(UPDATE: I missed another piece of the cross-pollination of Americans Elect people with the Campaign for Maine and Cutler. Peter Ackerman, founder of the investment firm Rockport Capital, gave $1,500 to Cutler during the last reporting period. Ackerman is the same guy who jump-started AE’s ballot initiative in 2011-12 with an $8 million donation.).  A […]

Easy out: “It seems like there’s an increasing willingness for the state to solve its fiscal problems on the backs of property taxpayers. They all point fingers and blame the other (party), but that’s what it’s come down to. The easiest way out for legislators is to take actions that are not directly attributable to them.” —Geoff Herman, legislative […]

Charles Colgan, the former state economist now with the Maine Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Southern Maine, isn’t criticizing the Medicaid expansion analysis unveiled by the LePage administration last week. But he is questioning one of the study’s key assumptions. It’s an important one. The analysis, part of the $925,000 […]

Gary Alexander, the disputed welfare reformer from Rhode Island, will present the Medicaid feasibility portion of his $925,000 taxpayer-funded study to Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday. The Democratic co-chairs of the committee had previously asked Alexander to brief the committee. Then, after Alexander presented his report on Friday, the committee analyst sent […]

Pivot: Democratic leaders have whipped up a new slogan to address the LePage administration’s recent claim that thousands of EBT cards were used at smoke shops, liquor stores and strip clubs. Prosecute, don’t politicize. The slogan wasn’t in the letter that Senate President Justin Alfond and House Speaker Mark Eves sent Thursday to the Office […]

The Legislature is back and so is the Morning Briefing. It’s been awhile, so let’s get to it: * What’s your 20? Page 11 of the $925,000 taxpayer-funded contract to evaluate the state’s public welfare system says that documents turned over to Department of Health and Human Services by the Alexander Group are public and subject to […]

Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler on Monday continued to criticize last week’s endorsement of Democrat Mike Michaud by the state’s leading gay rights group, saying during a local radio interview that the group “abandoned” the bipartisan coalition that helped legalize same-sex marriage in 2012. Cutler said during the WGAN interview that he didn’t want to […]

Shenna Bellows, the Democratic candidate attempting to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, has only been fundraising for a few months, but her campaign will soon be touting more than $332,000 in donations. The campaign haul is for the fourth quarter of 2013, which is not yet posted with the Federal Elections Commission. Collins’ fourth […]

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud has won the backing of EqualityMaine, the state’s leading gay rights organization. Michaud, who could become the first openly gay candidate elected governor in the country, took the endorsement over independent candidate Eliot Cutler. Cutler’s campaign sharply criticized the decision, releasing a statement in advance of Thursday’s scheduled announcement in […]

The best way to find out if Mainers support the expansion of Medicaid, or MaineCare? Ask them. The trick is how you ask the question. Last week, the Portland-based polling firm Pan Atlantic SMS — typically described as a Democratic firm — released its winter omnibus poll. Included in the survey was a question about […]