This morning, GOP gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage was the guest on the Ken and Mike SHow on WGAN-Radio, and was asked to provide any evidence that Arden Manning, Coordinated Campaign Director for the Maine Dems, had said he was not qualified to be governor because he is "French Catholic."
Here is my transcription:
WGAN: Have you found any written or verbal evidence that in fact Arden Manning said that because of your French American Catholic background you are not qualified to be governor?
LePage: Let me answer it this way: I have looked at my record as mayor of Waterville - no evidence of being a creationist. I've looked at my business career - I see no evidence of being a creationist.
The only possible way that they can come up with the term 'creationist' is that I'm a French Catholic and I believe in God.
WGAN: I'm going to try one more time, Paul...My question was, "Have you found any evidence that Arden Manning said that because of you are a French American Catholic you are not qualified to be governor? Have you found any evidence that Arden Manning made this racist comment?
LePage: I'll repeat again: I have looked at my life, I've looked at my career - there's nowhere in my career that the term 'creationist' comes in. The only possible part of my life, my 61 years on this earth, that anyone could consider me a creationist is because I am a French Catholic and I believe in God.
WGAN: Okay, you're not a creationist. Have you found any evidence that Arden Manning said that you're not qualified to be governor because you are a French American Catholic? Paul, it's a pretty simple yes or no question.
LePage: No it's not, because you are not willing to admit that that creationism, based on what I understand the term to mean, is that if you believe in God, you're a creationist, and that's what I'm challenging.
WGAN: You're saying that because Arden Manning said you're a creationist...that you interpret that as saying that you're not qualified to be governor because you're a French American Catholic? Is that what you're saying?
LePage: That's what I'm saying.
It is of interest that the much of the media is focusing on LePage's personal beliefs, but as far as I know, no one gives a rat's ass about them, nor about his ethnic heritage.
A candidate's racial background and their religious beliefs (if any) are not qualifications for governor, and no one is saying that they are.
What is at issue, and has always been the case, is LePage's belief that creationism "should be taught in Maine's public schools."
LePage first made this belief known in answer to a question at a candidates forum hosted by the Bangor GOP Committee on 7 May at Husson College.
Three weeks later, he answered a similar question at the GOP candidates debate hosted by MPBN:
Jennifer Rooks: "Do you believe in creationism, and do you think it should be taught in Maine public schools?"
Paul LePage: "I would say intelligence, uh, the more education you have the more knowledge you have the better person you are and I believe yes and yes."
But he doesn't, even when asked directly three straight times.
Why? Because LePage doesn't have any. LePage lied when he accused Manning of saying that he "I'm not fit to be a governor because I am French Catholic." And instead of owning the lie, he is now trying to twist the facts to fit his own state of mind.
Why would he do this? And what sort of state of mind does he have?
All four members of Maine's Congressional Delegation are asking President Barack Obama to conduct and in-debth examination of China's alleged subsidization of its domestic paper industry.
Senator Olympia Snowe, who led the letter with Ron Wyden (D-OR) in the Senate, and Congressman Michaud, who led the letter with Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) in the House, were joined by over 100 lawmakers from 30 states.
The letter sent to President Obama strongly urges the administration to examine the practices of the Chinese government and to take action to remedy the situation.
A press release from the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) contends that "both labor and management agree that domestic paper jobs will remain in jeopardy because of illegal subsidies given to Chinese paper producers. From 2002 through the end of 2009, overall employment in the U.S. paper and paper products sector dropped 29 percent, from roughly 557,000 workers to 398,000." Should the subsidies continue, the AAM predicts that more jobs in the US will be lost.
The actual letter can be found below:
Dear Mr. President:
We write to bring to your attention the damage caused to American manufacturing by the subsidies that China's paper industry receive, which are significant and market-distorting.
A recently released study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) documents the known subsidies that China's government provides its paper industry and the ensuing exponential growth of production and export sales of Chinese paper. These events correspond to an increasing U.S. trade deficit with China in paper. The EPI study shows that paper production in China tripled over the last ten years, despite global overcapacity, saturated markets, and no inherent advantage in the marketplace. It is clear to us that the rise of China's paper industry is less related to market forces than to a decision by China's government to implement an industrial policy that promotes domestic paper production.
