I hope that everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season. Can you believe that it is 2011 already? Time goes by way too fast.

This past week I heard a couple of tidbits of information. First, the unemployment lines are about to get longer. I heard from a reliable source that the budget of our incoming Governor LePage may include cutting the number of state employees by 20%. The March 2009 census shows that Maine has a 18,395 full-time state employees and 10,187 part-time employees. A 20% cut would be over 5,700 employees. This is a huge cut. I am unsure of how and what departments will be cut. As I learn more, I will keep you posted.

Next, state employees that are left after the 20% cut may be asked to work four nine-hour days instead of five eight-hour days.

On the education front, I am hearing that the incoming Governor does not believe that higher education is as important as training in the trades in Maine. What do you think about this? I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2011!

Welfare

One of the Republican political strategies of this past election was welfare. Recently, I came across some interesting information. The bill that some Republicans referred to and used in their mailings was Rep. Cebra’s LD254. Here is the link to the bill’s history.

One part of the bill was to enact residency requirements for welfare. This bill was brought in front of the Legislature in 2009. The bill was voted ought not to pass in the Health and Human Services committee. The Office of Integrated Access and Support, The Maine Civil Liberties Union, the Maine Equal Justice Partners, and the Office of Policy and Legal Analysis all opposed the bill and stated in their testimony that residency requirements are against the Constitution and would not hold up in a US Supreme Court battle.

So one would assume that LD254 would be a dead issue because of the unconstitutionality of it. Well here’s the interesting part. The bill was brought up for a vote on the House and Senate floor. Why? So that the Republicans could use it as a political ploy for votes from uninformed voters. The Republicans knew that the bill was unconstitutional and that it would not pass, yet they still chose to use the information as a tool in the elections. What can you do? Call your State Rep. or Senator and ask them why they chose to deceive you with such tactics. You can find the information to reach them below.

Contact info for the Legislature Click on the Legislature button on the left and them scroll over Senators or Representatives to find their contact information.

Labor Committee Survives

Special from the e-news of Rep. Sharon Treat

In a special meeting of the Legislature on December 17, Democrats and Republicans agreed to a compromise that preserves the Labor Committee, although in a different form and with additional responsibilities and jurisdiction. The agreement avoided a partisan split and insured that the committee, which has been in existence since 1887, would continue. The Legislature’s Republican leadership had proposed abolishing the committee, sparking protests by women’s and labor groups and many legislators.  While this dispute may seem like much ado about nothing, many of us felt that eliminating the committee was more than a symbolic move and worried that it would be the first step in diminished attention to issues affecting workers including minimum wage, health and safety rules, and equal pay enforcement. The compromise agreed to unanimously by the Legislature will merge the labor and business issues in a renamed committee called Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, there are 22 other states with Labor Committees or committees that focus on labor issues. On average, working families in states without such committees earn $5,538 a year less than states without the laws and have higher rates of workplace fatalities.

The payback begins: LePage asks for exemption to health-care reform bill, allowing 35% for OH&P

Gerald Weinand, DirigoBlue
Fri Dec 31, 2010 at 12:09:28 PM EST

Read this article here.

The Holiday Season is upon us. Is everyone ready for Christmas? I am happy to say that I have my shopping done, and everything is wrapped and under the tree! My kids are excited and my youngest son is counting the days until Christmas. It is an exciting time of year for the little ones!

In January, our new Legislature will be in session. I will be reporting to you on a weekly basis as to what is happening in Augusta.

Below you will see a mailing that went out in House District 75. Similar mailings like this went out in House and Senate districts all over the state. This is negative and anger-based politics at its best. The mailings were full of mistruths, lies, and half truths. We need to demand better from our politicians.

Have a wonderful Holiday! I hope that Santa is good to you all!

Wood Mailing 2010

Today our new Reps. and Senator for Senate District 17 were sworn in at the State House in Augusta.

Once the states website is updated I will provide you all with contact information for your new Reps and Senator. Over the next two years, it is important that we pay close attention to their votes, and advocate for ourselves and others.

Below is an article on our new constitutional officers that were elected today.

New Constitutional Officers

The Maine House and Senate have elected new constitutional officers for the state.

William Schneider was elected as our new Attorney General. Schneider is an Assistant US Attorney. Schneider also opposes the recently passed federal health care law and plans to work to have Maine join other states that have filed legal challenges to the law. I don’t know about you, but I think we should give the new health care law time to see what works and what doesn’t. Health care is a right, not a privilege. Everyone whether rich or poor deserves good health care. The majority of civilized nations provide health care to their people… even Cuba provides health care and it’s free!

Bruce Poliquin, a 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate, is our new state treasurer.
Charles Summers Jr., who has run three times unsuccessfully for Maine’s 1st District congressional seat and also served two state Senate terms, was the lone party choice for secretary of state.

And, the new Speaker of the House is Robert Nutting. He is the former pharmacy owner that bilked the state out of more than $1 million. This to me makes a mockery of the Speaker position. I am very disappointed that the Democrats did not put in a nominee for Speaker. Voting for this man means that they are condoning not condemning his behavior. Very, very disappointing.

