Free Republic

In recent surveys on economic and personal freedom, conservative states such as Texas, Kansas and so on have scored high marks while liberal states such as California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York has scored low. New Hampshire scored big on both economic and personal liberty proving once again the power of private sector and low taxes against socialist oppression. California, that socialist paradise that liberals love ranked rock bottom on nearly all the surveys. Where does Maine stand? Not surprisingly Maine scored very low on economic liberty. Maine as you all remember is the worst state to set up a...

At last, there's a place in America where tax cutting to promote growth and attract jobs is back in fashion. Who would have thought it would be Maine? ... One question is how Democrats in Augusta were able to withstand the cries by interest groups of "tax cuts for the rich?" Mr. Baldacci's snappy reply: "Without employers, you don't have employees." He adds: "The best social services program is a job." Wise and timely advice for both Democrats and Republicans as the recession rolls on and budgets get squeezed. Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A13

"BOSTON (Reuters) - The lower house of the Maine state legislature passed a bill on Tuesday that takes the northeasternmost U.S. state a step closer to being the fifth in the nation to allow same-sex marriage." "The bill now returns to the state Senate, which has previously approved it. If it passes there it will be brought to the governor for his signature." "Governor John Baldacci once opposed gay marriage but in April said he is keeping an open mind on the issue."

The governor of Maine on Wednesday signed a law making the northeastern US state the fifth to allow gays to marry. Governor John Baldacci, a Democrat, signed the law after the upper chamber in the state legislature voted 21 to 13 in favour. "In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions," Baldacci said in a statement on his website. "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage." Maine joined its fellow New...

Democratic Gov. John Baldacci today signed into law a bill allowing gay marriage, making Maine the fifth state to allow same-sex marriage. The governor's signature came barely an hour after the measure won final approval in the state Legislature, with a final 31-8 vote in favor in the Maine Senate. Baldacci said in a statement that while he has opposed gay marriage in the past, "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and ofequal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage. "This new law does not force...

Enough with Obama's stealth taxing! Enough with bigger government! Enough with elite politicians who were voted by the people but behave like royalty! Enough with our Constitution being treated like toilet paper! Enough of the Media being in bed with Socialist! If you live in Maine and have had enough show up at a Maine Tax Day Tea Party. Time: April 15, 2009 from 2pm to 7pm Where: Capital Park City/Town: Augusta Time:2pm to 7pm If you want a rally closer to your home just organize one. If you wait until someone else does it for you , you could...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Lower than projected February tax collections show the negative effects of economic recession in Maine are accelerating, the state’s top tax agency analyst said Friday. The revenue slowdown, while still relatively modest, is expected to get worse and complicate state officials’ efforts to enact a two-year budget and keep it in balance, said Michael Allen, the director of econometric research at Maine Revenue Services.

Gov. John Baldacci wants to use $15 million made available through the federal stimulus package to help an estimated 8,000 unemployed Mainers maintain health care insurance. Under the proposal, eligible laid-off workers would receive vouchers to help pay for continued employer-based coverage through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, known as COBRA. A subsidy would be made available to laid-off workers whose employers were too small – fewer than 20 employees – to fall under COBRA requirements. The assistance would be limited to nine months.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Lawmakers will begin hearings this week on more than $1.3 billion worth of bond proposals to fund everything from land conservation and home weatherization to repairs of college buildings and historic meetinghouses. But with the country in the grips of a major recession and Mainers cutting their own budgets, legislators will have to carefully weigh how much debt voters will be willing to stomach when the bond proposals appear on the ballot. “These are not normal times and we can’t treat this as just another bond package,” said Sen. Kevin Raye from Perry, who is the Senate...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine’s share of the federal economic stimulus package will be about $900 million, but the figure is preliminary, state Finance Commissioner Ryan Low told lawmakers Friday. Low called the $900 million figure a “ballpark estimate” of Maine’s share of the $787 billion economic stimulus package as he addressed the Appropriations Committee. Low said the federal government has already determined how a large share of the funding will be used, with chunks allocated to areas such as tax cuts, added unemployment benefits and education. “The vast majority of these funds are going for very specific purposes,” said the...

AUGUSTA -- Gov. John Baldacci has launched a new Web page to help Mainers track the developing federal economic stimulus package.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Lawmakers overwhelmingly approved an emergency measure Tuesday to bring the state budget out of the red for the fiscal year that ends June 30. The $166 million supplemental budget was enacted by votes of 120-22 in the House and 31-3 in the Senate. “I want to congratulate the Legislature and the committees for their work on this,” Gov. John Baldacci said in an interview. “This was a difficult budget and now we have to work on the biennial budget, which will also be difficult.”

AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. John Baldacci said Monday he would propose lowering Maine's personal income taxes in the January session of the Maine Legislature, but how much depends on the state budget now being developed. "We are going to be doing more budget cutting, more budget restructuring, more efficiencies," he said Monday in an interview. "We have only just begun that process with jails and school administrative districts. More needs to be done, and we are going to do more of that and reduce the income tax on earned income."

Bikers escorting a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this weekend don't think they should have to pay a toll. But the Maine Turnpike Authority says it is legally bound to collect the money, which could total $5,000 to $10,000, depending on the number of riders who participate in the event. Between 1,500 and 2,000 motorcyclists are expected to accompany the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall on Sunday as it travels up the Maine Turnpike from York to Lewiston. The 240-foot-long wall will go on display Friday at Veterans Park and will remain up through Sunday. Steve Page, commander of American...

Looking for a photo that appeared in Vanity Fair magazine showing now Governor, then Congressman, John Baldacci having a good ol' time with some D.C. interns shortly after 9-11.

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine --Former President Bill Clinton joined prominent state Democrats in praising Gov. John Baldacci's record of achievement at a fundraiser that netted more than $100,000 for Baldacci's re-election campaign on Monday. Clinton praised Baldacci for eliminating a $1 billion budget shortfall that confronted him in his first year in office, for stimulating the economy and for bringing health insurance to more Mainers, as well as reversing a trend of outward migration from the state.

AUGUSTA - Expected several months ago, the Baldacci administration on Monday released the first biennial state health plan under the Dirigo Health system that calls for creation of a culture of health and urges Mainers to enter into "Be Fit for Maine" contracts. "This doesn't have to mean a major commitment to, say, losing 50 pounds, or running five miles a day," the report said. "What we all need to do, though, is to start somewhere - identify one thing we can do that will improve our health and take it from there." Officials said the release of the...

March 6, 2006--Democratic Governor John Baldacci continues to tread water when voters compare him to possible Republican opponents. But no Republican candidate is a political powerhouse either in this Democrat-leaning state. Former Congressman Dave Emery leads the governor 39% to 37%. In the January Rasmussen Reports Election Poll in Maine, Emery led 42% to 39%. Governor Baldacci now attracts greatest support when pitted against State Senator Chandler Woodcock. He leads Woodcock 40% to 35%, a ten-point surge for the governor since our last poll. But State Senator Peter Mills has also surged, so that he is now neck-and-neck with the...

Democratic Governor John Baldacci earns no more than 39% support at most for his reelection bid when matched against any of three possible Republican opponents. Baldacci earns the highest support from when matched against former Congressman Dave Emery. But he still trails slightly in that match-up, with Emery leading 42% to 39%. Fourteen percent (14%) are unsure, 5% would pick another candidate. Baldacci comes out ahead only when pitted against State Senator Peter Mills, leading 37% to 31%. In this scenario, 18% of Maine voters are unsure which they'd pick, and 13% would vote for somebody else. When the proposed...

-Democratic Governor John Baldacci earns no more than 39% support at most for his reelection bid when matched against any of three possible Republican opponents.

Is the Governor of Maine a closet Marxist? Maine has the first fully socialized medicine. Maine is the first "sanctuary state" for illegal aliens. Maine is the first state to call for an end to the embargo against Cuba? PLUS GOVERNOR JOHN BALDACCI MET WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF HUGO CHAVEZ'S GOVERNMENT ON HIS RETURN FROM A MEETING WITH FIDEL CASTRO IN HAVANA, CUBA!

RICHMOND -- For nearly 40 years, Donna Loring was a Democrat. Thursday, she became a Republican. Loring, a Richmond selectwoman and former legislative representative for the Penobscot Nation, said she's disappointed with Democratic leadership and believes Republican Sen. S. Peter Mills should be the next governor of Maine. "We need solid party leadership to get this state out of the quagmire it's in," she said after filing paperwork at the Richmond Town Office to change her affiliation. Loring spent eight years in the Legislature representing the Penobscot Nation. She ran as a Democrat for the state Senate in 2004 but...

Baldacci rating among lowest in U.S. Thursday, December 22, 2005 - Bangor Daily News << Back AUGUSTA - Gov. John E. Baldacci's favorability rating continued to trend downward this week in a poll that ranked the Democratic politician 44th nationally in terms of voter approval. In fact, the SurveyUSA poll compiled numbers that placed Baldacci's favorability rating below President Bush and only slightly above embattled Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kathleen Blanco, the Democratic governor of storm-ravaged Louisiana. Gov. Bob Taft, R-Ohio, placed 50th nationally in the survey with an 80 percent disapproval rating. He was recently convicted on...