America's paper industry is the most efficient in the world and is part of a supply chain that promotes sustainable forestry practices and good-paying jobs. This industry should not be asked to continue to compete on the unlevel playing field that China has constructed through heavy subsidization of domestic production. This is a critical period of time for the U.S. paper industry. Production in the U.S. has declined while China's surged. From 2002 through the end of 2009, U.S. employment in the paper and paper products sector dropped 29 percent, from roughly 557,000 workers to 398,000. In each of our states and districts, hardworking Americans still rely on the paper industry - both directly and indirectly - for their livelihoods and the chance for a decent, middle-class wage.
To that end, we urge you to carefully examine the practices employed by the Chinese government to provide its paper industry an artificial and unfair advantage in the U.S. market, and determine the extent to which these practices cause or threaten to cause harm to American producers. Such an analysis should be conducted to identify China's unfair trade practices in the paper industry and apply all appropriate and necessary remedies to combat those identified.
Thank you for your attention to this important issue.
Sincerely,
Sen. Olympia Snowe
Sen. Susan Collins
Rep. Mike Michaud
Rep. Chellie Pingree
and 104 other Members of Congress
Community members, public officials, and business leaders from Maine's Franco American community announced their support of gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell on Thursday. The group cites Mitchell's work ethic, commitment to family, efforts at job creation and dedication to preserving Maine's heritage as reasons for their support.
"Maine's traditions are strongly rooted in the history of the Franco American community," Mitchell said. "French speaking immigrants moved south along the Old Canada Road because of the fertile farmland in what is now Maine. During the industrial revolution they settled here in even greater numbers. They came for economic opportunity and brought with them a strong set of family values, a belief in hard work, and a toughness that has become synonymous with Maine. I am proud to have such strong support in this community and I look forward to working with them throughout the campaign."
In 2008, Le Club Calumet in Augusta honored Mitchell by presenting her with their Outstanding Citizen Award. It is the highest honor the club bestows to non-Franco Americans.
"I have worked with Libby for years on issues important to central Maine and I look forward to working with her when she is Governor," said Roger Pomerleau, Vice President of NRF Distributors in Augusta. "She cares deeply about Maine and has always been there to celebrate the history of Maine's Franco American citizens."
Those endorsing Mitchell today include:
Steve Aucoin, Waterville
Sr. Jackie Ayotte, Ste. Agathe
Sr. Joan Ayotte, Ste. Agathe
Gilles & Claire Auger, Sanford
Rep. Steve Beaudette, Biddeford
Rep. Paulette Beaudoin, Biddeford
Constance Begin, Lewiston
Severin Beliveau & Cynthia Murray-Beliveau, Hallowell
Georges, Allison, and Lilianne Bérubé, Hampden
Rep. Brian Bolduc, Auburn
Lydia Bolduc-Marden, Oakland
Rep. Alan Casavant, Biddeford
Dr. Marc & Priscilla Chasse, Fort Kent
Sheriff Guy Desjardins, Sabattus
Ed Desgrosseilliers, Auburn
Sheriff Mark Dion Esq. Portland
Richard Dutremble, County Commissioner, Biddeford
Raymond Fecteau, Augusta (ex-Club Calumet President)
David & Linda Gomeau, Augusta
Richard & Diane Grandmaison, Lewiston
Roger & Violet Harvey, Fort Kent
Senator Troy Jackson, Allagash
Sheila Jans, Madawaska
Dr. Marc Malon, Biddeford
Rep. Mike Lajoie, Lewiston
Rep. John Martin, Eagle Lake
Congressman Mike Michaud, East Millinocket
Pierre & Ann Michaud, Lewiston
Roger & Catherine Nadeau, Winslow
Pat Paradis, City Councilor, Augusta
Ross & Judy Paradis, Frenchville
Roger Pomerleau, Augusta
Roland & Diane Poirier, Lewiston
Daniel Picard, Madawaska
Rep. Ken Therieault, Madawaska
"Libby raised a tight knit family, she works hard and she cares about the community. Those are the same values my ancestors believed in when they came here at the turn of the century and they are the values that will make her a great Governor," said Steve Aucoin of Waterville.
"This group is going to work hard to see that Libby Mitchell is Maine's next Governor," said Sheriff Mark Dion. "I would invite all of my friends in the Franco Community to join us in helping get Libby elected."
Sen. Susan Collins, with the help of a very compliant media, has been quite successful at portraying herself as a moderate Republican. This, despite a long record of votes that have negatively impacted the very people she represents - most recently, in delaying Extenders bill that forced about 10,000 Mainers to go without unemployment benefits for more than two months.
