A coalition of businesses and elected officials launched a campaign Wednesday in support of a bond measure to help finance an expansion at MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor.

If approved by voters Nov. 4, Question 5 would provide $3 million to MDI Biological Laboratory to build a 3,000-square-foot training lab to expand the facility’s research programs. The bond money would be matched by $5.7 million in public and private funds.

Question 5 is one of six bond issues on the crowded November ballot seeking voter authorization for $42 million in state borrowing for economic development and infrastructure programs. A separate bond issue, Question 4, would provide $10 million to The Jackson Laboratory – also located in Bar Harbor – to help finance a new research center as part of that facility’s genomic research.

Groups behind the Question 5 campaign said the $3 million for MDI Biological Laboratory will help the facility continue its work on therapies or cures for such diseases as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, heart disease and stroke. The training lab expansion would also allow the facility to train an additional 800 college students – largely undergraduates from a dozen Maine colleges and universities – during the next five years.

“It may be the smallest bond issue request on the ballot on November the 4th at $3 million, but it packs a powerful punch,” said Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. “It does that by the value it brings to our economy and by the effective way it prepares our people for the economy of today but also the promise of tomorrow.”

– Kevin Miller

CAIN CITES PRAISE FROM LEPAGE

Emily Cain, the Democratic candidate in the 2nd Congressional District, highlighted praise Wednesday from Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who supports her opponent, Bruce Poliquin.

In a profile piece that aired on WMTW, LePage said Cain, a state senator from Orono, has been a better Democrat to work with than the party’s leaders in Augusta, Senate President Justin Alfond and House Speaker Mark Eves, who he said have just been trying to get him out of office.

“We got all kinds of meetings together working,” LePage said of Cain and state Rep. Barry Hobbins, D-Saco, who was Senate minority leader when Cain led House Democrats in 2011 and 2012. “We didn’t always agree, but we could talk.”

Cain’s campaign sent out a news release drawing attention to LePage’s comments. She has highlighted her bipartisan work with Republicans in Augusta, saying, “We need leaders who can bring people together, bring the voice of Mainers to the table and get things done.”

LePage’s comments fit well with Cain’s campaign messaging, but they echo things he’s said before about Cain, who has worked with him on reforming Maine domestic violence laws. Still, the timing of LePage’s words may not be so good for Poliquin, who released an ad last week framing Cain as an “extreme liberal.”

The governor hasn’t made a formal endorsement of Poliquin in the race, but LePage spokesman Alex Willette said Wednesday that the governor fully supports Poliquin.

– Michael Shepherd

GUN-CONTROL GROUP HELPS COLLINS

Maine Sen. Susan Collins’ re-election campaign is getting some help from the gun control organization formed by former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly.

Americans for Responsible Solutions, a political action committee pushing for “commonsense protections from gun violence,” announced Tuesday that it will spend six figures on 30-second television ads touting Collins.

The ad calls Collins “a calm voice in a sea of shouters” and credits her with helping advance legislation to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and people with mental illnesses.

The ad is a direct response to the fact that Collins was one of just four Republicans in the Senate to vote in support of a compromise to require background checks prior to firearm sales at gun shows and online. That measure and a host of other gun control proposals introduced after the mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school failed to pick up the 60 votes needed to break a Senate filibuster, however.

“Senator Collins has been a steady voice for her constituents in the United States Senate, and a steady, bipartisan voice for commonsense solutions to reduce gun violence,” Hayley Zachary, executive director of Americans for Responsible Solutions, said in a written statement. “In the face of powerful special interests, Senator Collins stood up for reasonable policies that will make our communities safer. We need more people like Susan Collins in the United States Senate.”

Maine, of course, is a gun-heavy state that also happens to have among the lowest crime rates in the nation. But recent polls, including a September survey for the Portland Press Herald, suggest that Collins is still sitting on a large lead over her Democratic challenger, Shenna Bellows.

Giffords was severely wounded in 2011 when a gunman opened fire at a constituent meet-and-greet event in her Arizona district. Six people died in the shooting. Since then, she and Kelly – both of whom are gun owners – have been vocal proponents for stronger background checks and legislation to stop gun trafficking. – Kevin Miller

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