Opinion

Stop fighting and get back to work

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    Gov. Paul LePage can’t get a break nowadays.
    Before you say, “Well, he doesn’t deserve one” — read on.
    According to the Maine Department of Labor, the state’s unemployment rate reached a 5-year low of 6.7 percent in October. The percentage of jobless Mainers is down from 6.9 percent in September and 7.2 percent one year ago.

    “Maine is moving in the right direction thanks to the reforms instituted by Gov. LePage over the past three years and Republican majority lawmakers in 2011-12,” said Rep. Ken Fredette, the House Republican leader.
    But not everyone was dancing with joy over the news.
    Immediately following the announcement, House Majority Leader Seth Berry of Bowdoinham fumed, “While the governor attempts to ride the coattails of a national economic recovery, the truth is that Maine’s recovery continues to lag that of the rest of the nation.” Berry pointed out that when LePage took office, the state’s jobless rate was 1.1 percent lower than the nation’s. Today, it is only 0.5 percent lower.
    This reminds me of a favorite joke of former President Lyndon Johnson. “If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read ‘President can’t swim.’”
    Maybe it’s my imagination, but I haven’t seen the state so politically divided since the John McKernan administration.
    McKernan inherited a $46 million surplus when he took office in 1986, the first Republican to occupy the Blaine House in two decades. But the honeymoon was soon over when skirmishes erupted regularly between the governor and House Speaker John Martin.
    As the national economy began to go down the tubes, so did Maine’s surplus. The war of words between Martin and McKernan finally came to a head in June 1991 when the governor insisted that worker’s comp reforms be included in the new budget.
    It took a temporary government shutdown for cooler heads to prevail; but to this day, McKernan and Martin probably aren’t exchanging Christmas greetings.
    So here we are 22 years later, and Gov. LePage threatens to go to the Supreme Court if the Legislature doesn’t pass a balanced budget next year. The Democrats have basically said, “Go ahead and try, but you’ll only make things worse.” As the season of joy and giving approaches, each side deserves a lump of coal in their stocking.
    We’re all aware of Maine’s problems. Some are self-inflicted; others are caused by situations beyond our control like the national economy. We can’t tax ourselves out of the dilemma and we can’t spend money we don’t have.
    There has to be common ground somewhere, so let’s find it.
    Partisan bickering and name-calling didn’t solve any problems during the McKernan years, and it certainly won’t during the LePage administration.
    My advice: Stop fighting and get back to work.
    Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.

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