If the news media, both nationally and here in Maine, needed any further proof of the exact spot on the political spectrum she rests, today's announcement in the KJ that Collins endorses Paul LePage for governor should put all doubts to rest (h/t Sudbay):
"I stopped here to show I support Paul for governor," Collins said. "I'm going to do all I can for him."
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Before she departed the meeting with LePage to tour Backyard Farms in Madison, Collins said she considers LePage a "very strong candidate" who has the "right message for the people of Maine."
Collins cited LePage's pledge to create jobs, make the state more "business-friendly," and reduce government spending.
"Those are exactly the right priorities," Collins said. "People are eager to have a strong leader at a critical time for the state of Maine. Paul's the leader who can get us back on track."
Mind, this is the same woman that refused to endorse a candidate in the Republican primary, despite that her long time former chief of staff, Steve Abbott, was running - as a moderate.
But I have few doubts that the media will continue to push the myth that Collins has so carefully crafted about herself, that she is a moderate.
Just as in other studies, the Tennessee experiment found that some teachers were able to help students learn vastly more than other teachers. And just as in other studies, the effect largely disappeared by junior high, based on test scores. Yet when Mr. Chetty and his colleagues took another look at the students in adulthood, they discovered that the legacy of kindergarten had re-emerged.
Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more.
All else equal, they were making about an extra $100 a year at age 27 for every percentile they had moved up the test-score distribution over the course of kindergarten. A student who went from average to the 60th percentile - a typical jump for a 5-year-old with a good teacher - could expect to make about $1,000 more a year at age 27 than a student who remained at the average. Over time, the effect seems to grow, too.
The KJ reports that GOP gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage apologizes for age remark about Libby Mitchell, but as DB reader jm points out, he makes another false accusation in doing so:
"The fact of the matter is, yes, I made a joke about being 70, and then I went on to say she that she is a very formidable candidate," LePage said of comments he made during a follow-up interview with a Maine Public Broadcasting reporter.
He complained that the MPBN reporter did not include his compliments to Mitchell in her coverage.
In an MPBN transcript of the follow-up interview provided to the Kennebec Journal, LePage said he did not think age should be a campaign issue. The transcript did not show comments from him praising Mitchell as a candidate. (emphasis mine)
Rather than simply admit that gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage was wrong when he claimed that Arden Manning had made , the Maine Republican Party has doubled down, and again tries to portray LePage as a victim, targeted because of his religious beliefs.
To remind you, the exchange between three reporters and Paul LePage went like this:
Paul LePage says: "My opponents are saying I"m not fit to be a governor because I am French Catholic."
Reporter: Which opponents have said this?
Paul LePage: "The blogs. If you read the blogs...I think they have D in their name."
Reporter: Any particular blog?
Paul LePage: "The guy's name is Arden Manning. He's the guy that's spilling this garbage."
Reporter: He's saying that because of your French Catholicism you're not fit?
Paul LePage: "Yeah."
Again, I spoke to Manning, and he told me that he does not have a blog, nor has written anything disparaging about LePage's ethnic background or his religious beliefs.
Reporting for WCSH-TV Channel 6 in Portland, Don Carrigan let's Charlie Webster, Chairman of the Maine Republican Party, explain where LePage got the idea he was being attacked:
From the above, Charlie Webster:
The Democrats have consistently since the day he was elected attacked him because he is French-Catholic. They've made comments because he was too conservative because he shares French-Catholic values.
They've consitently said his views are extreme, based on what? Based on the fact that he's French-Catholic. He shares the values of French-Catholic people...they talked about creationalism (sic) - he's never talked about it. They talk about abortion, he - only they talk about it.
In his report, Carrigan refers to the GOP Gubernatorial Debate hosted by MPBN on 27 May, and from the end there was this:
Jennifer Rooks, MPBN: Do you believe in creationism, and do you think it should be taught in Maine Public Schools?
Paul LePage: I would say, intelligence--the more education you have the more knowledge you have the better person you are. I believe yes and yes.
To demonstrate how far to the right LePage's view on teaching creationism in Maine's public schools is, only three of the seven GOP candidates answered yes to this question (Bill Beardsley and Bruce Poliquin).
And this was not the first time that this question had come up at a Republican candidate forum. At the forum hosted by the Bangor GOP Committee on 19 May 2010 at Husson College, LePage also answered yes about whether creationism should be taught in Maine's public schools. What is important to note is the nuanced answer given by Matt Jacobson, who felt that evolution should be taught in science class, while creationism be taught in philosophy.
