Legislators give mixed reviews to session

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    AUGUSTA — The old saying of “half a loaf is better than none” could well be applied to the 1st Regular Session of the 126th Maine Legislature.

    While Gov. Paul LePage has set a record for the most vetoes by a chief executive, he lost the major battle when the House and Senate refused to go along with his rejection of the $6.3 billion state budget. Some of LePage’s major objections to the new two-year spending package were the inclusion of a temporary sales and lodging tax increase.
    State Sen. Douglas Thomas of Ripley, whose district includes all of Piscataquis County, said that he did not support the budget, but said some major things were accomplished during the session.
    “For me, one of the highlights was the bill to allow Maine residents to obtain less expensive prescription drugs from a mail order prescription program known as CanaRX,” Thomas said. “We still have to fine tune it, but I’ve got an agreement with (Democratic Senator) Troy Jackson to get it done.”
    Hardwood Products in Guilford was one of the companies using CanaRX until it was deemed illegal by the Maine Attorney General’s office last year.
    Thomas said he was also happy about the passage of several privacy bills, although one — L.D. 1060 — was approved by the Senate but not the House. The bill would have prohibited the placement of cameras and other equipment on private property without a warrant or written permission of the owner. “I’m a privacy advocate. I think there are some things the government doesn’t have to know about,” Thomas said.
    Thomas also said he wasn’t sure if LePage was serious about not running for re-election, but assessed the governor’s rough-edged personality this way. “For years, we had governors who knew what to say, but not what to do. Now, we have a governor who knows what to do, but not what to say.”
    Rep. Paul Davis of Sangerville also didn’t vote for the new budget. “They raised sales and lodging taxes, increased clean elections money and cut revenue sharing. I think that is completely wrong,” Davis said.
    But Davis was also happy that the CanaRX prescription bill was passed. “The pharmaceutical industry really hired some heavy-hitting lobbyists against it, but it passed overwhelmingly and the governor decided to let it become law,” he said.
    Two hunting- and fishing-related bills were also strongly reported by Davis. “One bill will eventually eliminate lead sinkers and jigs from our waters, so loons don’t pick them up off the bottom,” said Davis. The bill would ban the sale of lead-containing fishing gear in Maine starting in 2016 and the use of it in 2017.
    Davis also supported a bill that eliminated a second fee for turkey hunters who wanted to participate in the spring and fall seasons. “It used to cost $20 for each season. Now, if you want to hunt in the spring and fall, you only pay the first $20; and the tagging fee is reduced to $2,” Davis said.
    The Sangerville Republican said that overall, the session “was about what I expected.”
    Rep. Peter Johnson of Greenville said he was “disappointed in the size of the budget. But I probably would have voted for it if they hadn’t decreased some of the educational funding.”
    Johnson said that in the original budget, funds were included to help “struggling schools and pay for principal evaluations. The governor recommended $9 million, but I think we wound up with $2.5 million. That’s not nearly enough.”
    Johnson said that one positive aspect of the session was that the state has hired a consultant to analyze the school funding formula to correct some inequities. “I put the bill for the study three years ago, and it’s final moving forward,” he said.
    The Greenville Republican also said that he was relieved that MaineCare eligibility was not expanded. “Every year we’ve had to pass a supplemental budget because of overspending in MaineCare. We just can’t afford to add another 70,000 people to the program,” Johnson said.
    Johnson is also finishing up his fourth and final term in the Maine House, and said that the job is both rewarding and frustrating at times. “When you can help people out, it’s a wonderful thing. But it’s also hard to make progress due to the bureaucracy,” he said.

    ‘For years, we had governors who knew what to say, but not what to do. Now, we have a governor who knows what to do, but not what to say.’

Sen. Douglas Thomas