Gov. John Baldacci's re-election campaign on Monday tapped Jesse Connolly of Portland to manage the governor's bid to reclaim the Blaine House in 2006. Connolly most recently helped engineer the defeat of Question 1, the high-profile effort to overturn the state's new gay rights law last November. Baldacci was a driving force behind the law during its trip through the Legislature. "He has done of lot of good things in his four years, and I believe he deserves a second term. We will communicate that to the people of Maine," said Connolly, who will begin his new position on Jan....

As citizens Thursday night continued to debate a possible smoking ban in Springfield, the executive director of the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association threatened to sue the city if it prohibits smoking in taverns and bowling alleys.Opponents of a ban also attacked the idea that scientific studies show that secondhand smoke is harmful to those who inhale it.Supporters cited reports by the U.S. surgeon general and numerous medical groups that secondhand smoke is a cause of disease, including lung cancer, in nonsmokers. They argued the issue is more about the health of patrons and workers than economics.A proposed ordinance would ban...

This week, supporters of a smoking ban in Chicago's restaurants will rally in the Federal Plaza at noon in anticipation of a vote on the Chicago Clean Indoor Air Ordinance. They will effectively remove smoking from all public places. This ordinance is a more comprehensive form of the current ordinance, which only bans smoking in public places except for designated smoking areas. The new Chicago Clean Indoor Air Ordinance 2005 by Alderman Ed Smith of Ward 28, bans it completely from all public places. Any adult that has lived in the public sphere for at least part of his/her life...

ALBANY, N.Y. - The world's largest shipping carrier, UPS Inc., will stop delivering cigarettes to individuals in the United States under an agreement announced Monday with state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.The agreement is the latest in federal and state efforts to combat the sale of under-taxed cigarette and to fight underage smoking. Most under-taxed or untaxed cigarettes are sold by Indian tribes, where the taxation of sales to non-Indians is disputed.Monday's agreement leaves only the U.S. Postal Service among major carriers to continue to deliver cigarettes to individuals, Spitzer said. He called that practice "an embarrassment." Spitzer continues to negotiate...

Doctors call on Ottawa to buy big tobacco and manage orderly phase-out OTTAWA--(CCNMatthews - Oct. 21, 2005) - (Ottawa) Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada (PSC) today called on the government to stop the "rape and run" tactics of tobacco business corporations by buying tobacco companies outright and seeing that they are run in the public interest to phase out tobacco completely by 2030."Yesterday's announcement by Imperial Tobacco that they would close their manufacturing plants and lay off 650 workers was entirely predictable." said Neil Collishaw, Research Director of Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada. "Canada is making great strides at reducing tobacco...

Think tank to examine Maine economy, growth, government PORTLAND — The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, is launching a study of the Maine economy that will include a blueprint on how to boost the state's prosperity while retaining its quality of life. The yearlong project, with a price tag of $450,000, was unveiled Monday at a City Hall news conference involving Gov. John Baldacci, former Gov. Angus King and representatives of business, conservation and foundation interests that are providing most of the study's funding. The event was organized by GrowSmart Maine, a nonprofit organization in Yarmouth that has focused...

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 13-- After opening the 2005 season with Nicorette as the first quit-smoking sponsor in NASCAR, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare is closing the year with its Commit® stop smoking lozenges as the primary sponsor of a car for two Cup Series races. David Stremme will run the #39 Commit Dodge in tonight's UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., and again at the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 20, 2005, to help promote the newest form of medicinal nicotine for smokers trying to quit.

THERE'S something even deadlier in the air than secondhand smoke -- it's secondhand fat, says a top researcher.For years, doctors have been baffled by the high number of heart attack deaths of extremely skinny people, who were married to fatties or living with whale-size family members.Some theorized that they just might be getting clogged arteries because they adopted the same poor eating habits of their obese spouses or housemates.But now, Dr. Benjamin Myers, an obesity specialist in Bristol, Conn., says that invisible particles of fat detach themselves from obese people and are breathed in by those around them."I believe that...