LePage could have adopted such a sophisticated response as his own, but chose not to do so.
It is not Paul LePage's French-Catholic background, or even his own personal views about creationism that I have and others have called into question.
It is Paul LePage's belief that creationism should be taught in public schools that have so many concerned.
What is odd is that according to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Maine is one of the least religious states in the nation. The Catholic Church's own teachings on evolution, while not put plainly, encourage believers to reach their own conclusions as to how the physical body of man came to be, but hold that the soul is the creation of God.
Again, while there are likely some that oppose Paul LePage because of his French-Catholic background, that group is very small indeed. Many of us do find, as Webster decribes, LePage to be too conservative - because he is, not because of his French-Catholic background.
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One last point regarding what Webster claims LePage has said or not said: the very first line on the LePage 2010 website page titled Traditional Values reads:
I believe that all human life is sacred, including our unborn children.
This statement leaves no wiggle room, and can be interpreted to mean that LePage opposes all abortions, even those that would protect the life of the woman involved.
LePage, or Webster, are free to explain how I am wrong in the comments below.
Rep. Chellie Pingree announced today that she will vote against the $37 billion supplemental funding bill for the war in Afghanistan.
In a prepared statement Pingree said:
We spend $7 billion a month on the war in Afghanistan and every day it becomes more and more clear that we are pursuing a failed strategy that doesn't make America any safer. It's time to bring our troops and that money home.
After the events of 9/11, the United States went into Afghanistan to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and dismantle Al Qaeda, not to occupy the country or build the Afghan government, a government that has proven time and time again to be one of the most corrupt in the world.
Here she is on Hardball last night:
Last month Pingree voted against a similar version of supplemental spending that originated in the House. The Senate passed its own, separate version, and the House will be voting on that today.
In the aftermath of the SCOTUS decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed corporations, unions, and other groups to spend without limits on political campaigns, the DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175) was introduced Rep. Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD). The bill would force groups to disclose who has financed these campaigns, so that the public can know who is behind them.
In 2008, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) spent $1.9 million in its successful effort to overturn Maine's law that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry. NOM is now attempting to block the Maine Commission on Ethics demand that it release its list of donors.
GOP candidate for governor Paul LePage is involved in another flap from the same whistle stop tour, suggesting that one of his opponents, Libby Mitchell, is too old to be governor, and now the AARP upset with his remark:
LePage, 61, told a crowd gathered in Bath that "Libby had her 70th birthday a few weeks ago, and I'm concerned about her. We should send her home."
Earlier that day, another Republican politician took aim at Mitchell's age for laughs before a crowd, many of which gathered in the Midcoast for LePage's whistle-stop tour on the Maine Eastern Railroad.
"I think we were still sending Apollo trips to the moon when she was first elected," Rep. Jon McKane, R-Newcastle, said at a LePage campaign stop in Wiscasset. The comment was made before LePage's train arrived.
Mitchell responded by quoting Ronald Reagan:
The stakes of this election are too high to reduce the debate to such unimportant topics. I will borrow from former President Ronald Reagan, who Mr. LePage refers to fondly, and let everyone know that, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
What is of interest with this statement is that it accurately points to LePage's own lack of experience in government, since as mayor of Waterville, he has few actual duties (and doesn't even keep regular office hours).
Update: Libby Mitchell has accepted the apology offered by LePage on a radio talk show Tuesday, tellingWABI-TV Channel 5:
"I accept him at his word, but it's certainly not an issue of the campaign. We really have to change the subject and debate the issues. We do differ on many things in terms of how we'd move the state forward. That's legitimate for public debate." Mitchell told TV5 News.
On his whistle stop tour this past Saturday, Republican candidate for governor Paul LePage accused Arden Manning, Coordinated Campaign Director, of makng anti-Franco-American and anti-Catholic attacks.
Paul LePage says: "My opponents are saying I"m not fit to be a governor because I am French Catholic."
Reporter: Which opponents have said this?
Paul LePage: "The blogs. If you read the blogs...I think they have D in their name."
Reporter: Any particular blog?
Paul LePage: "The guy's name is Arden Manning. He's the guy that's spilling this garbage."
Reporter: He's saying that because of your French Catholicism you're not fit?
Paul LePage: "Yeah."
