this year. Last session LePage was adamantly against any bonds.

Senate Minority Leader Barry Hobbins, D-Saco, said, “The governor and the Legislature need to focus on lowering energy costs and investing in infrastructure. We have an opportunity to grow jobs in weatherization and other alternative energies.”

On the day of the State of the State there will be a candlelight vigil outside the capitol to encourage lawmakers and Gov.LePage to protect the most vulnerable in society by rejecting MaineCare cuts.

Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) Executive Director Garrett Martin released the following statement in advance of this evening’s State of the State Address by Governor Paul LePage:

“Tonight, we urge the Governor to leave anecdotes and ideology behind and propose responsible, fact based solutions to Maine’s budgetary and other challenges. Maine families, seniors, small businesses and vulnerable citizens continue to struggle as the economy recovers slowly. Maine needs budget and tax policies that are fair and encourage shared prosperity; a robust bond proposal that invests in roads and bridges, education, R&D and other engines of growth; and leadership that unites not divides us in our common interest.”

“Maine families are struggling to make ends meet in this tough economy.  We hope the Governor will focus on policy solutions that can create good paying jobs,” said Maine AFL-CIO Executive Director Matt Schlobohm.   “We urge Governor LePage to offer solutions that will bring people together, get Mainers back to work, and ensure basic economic security for all of us.”