Most people don’t have time to pay attention to what’s going on in Augusta between work, family, and the obligations of our everyday lives. But the decisions made here affect you and your neighbors.

After nearly two years, Republicans have made it harder to live and work in Maine.
I want to tell you a short story about three Maine people today.

These are Mainers who will probably sound a lot like people you know. They might even sound like you.

The first story is of a 50 year old man living in Franklin County. He’s worked hard his whole life, putting in long shifts on his feet all day just to keep dinner on the table, warm clothes on his kids and to save up enough for a rainy day.

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by Joel Johnson of the Maine Center of Economic Policy | April 26th, 2012

In a piece that appeared Tuesday on its website, The Maine Wire, the Maine Heritage Policy Center (MHPC) argued for the elimination of the state’s personal income tax. It’s not hard to infer from this piece MHPC’s ultimate goal: To transfer control of our infrastructure, our schools, our natural resources, and our health care system for poor, elderly, and disabled individuals to private interests. The first step is to undermine state government and the influence of the voting public by eliminating Maine’s income tax.

Maine’s state and local tax system already favors the most fortunate. It takes a higher share of income from poor families than it does from middle class families, and it takes a higher share of income from middle-class families than it does from the wealthiest.

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There is a bank that has supported over $255 million in export sales from Maine businesses over the last 5 years, but it’s in danger of exhausting its lending authority at the end of May. It doesn’t need to be bailed out to continue to help Maine and our nation export products and create jobs. It simply needs Congress to pass a bill to reauthorize its authority.

And the kicker? It doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime – it’s self sustaining based on fees it collects and loan repayments. In fact, the bank actually makes money for U.S. taxpayers and has returned $4.9 billion to the U.S. Treasury since 1990.

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Rolling back services and firing employees is not the way to restore the firm financial footing that is needed at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the USPS did when it announced recently that it plans to close its Hampden mail processing facility in addition to hundreds of others throughout our country. I believe targeting this Maine facility is a huge mistake for a number of reasons and that it must be reversed.

First off, this decision could negatively impact about 170 workers. They could lose their jobs or get transferred to another location that’s very far away. This uproots families and harms not only the lives of the workers, but also those of their families and the communities they call home.

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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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