In our own Senate District 17, our new Reps. and Senator voted for these people… including the new Speaker.

You can read more about the new constitutional officers here.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday. Mine was quiet and nice. We decided on ham this year instead of turkey. I had a 9 pound ham, so as you can imagine I have quite a bit left. If anyone has any good leftover ham recipes, please send them along!

Below you will find an article on our new Republican leadership wanting to eliminate the Legislative Labor Committee. The Labor Committee deals with unemployment, equal pay, enforcement of wages, family and medical leave, overtime laws, minimum wage, and many other labor issues. This is a very important committee. Please read the article and then call the numbers listed and ask leadership not to make this mistake and to protect the workers of Maine. Also, ask your friends and neighbors to call too.

Tax revenues are up in Maine. That is a positive sign. Let’s hope they stay up through the winter. Read the article from the Bangor Daily News below.

Leadership Wants to Eliminate Labor Committee

The new Maine Legislature meets for the first time tomorrow.

And, the first order of business of Maine’s new legislative leadership may be to eliminate the Labor Committee - the committee that serves the needs of women workers.

The Labor Committee has existed in the Maine Legislature continuously since 1887 (yes, that’s right - over 120 years)!

Members of the Labor Committee make decisions about unemployment, equal pay, enforcement of wages, family and medical leave, overtime laws, sick leave, minimum wage, and hundreds of other issues.

The Labor Committee is the only committee devoted to the rights, benefits, and protections of working people. It’s the one place designed to ensure workers’ voices are heard.

Eliminating the Labor Committee is bad policy, it’s bad precedent, and, frankly, it’s insulting to the hundreds of thousands of Maine people who get up and go to work every morning.

And, the new leadership is trying to do this as quickly as possible with very little debate.

Please take action today. Here’s what you can do (talking points are below):

1. Call the Senate Republican Office (287.1505) and the House Republican Office (287.1440) to leave a message for Senate and House Republican leadership to ask them to oppose eliminating the Labor Committee.

2. Please call your own State Representative and State Senator to ask them to oppose eliminating the Labor Committee.

When you call, you can say something like:

Hi, my name is______________. I’m calling from ______, and I’m calling today to ask ________ to oppose eliminating the Labor Committee. The Labor Committee is a key committee for issues of importance to working people; it has existed continuously since 1887, and I see no reason to eliminate it.

Increase in State Revenues

Bangor Daily News, November 23rd, 2010

AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov.-elect Paul LePage got some good news from the state’s revenue forecasting committee Tuesday as revenues were re-projected to go up $111.6 million this budget year and $365.5 million for the two-year budget that begins July 1.

“I’m a lucky guy,” LePage said when told of the forecast.

He said the additional revenue would make it easier to pay debts owed to Maine hospitals, which he called a “high priority.”

LePage also acknowledged that the additional revenue will make it easier to fund a supplemental budget to get the state through the current budget year.

“We’re working on that, our budget transition group,” LePage said.

Gov. John Baldacci hailed the re-projections as an indication that the economy is improving. He said reduced state spending has been a factor, with the current state general fund budget at $2.69 billion, only slightly more than spending in 2001, which was $2.65 billion.

“After shedding more than 30,000 jobs, companies in Maine are rebounding and profits are improving, especially for large, multinational corporations,” Baldacci said in a statement. “While job creation is still lagging, Maine’s unemployment level is dropping. There are still too many people out of work, but at least the unemployment rate is heading in the right direction.”

The income taxes, both individual and corporate, are driving the projected increase in state revenues. Mike Allen, research director at Maine Revenue Services, said corporate revenues have grown significantly greater than projections that were made earlier this year.

“We have seen the corporate tax come in above estimates all year,” he said. “That trend is continuing.”

Read the rest of the article here….
Bangor Daily News

I hope everyone is well. We are fighting a cold here in my household. I’ve been drinking a lot of tea and taking time to reflect on the new landscape here in Maine.

I have decided that I will be keeping my blog to keep you informed over the next two years. My e-news and blog will now focus on Senate District 17 and other items that you may find interesting or important. I believe that it is important for us all to be paying very close attention to our new administration. We will need to advocate for ourselves and what we believe in.

On my resources and links page you can find contact information for your new government officials. (This information will be updated after December 1, 2010.) If you have questions or comments, please shoot me an e-mail as I would enjoy hearing your thoughts about any information I send you… and of course, I always enjoy a good debate.

New Speaker of the House

On Friday, November 12, House GOP members nominated Oakland Rep. Robert Nutting to fill the speaker’s post–the first time in 30 years that the job will be held by a Republican.

Nutting is a pharmacist from Oakland. In 2003, Nutting was involved in a case in which he was accused of over billing the state for medical supplies sold to Medicaid clients. You can read about the story below.

http://www.kjonline.com/news/Nutting-had-million-dollar-pharmacy-dispute-with-state.html