As a former Maine state legislator, I have witnessed how the wrong language in a bill can kill it before it even gets started. Although often unintended, amendments can’t undo the wrong. The bill is deemed unworthy of consideration, when if properly written might have met a different fate. That is the conundrum we now […]

I read with skepticism the coverage of  immigrant “new Mainers” who are suffering from the housing shortage. I live in midcoast Maine, where the influx of “new Mainers” is made up of people who moved here from other states and have been buying up neglected properties sight unseen. Their biggest complaint is lack of tradesmen […]

Because the freedom to vote is essential to a healthy democracy, I contacted Sen. Susan Collins, urging her to support the Freedom to Vote Act. I wrote, “I know you wholeheartedly embrace democratic values and represent a state that is in the forefront of ensuring Mainers can vote easily and safely. Your colleagues, Senator (Joe) […]

Greetings from Arizona regarding your clear-thinking Rep. Jared Golden. I want to thank him for standing firm with our senior U.S. senator, Kyrsten Sinema, in the belief that while the nation does need the bipartisan infrastructure investment, which the Republicans agreed to and was promised by Democrats to be voted upon first, it does not […]

Editorial Page Editor Greg Kesich’s retelling of climate scientist Michael Mann’s story of the “Crying Indian” (Oct. 17) is commendable. In Maine, and some other states, it resulted in bottle bills to keep trash off our roadsides with a 5-cent bonus on returnables. Kesich noted that government is needed again to avoid the worst of […]

I am writing about the Clean Energy Corridor. Maine is a poor state with not enough capital investment and not enough good-paying jobs. I’d be real interested to know who is trying to capitalize on prejudice against Central Maine Power and bankrolling the opposition to jobs in Maine. Banning the corridor is as silly and […]

We should all celebrate the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention report that two-thirds of all Mainers have received full COVID vaccination. This remarkable accomplishment will be even more impressive soon, when young kids begin receiving their shots. Through a blizzard of information and misinformation, Maine people have put the state on a trajectory […]

The present battle for votes for and against the Central Maine Power/Hydro-Quebec corridor is history repeating itself. How many years ago did Roger Mallar, head of the Maine Transportation Department, predict an overcrowding of the Maine Turnpike and plan to widen it from Portland south by adding an additional lane? The uproar claiming drastic destruction […]