Western York County Politics

One last correction though...

2005-07-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

In the article "Gays and Taxes 2: Revenge of TABOR", I claimed that Gerald Talbot originally introduced the gay rights bill back in the 70's, when it was in fact introduced by Laurence Connolly Jr. However, it was cosponsored by Gerald Talbot, so the claim made by the Un-Christian Civic League is still incorrect.

The suspect is described as a middle-aged Caucasian female...

2005-06-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Jon Courtney's death penalty bill came up for a vote a couple days ago, and, other than Courtney himself, there was only one lunatic nearly in charge of the asylum from this area who voted for it: Sen. Mary Black Andrews (R-District 1).

I have some either really good news or really bad news depending on your politics: I'm ending this blog. I just have so much on my plate at this point that I have neither the time nor energy to continue. But I will finish with this last point: the Un-Christian Civic League has a Bible verse in each issue of their newsletter, and I would like to quote one myself:

"Now as the time drew near for Him to be taken up to heaven, he resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of Him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive Him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, 'Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?' But he turned and rebuked them, 'You do not know what spirit you are made of. The Son of Man came not to destroy souls but to save them'" - Luke 9:51-56

Pass the toilet paper Part 3

2005-05-23T12:59:00.000-07:00

It turns out that Rep. David Bowels (R-District 142) did not in fact cosponsor LD 682: An Act To Create a 5-year Statute of Limitations for Environmental Violations, but while I'm talking about him, it turns out that LD 506: An Act To Abolish the Maine Clean Election Act came up for a vote last week, and the following State Reps who have a piece or all of their districts in York County voted for the bill:

Rep. David Bowels (R-District 142)
Rep. Ron Collins (R-District 147)
Rep. Phil Cressey (R-District 99)
Rep. Roberta Muse (R-District 97)
Rep. H. Stedman Seavey (R-District 137)

Thanks to the MCLF blog for pointing this out.

Gays and taxes 2: Revenge of TABOR

2005-05-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry about the lapse between posts, you know how the real world is. I was looking at the Un-Christian Civic League's online newsletter, The RECORD, (this was the May 5th issue, unfortunately they haven't updated their archives since April, I hope you'll take my word for this until they update their archives) and I found an article where Paul Madore spoke with State Sen. Ethan Strimling (D-District 8). As I remember from the article, at one point Strimling compared the current gay rights movement to the civil rights movement of the 60's, to which Paul Madore responded that the people in the civil rights movement don't agree with that. That's interesting, here is the website for the Portland branch of the NAACP. According to the "History" section, Gerald Talbot, who as a state legislator originally introduced this same gay rights bill back in the 70's, was the first president of the chapter. Also, Sen. Strimling is listed as the 2nd vice president. Wait a sec, which civil rights movement are we talking about here?

Also, there's a movement to put the aforementioned Taxpayer's Bill of Rights on the ballot. The amazing thing here is that, as Republican an area as western York County is, there is only one place to sign the petition (Berwick), and that's only at the polls! I made the following response to a comment by a Republican on this blog, and I think it's a good idea to reprint it here:

Educational costs can be divided into fixed costs, required to run the system at all, and per student costs which vary with enrollment. As Maine continues its relentless march toward old age, our school enrollment continues to decrease (source: http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs/pj/p97c08.asp). For rural areas with small numbers of students per square mile, this is already resulting in a shift toward a higher ratio of fixed costs to per student costs. In response to this we are seeing pressure to consolidate school districts into larger and larger areas. (source: here) Students already traveling an hour each way on the bus may soon be stretching that to an hour and a half. Think about it, right now some kids are spending 10 hours a week on buses. That's an entire 40 hr work week just getting to and from school every month. In the course of a school year these students spend about 360 hours or 15 full days on a school bus. What could you do with an extra 15 days each year? Then, of course, there is the issue of violence on school buses. I won't even get into that here, but please read your local papers. TABOR would exacerbate these problems. Our local funding limits would actually decrease proportionally to the number of students. No allowance is made for the fact that fixed costs do not decrease with enrollment.I will grant you one point; rural areas will not suffer alone. Basically, our entire public education system is in the crosshairs.

