Hey, metesky! I just saw this in the BDN! Then I got your ping. Let me read this sucker. What a guy what a guy!
Posted on 01/20/2004 5:36:54 AM PST by metesky
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By Liz Chapman, Of the NEWS Staff e-mail Liz
Tape airs of Baldacci flip-flop on liquor
AUGUSTA - A year-old audio tape has come back to haunt Gov. John Baldacci this week as he defended his decision to lease the state's wholesale liquor business despite a loss to taxpayers of about $100 million. The tape, aired Monday on Maine Public Radio, features the governor saying the state would not lose any money on the landmark deal that turns over all wholesale liquor operations to the private sector for the first time since Prohibition. At issue is whether Baldacci misled the Legislature when he said the state would not lose money on the deal, as alleged by House Minority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Raymond. According to the tape, Baldacci, when asked by reporters about the possible loss of revenue, said, "We are going to make sure any agreement maintains the $26.5 million [in state profits] as the baseline." As it turned out, under the deal announced Friday, the state will lose $100 million in net profits over the next 10 years. The deal with Martignetti Co. of Norwood, Mass., will bring the state $125 million before the close of the current fiscal year, in addition to a maximum of $40 million in profit-sharing over the next decade. The state would have earned at least $260 million in liquor profits over the same period, based on recent years' net gains. The minority leader said Monday he was pleased the MPR tape vindicated his memory of what Baldacci promised him. "I remember that conversation with the governor," Bruno said Monday, "so I wasn't too concerned" that the state could lose money under the proposal. Last winter, Bruno told the GOP House caucus about Baldacci's assurances, and so most legislators never looked back, he said. "We're not going to allow him to get away with these promises anymore," Bruno said. "We're going to have a lot more scrutiny of his proposals and go with our own analysis from now on and hold his feet to the fire a little bit more." Rep. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, a ranking member of the Appropriations Committee who demanded a time limit on the liquor deal, called the governor "astonishingly ill-informed" after hearing the MPR tape. Neither Mills nor Bruno thought anything could be done about the liquor deal now. The problem? So much time has passed that the Legislature would have only five months to find $125 million to replace the Martignetti deal, which will fill a deep hole in Baldacci's first two-year budget. "The state always has the option of rejecting any bid," Bruno said, "but that's almost impossible to do." Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey, who had dismissed Bruno on Sunday as playing politics in an election year, continued to criticize the Republican leader for his faulty memory. Umphrey said that regardless of the MPR recording, Baldacci and his aides had told Bruno and others on several occasions that the state would be giving up a substantial amount of money in the long run to get an infusion of cash in the short term. "It is disingenuous [of Bruno] to imply that anyone was misled," Umphrey said. "While the governor may have said [to MPR that the state would not lose money], there were several other occasions when he and other members of the administration clarified that statement." He added, "The administration still thinks that regardless of what figures are being thrown around, at the end of the 10-year period it's going to come out to be a wash." Umphrey said the administration is counting on higher liquor sales and more efficiency by Martignetti to boost the annual profit-sharing to the state.
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Get out there and start sucking down the booze, folks! We've got to save the state from itself.
What the heck are ya doin' at FR?
;O)
Hey, metesky! I just saw this in the BDN! Then I got your ping. Let me read this sucker. What a guy what a guy!
It's a bit late, Joe!
Heh! In TEN YEARS, Baldy will be living in another state and could care LESS about what happens to Maine in TEN years! What an idiot!
BTW what was the name of the last big time politician that lived and retired in Maine, maybe it was Longley, but not sure.
Longley sounds familiar, but that might have been before my time. heh!
BTW, I did NOT, I repeat, did NOT vote for Baldy! I voted for PETER!!! Peter is too good to get into that mess at the state house. Reason for everything, I guess.
I'm afraid your right! :(
I have had more then one run-ins with Baldy over the smoking issue for 10 years. Back even when he was a Senator. He is one little Hitler, let me tell you! I found THAT out years ago. "Little Hitler." He's not much taller then me. hehe!
Baldacci touts new programs to aid economy
After taking the heat the other day, he's probably spitting all over himself trying to "regroup." hehe
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