Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

October 3, 2012

Greg Kesich: One question for legislative candidates: What's your party?

They all say they're independent on the campaign trail, but in Augusta affiliation matters.

Election Day is right around the corner, and candidates are making the rounds.

Maybe you've even met one and got a piece of literature. Maybe you learned that the candidate has a nice smile, an attractive spouse and cute kids. Maybe you heard that he runs a small business, used to teach school or served on the board of selectmen.

Here's what you probably didn't learn -- the candidate's party. That's because they never want to say. They all claim to be "independent" when they run for office, but when they get elected, the nonpartisan stuff gets stored in the garage with extra buttons and the leftover sign posts.

With the exception of two independents in the current Legislature, everyone else in the House and Senate is a member of a party. Every committee chairman is a member of a party. So is every member of the leadership, which sets the agenda and determines the flow of business.

Most of a legislator's work takes place in committees where the majority party gets the majority of the seats. And then there are party caucuses, where party leaders tell the members how to vote on controversial issues.

Knowing what party a candidate belongs to is probably the most important piece of information that a voter can have -- more important than the smile, the spouse or the kids. Party membership dictates more of what a legislator does in Augusta than his or her career or past public service. So why don't they just come out and tell us? Because they know we don't like it.

Maine is proud of its independent streak and we have a history of electing -- or almost electing -- independent candidates to high office.

More Maine voters identify themselves as "independent" (or more accurately unenrolled in a party) than as either Democratic or Republican. What's the opposite of independent? No candidate in his right mind wants to be that.

But since so much of what they do in Augusta is directed -- if not dictated -- by party membership, why should we let them get away with it?

Check out a helpful scorecard put out by People Before Politics, Gov. LePage's nonprofit political organization, if you doubt the influence of the parties.

The report identified 13 votes on issues ranging from the Republican-backed changes of health insurance regulation to a vote to overturn a LePage veto and graded all of the members of the Legislature. They were praised for how often they voted with the governor (which the group calls "voted with the people") and slammed for voting against the governor (known in the report as being "property of the Augusta special interests").

Don't be shocked. There is a strong correlation between party membership and the members' score on the report card.

No Senate Democrat scored better than 39 percent. No Republican scored worse than 77.

Even moderate Republicans like Roger Katz of Augusta and Chris Rector of Thomaston voted the governor's way 92 percent of the time, according to People Before Politics.

So, what should matter more to voters in their districts -- the fact that they are known as "moderates" or "Republicans"? Which is going to have a bigger impact on their votes?

It is just as easy to play this game the other way. When the Maine Conservation Voters gave LePage a grade this week, the only surprise was they gave him a "D" and not an "F."

And Democratic candidates are no less shy about informing voters of their party affiliation when they are on the stump.

(Continued on page 2)

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