Maine, the way life should not be at 1:30 in the morning

2005-05-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

Since I'm short on news about the local buffoons here, here's a little gem I found, LD 940: An Act To Amend the Law Pertaining to All-terrain Vehicle Violations . Basically, it changes the language so that the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is only may, i.e. is not required, to suspend somebody's ATV license for the following offenses (quote from the text):

A. Operating an ATV on a temporarily closed trail

B. Abuse of another person's property

C. Operating an ATV under the influence under 21 years of
age

D. Operating an ATV to endanger

E. Reckless operation of an ATV

F. Operating an ATV on the land of another without
permission (there's some even more interesting stuff on this later)

G. Failure or refusal to stop an ATV or attempting to elude
an officer

Moreover, it redefines the language so that you could only get your ATV license suspended for riding on "cropland" or "pastureland" (defined in the text) without the owner's permission. If I'm reading this right, a regular field out in front of a house is not protected.

Why am I so worked up about this, when the people who sponsored/cosponsored the bill don't have even a piece of a town in York County? (FYI, it was introduced by Rep. Henry Joy (R-District 9), and cosponsored by Rep. Michael Vaughan (R-District 105), and Rep. R. Kenneth Lindell (R-District 41)) Well, have a look at the title for this post, we have a big problem here in the rural part of western York County (obviously discounting the urban areas of Sanford) with people on ATVs the rest of the year and snowmobiles in the winter going off the trails and riding through yards in the middle of the night.

"The Republicans dug too greedily and too deep..."

2005-05-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

From mainetoday.com: (regarding the anti-gay rights rally in Augusta last week)

"Speakers ranged far afield during the hour-long rally, citing the Mayflower Compact, the Bible, the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and even the inclement weather itself."

Ok, the Mayflower Compact, the Bible, and the weather I can understand, but the Lord of the Rings??? Apparently I missed the chapter with the gay orcs.

On a more serious note, it appears that Sen. Richard Nass (profiled in "For the Greater Glory of Mammon...") is still up to his usual tricks. He's listed as a cosponsor on LD 1032: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Lower the Income Tax, now looking at the text of the bill, when it goes into the reduction of the income tax rates, it begins with "Maximum income tax rates on individuals may not exceed the following amounts...." and then it goes into phasing in a reduction of the maximum income tax rate to a whopping 3.5%. Remember, this means that the top income tax bracket in the state will be paying this percentage. All the multi-millionaires in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Capes Porpoise and Elizabeth will only pay as much as 3.5% in income tax if this bill were passed. It's interesting how some of these buffoons carry on about deficit spending while they propose, cosponsor, or vote for tax cuts as radical as this.

Gays and taxes

2005-04-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

I'm going to handle several legislators at once here: The first and most prominent is:

Rep. Phil Cressey (R-District 99)

Followed by:

Rep. Ron Collins (R-District 147)
Bill Gates....oh I'm sorry, Rep. Robert Daigle (R-District 140)
Rep. Sarah Lewin (R-District 148)
A guest buffoon (just because I couldn't resist poking fun at him) Rep. Brian Duprey (R-District 39)

Cressey introduced, and the other representatives cosponsored, LD 1235: RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Require That a Citizen-initiated Measure That Imposes a New or Increased Tax or Fee Be Approved by the Legislature and Signed by the Governor. Now just to clear up any confusion, this doesn't mean that, before the measure goes on the ballot, it has to be approved by both the legislature and the governor; this is after the measure has been voted in.