I spoke with Manning this evening, and asked him about the claim. He told me that he turned over all of the press releases generated by the Maine Democratic Party as well as his personal facebook page to WGME-TV Channel 13 in Portland, which ran this story on its 5:00 news:
News 13 contacted the LePage campaign and Chief of Staff John Morse said he had not seen the news releases from Manning or the Maine Democratic Party. When we offered to send him the news releases, he refused them and said the campaign has no comment at this time.
I also asked Manning if he has a blog, and he told me that he does not, and that he had no idea on what LePage is basing his claim. (I cannot remember reading any such attacks on LePage's ethnic roots or his religous beliefs.)
Amy Fried (Associate Dean for Research Associate Professor of Political Science at UMO) had this interesting tweet, linking to the Canuck letter that killed Ed Muskie's presidential bid in 1972:
Accusing a ME campaign of anti-Franco bias w/no proof. Deja vu all over again.
If the Roberts court continues on the course suggested by its first five years, it is likely to allow a greater role for religion in public life, to permit more participation by unions and corporations in elections and to elaborate further on the scope of the Second Amendment's right to bear arms. Abortion rights are likely to be curtailed, as are affirmative action and protections for people accused of crimes.
The recent shift to the right is modest. And the court's decisions have hardly been uniformly conservative. The justices have, for instance, limited the use of the death penalty and rejected broad claims of executive power in the government's efforts to combat terrorism.
But scholars who look at overall trends rather than individual decisions say that widely accepted political science data tell an unmistakable story about a notably conservative court.
The Boston Globe has this analysis this falls congressional elections, and notes that the GOP may miss chances in N.E.. What is striking is that the two races here are not even mentioned, implying that incumbents Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree face little in the way of real opposition in their re-election campaigns.
The PPH reports that lack of climate-change bill disappoints Maine senators, without noting that Snowe, Collins, and the rest of the GOP senators are largely responsible for fucking up the Senate schedule by filibustering the Extenders bill for weeks.
President Obama recently announced that he wanted to address the outstanding concerns with the pending Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and bring it to Congress for a vote. In response to that announcement, this week I sent a letter, signed by 109 other Members of Congress, asking the President for a meeting to discuss how we can fix the Korea-U.S. FTA and how we can improve U.S. trade policy so that it works for Mainers, too.
The U.S. approach to trade has not changed drastically in the 15 years since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect. Now, more than ever is the time to review and revise our trade policy. If the recession showed us anything, it showed us how important it is to have a robust manufacturing sector and how economically damaging our trade deficit can be. The only meaningful way to address these issues is to fix our broken trade policy, and we can start with making changes to the Korea-U.S. FTA.
Unfortunately, fixing a handful of provisions in the Korea FTA, such as those on auto and beef provisions in the Korea FTA will not be sufficient. It is imperative that U.S. car companies and cattle ranchers get equal and complete market access in Korea. But it is also equally important that we make sure the agreement does not undermine the new financial regulations just signed into law or make states' workplace safety regulations vulnerable to challenges by Korean companies doing business here.
It's also critical that we look at basic issues like how to connect small U.S. manufacturers with export opportunities and how to retrain workers who lose their jobs as a result of these trade agreements. Right now, there is not enough technical assistance for our small businesses to find those openings in foreign markets. And Mainers are all too familiar with Trade Adjustment Assistance. The assistance is needed relief and the training is helpful, but without a broader effort to protect our manufacturing sector, there are no jobs to be trained for.
Too often in Washington, efforts to improve our trade priorities are misconstrued as being anti-trade. This is simply an argument of convenience. Of course I support trade. I want Maine's farmers and businesses to export their products to foreign markets. But signing flawed trade agreements just for the sake of signing them is bad policy and it hurts our economy.
The reasons for getting our trade policy right are simple. We shouldn't promote off-shoring of U.S. jobs. We should protect and promote the U.S. manufacturing sector. And we must address our ballooning trade deficit. Signing trade agreements that take away manufacturing jobs or benefit multinational companies at the expense of middle-class families is not only wrong, it's economically unsustainable.
That is why my colleagues and I requested a meeting with President Obama to discuss how we can fix the Korea-U.S. FTA and ways we can improve our long-term trade strategy. A productive conversation will help us take advantage of this unique opportunity to reexamine our approach to trade and make sure it works for all states, including Maine. Opening our markets shouldn't mean losing our livelihoods, but if we keep pushing more bad trade deals, that's exactly what will happen.