Continuing his Maine Denial Tour, Al Franken has kicked the nerve factor up a notch with a shameless weekend speech to Bowdoin College Democrats. While the young, eager Brunswick-based students soaked up rhetoric faster than SpongeBob SquarePants, Franken somehow still managed to disappoint them, by refusing to answer any questions. Why? As Frank Chi, campus Democrats co-president, explains in the Times Record:

Your immediate attention and action is needed! DEFEAT BALDACCI! - SUPPORT A REPUBLICAN IN ONLINE POLL http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/051003menext.shtmlmust visit website to vote 2006 Governor's Race Who would you support for governor? John Baldacci, Dem. Peter Cianchette, Rep. Peter Mills, Rep. None of the above It looks as though the Portland Press Herald will be offering this question regularly through the 2006 election. John Baldacci hasn’t won one yet, let’s keep it that way.

Smoking and health concernsThe harmful effects of cigarettes on smokers have been well documented since the 1950s.Health officials, doctors and government agencies have long cautioned that cigarettes cause numerous cancers, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and obstructive pulmonary disorders, among other ailments. Despite warning labels and public campaigns, many smokers continue to accept the health risks and simply light up.Nevertheless, the persistent efforts of health advocates have been increasingly persuasive. Smoking rates in the U.S. have consistently fallen since the early 1960s.1 Smoking rates per capita have fallen to 22.5 percent2 and show no signs of recovering.Adult per capita cigarette yearly...

Man gets 30 days for slapping infant by E.C. Shanor SOUTH PARIS - An admitted child abuser will have to spend 30 days in jail for slapping an infant. William Babbidge, 26, of Rumford pled guilty in Oxford County Superior Court, Monday, to a felonious assault. The victim was an eight-week-old infant. The child's mother had left Babbidge, her live-in boyfriend, to babysit while she was at work. When she returned, hours later, she noticed that the side of the child's head was black-and-blue, the marks resembling a hand print. According to police reports submitted to the court, Babbidge claimed...

AUGUSTA - Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe said Friday that he has appealed a federal judge's decision that invalidated a significant portion of a 2003 state law aimed at preventing youth access to tobacco from Internet and mail-order sales. Maine's law required procedures to verify that those who purchase tobacco by mail are old enough to do so. It was designed in part to prevent youths from ordering cigarettes online and also to assist the state in collecting taxes that would otherwise be unpaid. U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby said that while Maine's statute was well-intentioned, it ran afoul...

What's up in the town of Winthrop, Maine? SMOKERS NOT WELCOME AT WINTHROP BEACH!Winthrop proves smoking is not a health issue at all.  But it's all about CON T R O L!7-16-05 - I was notified of the ridiculous treatment given to one family just because a family member was smoking. A cop approached the family and told them they would have to leave because this was a "no smoking beach."  The family, as you can see, is not "on" the beach, but on the grassy area.  There were no signs stating that the area was smoke free.  The cop told...

BANGOR - Members of the City Council's government operations committee on Tuesday sent a no-smoking policy proposed for the health and welfare facilities and a fire department grant award to the full council, which will consider both at its next regular meeting. The committee, chaired by Councilor Richard Greene, made short work of both items. The proposed smoking ban would affect the city's health and welfare department offices on Texas Avenue, Health and Welfare Director Shawn Yardley said at Tuesday's meeting at City Hall. Yardley said making the entire health and welfare campus smoke-free would be prudent because it...

AUGUSTA -- Republican legislative leaders who supported an earlier "people's veto" campaign to undo part of the new state budget want nothing to do with a new drive to repeal a cigarette-tax hike and other aspects of the same budget at the ballot box. Top Republican lawmakers said Wednesday Stavros Mendros of Lewiston, a onetime Republican state representative, has a right to challenge the Legislature's decision to raise taxes and fees. But they do not agree that voters should be asked to repeal tax hikes, which they described as a misguided but legal budget-balancing tool. The skepticism surfaced after Mendros...

  Taxing the smoke you breathe Coffee Flavored Coffee by Peter Cook  Despite my deeply unpleasant experiences with tobacco, though, I think the legislature's plan to raise taxes on cigarettes is cynical and wrong. The state is preparing to raise the tax on cigarettes by 100 percent - from $1 to $2 per pack. For lawmakers and the Baldacci administration, this plan is a double-win situation. Quoted in the Portland Press Herald, Baldacci spokesman Lynn Kippax said, "The cigarette tax is a horse of a different color. It does more than just raise revenue. It helps keep people from taking...

As an experienced legislator with a secure seat, State Rep. Joseph Brannigan can afford to be blunt. Thus when asked about the recently passed cigarette tax, the Portland Democrat had as good an explanation for its passage as one is apt to find. "No tax is easy. But it was one that was straightforward, and we had a lot of people encouraging us to pass it," said Brannigan for a story in the Maine Sunday Telegram. "We thought this was something that would be acceptable. It filled the bill for what we needed." What the Legislature needed was a...