Remember how back when LD 1196 was up for debate, numerous Republicans were arguing against the bill because it failed when it was up for referendum in 1997 and 2000? Also, remember that some Republicans argued that the bill should go to the voters? Even now, here's an excerpt from the "Coalition for Marriage" website about a rally they're planning:

"...Paul Madore and Mike Heath will lead the crowd in a chant of "The People's Veto, the People's Voice." The crowd will be split down the middle and one side will shout, "The People's Veto." The other side will echo, "The People's Voice." Our symbol for this Rally is a bullhorn. Bring one if you can find one. Let's have some good citizenship fun on Thursday!

(Bold and italics added by yours truly for emphasis)

So, by some twist of logic more warped than well, Paul Madore and Mike Heath, the voters are competent enough to decide whether to extend civil rights to GLBT's, but they shouldn't be able to raise taxes or impose new ones without the approval of the legislature and governor.

Pass the toilet paper Part 2: There's something smelly in the Kennebec...

2005-04-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

As you all know, there's a group allied with the Un-Christian Civic League called the "Coalition for Marriage" collecting signatures for a People's Veto on LD 1196. This page lists some affinity groups allied with the UCCL (such as "Lobstermen for Marriage", etc.)

In Chapter 2 of his book Downsize This!, Michael Moore talks about how he donated to all the candidates in the 1996 presidential elections under the names "Pedophiles for Free Trade", "Hemp Growers of America", "The John Wayne Gacy Fan Club", "Satan Worshippers for Dole", and "Abortionists for Buchanan"

Who wants to start up Adulterers for Marriage? C'mon, we could have Prince Charles as our celebrity spokesman!

Also, anyone interested in testifying against LD 682: An Act to Create a 5-year Statute of Limitations for Environmental Regulations should know that there will be a work session on it April 29th, 11 AM, Room 214 Cross Building.

"Mammon led them on...By him first
Men also, and by his suggestion taught,
Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands
Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth
For treasures better hid."

John Milton, Paradise Lost

She's a flip-flopper...

2005-04-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today's buffoon is Rep. Joan Nass (R-District 144). Here's an excerpt from an interview leading up to the 2004 elections which included the Representative:

"Q: Gov. John Baldacci said he will introduce legislation in 2005 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Please explain why you would support or oppose such a bill.

Nass: There should be no discrimination, period."

That's interesting, because she sided with the only subtly homophobic position of the state GOP establishment that it should go to the voters, then, again in spite of the above quote, she voted against the bill. Apparently she actually supported LD 1196, before she opposed it.

What Rep. Nass fails to realize is that the gay rights debate is not about whether it should go to referendum, or gay marriage, or transgender dress codes, it's about what John Griffin meant in his book Black Like Me when he wrote:

"...For so long as we condone injustice by a small but powerful group, we condone the destruction of all social stability, all real peace, all trust in man's good intentions toward his fellow man."

Somewhat off topic post today...

2005-04-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

Can anyone point me to a program that transcribes MP3s to text? I have about 120 Megs of testimony for and against LD 1196, some of which is priceless audio of Rep. Brian Duprey (R- Hampden) making a fool of himself.

Next entry: A video obtained exclusively by Western York County Politics of Jon Courtney doing the Numa Numa. (I wish)

rips a page out of Ann Coulter's playbook

2005-04-15T13:08:00.000-07:00

Today's America-hating reactionary is Rep. Phillip Cressey (R-District 99), who's listed as a cosponsor on LD 506: An Act To Abolish the Maine Clean Election Act, which would have prevented God-fearing America-loving working people like Rep. Rick Burns (D-District 145) from running for office.

"It's alright, Montel, we all want to oppress the underclass sometimes. It's only natural" - Unnamed Character, South Park Episode 206: The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka, paraphrase.

The suspect is described as a black male...

2005-04-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

It turns out that Jon Courtney's death penalty bill has been scheduled for a public hearing, anyone interested in testifying against it should know that the hearing will be Apr. 27th, 9:30 am, Room 438 State House. It's suprising to note that, of all the lunatics who are nearly in charge of the asylum, the Senator couldn't get one cosponsor for this bill.

