Next week, state lawmakers will return to work in the Legislature. Democrats will continue to push the Governor and Republican leadership to focus on real solutions that put Maine people back to work and get our economy going again.

Democrats will work for solutions for job creation in Maine, like investing in economic development, lowering energy costs, improving our roads and bridges, and linking business and education to prepare our workforce for the jobs of the future.

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Maine's state capitol at night. phoyo by Ramona du Houx

A recent study from Chase Bank shows that during the deepest part of the near depression, Maine’s economic recession and unemployment rates were both far less severe compared to the rest of the country as a whole. This is due in large part because the foundation for Maine’s economy to progress out of the recession was firmly established with the Baldacci administration.

But the Chase Bank study shows that after LePage’s first session with the Legislature, Maine began to lag behind in the economic recovery. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that the state had no bond issues on the ballot this past November, which would have immediately provided thousands of jobs for people in construction, research and development, public safety, and education. LePage and other conservatives flatly refused to discuss a bond package in 2010. According to the most recent Maine Department of Labor data, Maine has lost more than 4,800 jobs since January. And LePage’s proposed cuts would diminish the workforce further.

“The proposed state cuts to Medicaid in fiscal year 2012 will result in the loss of more than 4,400 jobs across all counties statewide,” said MECEP Executive Director Garrett Martin.

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Humility is part of thankfulness. To say “thank you” is to acknowledge that you need others to survive in what can be a challenging world. Perhaps this is why I have a special place in my heart for the late fall season and the time of Thanksgiving, when we turn our thoughts to appreciating what we have been given.

In addition to being a time of pumpkin pie, turkey and gravy, and deer hunting, the late fall is a season when the winds turn cold and ice makes its way back into our world, whether as a heavy coating on dying grass blades or a skim on calm waters.

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Maine's Capitol in Augusta. photo by Ramona du Houx

In June, Portland hosted the EnergyOcean International Conference with over 400 participants. The city benefited from the international exposure, as well as the income spent at restaurants and other venues. Maine’s Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) brought their tidal-energy machine to the city for the conference, where over 125 visitors took guided tours. The economic ripple effect of Maine’s venture into capturing electrical energy from the ocean is already translating into money for the state’s economy.

It wasn’t long ago that harnessing wind energy from floating wind turbines or from the tides was theoretical, in Maine. Taking a concept and turning it into a reality takes investment. It’s hard in the initial stage; that’s where the Maine Technology Institute (MTI) plays a vital role by granting companies startup funds, as awards or loans. Under Gov. John Baldacci, those awards were increased and became targeted to major “cluster” areas of growth. These MTI grants came from bond funding approved by voters. This major initiative helped UMaine take their floating wind-turbine theories and turn them into actual models for testing. And ORPC, by being awarded funds and a loan, was able to jumpstart their tidal turbine, working with UMaine researchers. Both efforts received substantial additional funding and investment, once the state had given them funds. MTI put their stamp of approval on the projects, which in turn gave investors the needed confidence.

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Citizens United. This is the 2010 Supreme Court case that shocked America, influenced an election, and reversed over 100 years of campaign finance laws. In this case, corporations were declared as people and as such declared to have the same rights as people do. It also opened the doors for corporations to pour unprecedented amounts of campaign donations into elections, and what’s more, these donations can be totally secret. Corporations can now literally and legally buy elections and shape the government like never before in our nation’s history.

The economic world we live in today is dominated by corporations. Huge corporations that boast massive profits and span continents. But corporations also wield political power and are lobbying heavily to be free from any and all government regulations that would make them responsible and liable.

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I’m the chief operating officer of a successful Maine business.Our employees receive attractive manufacturing wages along with health insurance and a 401(k) with matching funds.

Three years ago, during the Baldacci administration we asked the state for some financial assistance to move one of our companies into a larger facility to expand from a 12-employee business to a 50-employee business. While there were strings attached (such as the need to prove that we added new, incremental, high-paying jobs), the financial assistance was provided to us from the Department of Economic and Community Development, and it was critical to our expansion.

In spite of the economic downturn, we have maintained a 50-person work force over the past three years. With the economy now recovering, we want to expand again and set ourselves up to add up to 50 more employees.

When I recently inquired to DECD about support, I was told that no funds now exist.

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An attack on the right to vote is underway across the country through laws designed to make it more difficult to cast a ballot. If this were happening in an emerging democracy, we’d condemn it as election-rigging. But it’s happening here, so there’s barely a whimper.

The laws are being passed in the name of preventing “voter fraud.” But study after study has shown that fraud by voters is not a major problem — and is less of a problem than how hard many states make it for people to vote in the first place. Some of the new laws, notably those limiting the number of days for early voting, have little plausible connection to battling fraud.

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On May 2nd something happened north of our border that went almost completely unnoticed by most of my political friends who seem obsessed with every twist and turn of the LePage administration and its right wing minions. That day voters in Canada went to the polls and elected a new government. While the voters gave the Conservatives a strong plurality at the same time they made the New Democratic Party the official opposition party eclipsing the Liberals. The New Democratic Party is Canada’s socialist party and the party responsible for the National health Care system which started in Saskatchawan in 1961.

If I lived in Canada I’d be a member of the NDP and regarded as a mainstream politician. Here in the United States to call oneself a socialist is to subject oneself to ridicule from Right Wingers who think, in the words of Michael Harrington, giving a band aid to a bleeding man is socialized medicine, but also from many liberals as well who often suggest that people not use the”S” word while pushing “Progressive “causes.

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As people living in Rural Maine we have a shared understanding of our place in the politics of this state. We know that the way of life we enjoy is second to none, but that somehow we are considered to be less important, or perhaps less impactful than the urban centers in Maine. We know that the idea of “Two Maines” is very much prevalent in the minds of most Mainers, but we differ in that we prefer the rural way of life.

Therefore it is a hard pill to swallow when our elected officials choose to pass legislation that makes it increasingly difficult to live in rural areas of Maine that are already economically depressed.

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When the U.S. enters trade agreements, we should go into them with eyes wide open. We need to consider not only the parameters of a deal, but also how we plan to enforce it. Doing so ensures that we have the best interests of our workers and businesses in mind. Unfortunately, the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) that so directly impacts Maine is failing on the enforcement side.

The issue at hand is the U.S. lumber industry’s complaints against British Columbia’s illegal stumpage pricing scheme, which sets stumpage fees for lumber harvested on public lands in Canada artificially low. This practice, along with other Canadian government programs, creates an illegal subsidy. But here’s the rub: it will be a full five years by the time this case is resolved.

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