Benjamin Snow started smoking as a teenager. Now 49, he thinks about quitting every day, but he doesn't plan to do so anytime soon, even as Maine prepares to increase its excise tax from $1 per pack to $2 to help balance the state budget. Snow, who lives in Portland, smokes a pack a day and says he can afford the extra $7 a week, or $365 a year. But he wonders about the smokers who can't, calling the cigarette tax regressive because smokers tend to have lower incomes than nonsmokers. He also found it hypocritical that some lawmakers...

The owner of a discount store in Oxford has halted the sale of cigarettes to protest the Legislature's approval of a dollar-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax.OXFORD, Maine (AP) -- Manager Mike Sturgis of C and R Redemption said the store's owner, Ron Snow, disapproves of what the state is doing and wanted to take a stand. Sturgis said his boss, who's not a smoker, feels the new tax is unfair because it would discriminate against those who smoke. The doubling of the cigarette tax to two dollars a pack was approved by the Legislature as part of a bill...

Thursday, June 16, 2005 Emery becomes first to challenge Baldacci By MARK PETERS, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend AUGUSTA — Former U.S. Rep. David Emery announced plans Wednesday to challenge Gov. John Baldacci in 2006, becoming the first Republican candidate to emerge from a crowd of possible contenders. Emery, 56, who represented Maine's 1st Congressional District from 1975 to 1983, told reporters that he will run as a fiscal conservative focused on improving the business climate in Maine. Emery, of St. George, is starting his gubernatorial run more...

Dems propose $125M in cuts AUGUSTA - Majority Democrats on the Legislature's Appropriations Committee repealed a $250 million, budget-balancing loan Tuesday, replacing it with $125 million in spending cuts and a $1 hike in the state cigarette tax. At $2 per pack in taxes, Maine would have the third highest cigarette tax in the country, according to Dan Riley, an Augusta-based lobbyist for the tobacco industry. The increase would effectively drive up the over-the-counter price for a pack of premium cigarettes like Marlboro from $4.19 to $5.19. "We have selected some new revenue to bring us to the $250...

When the American Cancer Society last year paid to air television ads warning of the dangers of secondhand smoke, it didn’t disclose the expenditure because, it contended, the ads weren’t supporting a proposed smoking ban working its way through the Legislature. The state’s Public Disclosure Commission disagreed and the society eventually reported the money it spent on the ads. But that wasn’t enough for the commission, which Thursday approved a $3,500 fine against the society for missing deadlines to report the money it spent on the ads and other so-called “grass-roots lobbying” intended to generate support for smoking ban proposals....

Court strikes down portions of Maine anti-tobacco lawMay 30, 2005 PORTLAND, Maine -- A federal judge has struck down portions of a Maine law designed to prevent youths from smoking. U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby said that while Maine's statute is laudable and well-intentioned, it runs afoul of federal interstate commerce laws by impeding delivery services. Maine's 2003 law requires procedures to verify that those who purchase tobacco by mail are old enough to do so. It was designed in part to prevent youths from ordering cigarettes online and also to assist the state in collecting taxes that would...

Saturday, May 28, 2005 Baldacci's 'favorability' at 29 percent By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press ©Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.   E-mail this story to a friend   GOVERNOR'S APPROVAL RATING One year ago: 54 percent Last fall: 61 percent This month: 43 percent A telephone survey that tracks what Mainers think of their political leaders has given Gov. John Baldacci a favorability rating of 29 percent, half that of Maine's two U.S. senators and lower than that of President Bush. Eighteen months before Baldacci seeks a second term,...

AUGUSTA - By the end of the year, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Mainers will receive a letter from Maine Revenue Services billing them for sales and cigarette taxes for smokes they bought on the Internet from companies across the country. "We are gearing up to send letters to everyone we have identified from sales records by the end of the year," Errol Dearborn, director of compliance at Maine Revenue Services said last week. "We won't know for sure how many letters we will be sending until we get all of the sales records." With Maine's tax on cigarettes at...

Workers, politicians rally in Kittery KITTERY - Workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard will not quietly let their shipyard be closed. Hundreds of defiant employees rallied Monday at the gates of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, three days after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced plans to close the historic base. The shipworkers waved signs, led chants and cheered politicians who vowed to challenge the Pentagon's decision. "There isn't a single worker in this shipyard who's giving up the fight," said Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine. "And there isn't a single member of this delegation who's giving the fight." Allen was joined on...