Just in time for a ramped up governor’s race, the Pew Charitable Trusts released this graphic showing job growth in the states between April 2012 and April 2013. The graphic was based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It showed Maine was one of three states to lose jobs between 2012 and 2013. […]

The joke around the State House Thursday was that there are may be three or four people not considering a run for the 2nd Congressional District. The mad scramble was touched off by the seat’s current holder U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, who announced he was launching an exploratory committee to run for governor. One name […]

This just in:  Man-brain: The end of the legislative of session is near (hopefully) and things are getting strange.  Exhibit A: Man’s brain (hastag optional).  The above floor speech by House Republican leader Rep. Kenneth Fredette, of Newport, during yesterday’s debate over Medicaid expansion has already gone viral in liberal land, but here’s a recap […]

Maine People Before Politics, the political organization supporting Gov. Paul LePage, has begun campaigning against the budget deal struck by state lawmakers last week.  The organization will run a television ad supportive of the governor’s tax-cutting and government-reduction initiatives. It’s already initiated a public relations campaign via Twitter that, among other things, recycles claims that New Hampshire […]

Momentum: The Senate on Thursday is slated to take up Democrats’ standalone bill to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act.  While it would seem that the latest expansion effort is destined for the same fate as the last one, there’s been some movement among Republicans who may be willing to support it.  On Wednesday […]

Fascinating discussion by the Legislature’s budget-writing committee Tuesday night. For perhaps the first time in public (more on that later), the committee tasked with crafting an alternative to Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed two-year budget tackled — ok circled — the elephant in the room: Taxes. First, the big news (sort of). Sen. Emily Cain, D-Orono, […]

Ghosts of tax reform: The fate of L.D. 1496, the tax reform bill proposed by a bipartisan coalition of legislators seeking to overhaul Maine’s tax code, is still in the hands of the Taxation Committee, which could vote to carry it over until next year.  However, it appears that some elements of the bill are being discussed by […]

Democrats in the Legislature have been repeatedly challenged to offer an alternative to Gov. Paul LePage’s budget proposal, a two-year plan that suspends municipal revenue sharing and other controverial initiatives that critics argue will result in a $400 million tax shift to property taxpayers. To this point Democrats have offered only opposition to the governor’s […]

  Since everyone is on the edge of their seats about the status of Gov. Paul LePage’s infamous television, here’s an update: LePage has moved the TV out of the Hall of Flags and placed it above one of the doors to the governor’s office. (There’s usually a glass pane where the TV is now […]

Even before Democratic lawmakers passed — and Gov. Paul LePage instantly vetoed — a bill that would expand health insurance coverage for the poor, Republicans have signaled some potential alternatives.  House minority leader Rep. Kenneth Fredette, R-Newport, has proposed a study commission to weigh the impacts of Medicaid expansion. Skeptics immediately noted that study commissions […]