In this week's address to the nation, President Obama discusses the Wall Street reform bill that he signed into law. It not only overhauls financial regulations, but provides tax breaks to small businesses that create jobs, provides investment for green energy, and lowers some tax rates. You can find the transcript below the fold.
Rep. Chellie Pingree has introduced a bill that would enable schools that receive Federal food assistance to use part of it to buy products from local farms. The Eat Local Foods Act (H.R. 5806) not only allows for whole, healthy foods to be served in school cafeterias, but also helps support small, local farms.
Here is Pingree introducing her bill on the House floor:
In June, Pingree held a Children's Nutrition Forum at Bonny Eagle Middle School in Buxton to hear from local school nutrition directors on how the federal government could better support their efforts to produce healthier meals for students. You can find the complete text of H.R. 5806 below the fold.
As many of you know, my dad died two weeks back, after a very rapid decline into dementia. His memorial service was last Thursday, and in keeping with his own unique way of life, it featured no religious hymns (he was an atheist), but did include this song that he would sing to my mom as they danced:
My dad loved music, but not in the way that most of us do. He was not able to have it on as background, since it disturbed his train of thought. Instead, he would sit and listen. When I was in high school, he discovered Bach:
I must admit that it was me that introduced him to Philip Glass:
And I will never forget the road trip the two of us took, across southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I brought along the music to accompany our trip, and it still seems funny to me to think of him singing along to this:
Collins Watch notes that the bluff has been called for both of Maine's senators regarding campaign finance reform.
Keep in mind that Snowe and Collins have sided with their party as deficit hawks, delaying unemployment insurance payments to thousands of Mainers until they were offset by cuts. Now I wonder what cuts Collins proposed to offset her request for the Maine wind project that received a $10 million boost in Senate.
On Monday night, the St. George Selectboard, which also acts as the town's assessing board, voted to lower the tax rate from $12.50 per $1,000 of value to $7.30 per $1,000. Falla said the action was a direct result of the revaluation.
That's right - even though your property has increased in value, the town will not realize more tax revenue.
Testimony from today's hearings seemed to indicate the same: Ronald Sepulvado, a BP well site leader, testified that weeks before the explosion on the rig, leaks were found on a control pod of the blowout preventer-an important safety device that failed to stop the disaster.
"I can't say anything other than I was disappointed. I would love to have their support. I would be lying if I said otherwise," Mitchell said during an editorial board meeting at the Kennebec Journal on Wednesday. "But at the same time, I respect their decisions, and I'll just have to go pick up some other Democrats to replace them."
Mitchell said she thought Schneider chose not to support her based on personal reasons and speculated that Damon's reasons might have been policy-oriented.
"Senator Schneider did call me. Her issues with me are personal and have been throughout the session, and so it was not a surprise," Mitchell said. "With Senator Damon, I really don't know, because he did not talk to me about it. I don't know if it's because I didn't support his efforts to increase the gas tax when I was in leadership and he thought that was very important for the roads, or what."
Rep. Chellie Pingree will be holding a telephone town hall meeting this evening, and you can participate by calling the number below. She will be taking questions and listening to comments from her constituents, so this is a great chance for your voice to be heard.
In a statement, Pingree said:
We are facing some big challenges right now-from the economy, to cracking down on Wall Street, to reforming our healthcare system. There is still much more work to do, which is why it's important for me to take every opportunity possible to hear from people here in Maine. This event is a great opportunity for people to ask questions on the issues and tell me what's on their mind. Their input is really important to what I do in Washington and here in Maine.
What: Telephone Town Hall Meeting
When: Thursday, 22 July at 7:00 p.m. EST
Number: 888.356.3090 ext. 15158
You can find out more by visiting Pingree's website here.
On Sunday, 25 July at 1:00 p.m., the Knox County Democratic Committee will hold a special caucus to elect a candidate for the Maine House of Representatives, District 49.
District 49 comprises the towns of Warren, Union, Friendship and Cushing. Registered Democrats from those towns are encouraged to attend the special caucus at the Union Town Hall on Sunday, 25 July at 1:00 p.m.
Come and meet our candidate, Shelby Chadwick, and put her on the ballot.
This special caucus is needed as the previous candidate, Kat Cosgrove, has dropped out. By law, a Party can nominate a new candidate to take her place.
DIRIGO BLUE is available as an