Today's buffoon: Sen. Mary Andrews

2005-04-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a quote from the Kennebec Journal:

"On Monday, Sen. Mary Black Andrews, R-York, will present Maine's version of the Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, a measure put in place in Colorado a decade ago that puts tight controls on the government's ability to spend money. The Taxation Committee will hold a public hearing at 10 a.m. Monday in room 127 of the Statehouse on 'An Act to Establish the Maine Taxpayers' Bill of Rights.'"

The article later goes on to say:

"The bill puts limits on spending for state, county, municipal and school budgets, and ties increases to population and inflation, or population and student enrollment."

And as a result, rural school districts will get shortchanged, including these in western and central York County:

Acton School Department

MSADs 6 (Buxton, Hollis, and Limington), 55 (Cornish and Parsonsfield), 57 (Alfred, Limerick, Lyman, Newfield, Shapleigh, and Waterboro), and 60 (Lebanon, Berwick, and North Berwick)

It should be interesting to see how some of the right-leaning legislators in those districts will vote on that.

I have one question left about this bill, however, does this mean they'll cut the Sexual Harassment Panda?

For the greater glory of Mammon...

2005-04-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Today's buffoon, Sen. Richard Nass (R-District 2), has cosponsored a lot of the bills already mentioned (including LD's 147, 150, and 436, links below). He also cosponsored LD 72, with its Orwellian title "An Act to Promote Sound Science in Climate Change Policy" Here, however, is an excerpt from the summary:

"...the department [of Environmental Protection] must issue an estimate of the amount of
global warming that will be prevented and the costs that will
result from the rules requiring reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions."

So that if the department tried to adopt global warming regulations, it would be required to issue a report that the big business interests can use as ammunition, all for the greater glory of Mammon. Fortunately, the bill appears to have died in committee.

Pass the toilet paper

2005-04-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Our next profile is of House Minority Leader David Bowles (R-District 142). In addition to voting against the governor's gay rights bill, he cosponsored LD 682: An Act to Create a 5-year Statute of Limitations for Environmental Violations. Perhaps this is why some of my sources in and around Sanford call him "David Bowels", because some messes take more than 5 years to clean up.

One other note, if you look at the margins of victory in the last election, it appears that Bowels is the weakest member of the House leadership. Here's the statistics:

Minority Leader David Bowels: 78 votes (1.8% margin)

Asst. Minority Leader Joshua Tardy: unopposed

Speaker John Richardson: 1093 (23%)

Majority Leader Glenn Cummings: 2224 (48.6%)

Asst. Majority Leader Bob Duplessie: 286 (6%)

Now I don't know the particulars of the other 4 races, but I did observe that, despite numerous errors on the part of Bowels' Democratic challenger, Andrea Boland, well, the numbers speak for themselves.

Not sure what to say here except...

2005-04-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first entry of West York County Politics, a liberal blog highlighting the buffoonery of the local conservative legislators in western and central York County, Maine. I'll start this with profiles of some of the local buffoons, the first being State Sen. Jon Courtney (R-Senate District 3), some of the bills he has sponsored or cosponsored are:

LD 1501
An Act To *cough* Prevent Domestic Abuse *cough* by Reinstating the Death Penalty for Persons Who Murder Family or Household Members

LD 87
An Act To Phase Out the Corporate Income Tax over a 5-year Period (Cosponsor)

LD 147
RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Revoke the Voting Privileges of Persons Convicted of Certain Crimes (Sponsor)

LD 150
RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Require a 2/3 Vote of the Legislature To Enact or Increase a Tax (Cosponsor)

LD 270
An Act To Prohibit Same-day Voter Registration (Sponsor)

LD 436
An Act To Eliminate Estate Taxes on Family-owned Businesses (Cosponsor)

LD 632
An Act To Lower the Tax Burden for Small Businesses (Cosponsor) (Anyone interested can attend the work session on April 6, 1pm, Room 127 at the State House)