LePage offers details on how he wants to fix Maine’s child welfare system
There may be a lot for legislators to agree with the governor on, but potential sticking points are beginning to emerge.
Tag Archives: ethan strimling
LePage again pressures dormant Legislature to get back to work
The governor wants the paralyzed Legislature to consider child welfare bills, tax conformity and a bill aimed at shielding elderly Mainers from municipal foreclosure.
In need of rural voters, Maine Democrats leave gun ban out of party platform
There were mixed results for progressives at the Democratic state convention, where gubernatorial candidates also previewed a strategy against front-runner Janet Mills.
Nibble on these Maine political morsels before the big meal
Our Thanksgiving Eve political morsels include a former Portland mayor’s desire to go back to the Legislature and U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin new Green challenger.
Maine legislators target settlement money to help fund anti-drug plan
A $4.8 million proposal from legislative leaders aimed at fighting Maine’s drug crisis would mostly be funded by drawing from a pool of Wall Street settlement money. That proposal, which would allow for 10 new drug agents and expand addiction treatment and education efforts, was rolled out earlier this month by a bipartisan group of legislative leaders, but funding […]
Bellows hired as interim head of Portland education nonprofit
Former Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Shenna Bellows has been hired as the interim executive director of LearningWorks, a Portland education nonprofit. She’s replacing another prominent Democrat at the top of the organization: Ethan Strimling led LearningWorks before he was elected mayor of Portland this year. Bellows, a Manchester consultant, will take over on Wednesday, but she said that she isn’t […]
Collins, King rank among most popular U.S. senators in poll
Maine really likes its U.S. senators, according to a national survey from Morning Consult. Susan Collins, a Republican, scored an approval rating of 78 percent in a poll of 654 Mainers, the second-highest mark in the country, only behind independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who received an 83 percent rating. Independent Angus King’s mark wasn’t too shabby, either: His […]
This ad in Lewiston’s mayoral race doesn’t make sense
This ad for Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald’s re-election bid was spotted in a local weekly paper yesterday, and I’m still struggling to understand it. Macdonald, a two-term incumbent known for being conservative, finds himself locked in a battle with Democratic activist Ben Chin. Three other candidates — Stephen Morgan, Luke Jensen and Charles Soule — […]
Poliquin, somewhat grudgingly, votes for bipartisan budget bill
Nobody’s perfectly happy with the two-year budget deal between congressional leaders and President Barack Obama that cleared the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. It would raise spending by $80 billion over that period, dividing that equally between defense and domestic programs. That excess spending was offset by equal amounts of spending cuts and revenue hikes. Democrats, including […]
In letters, LePage takes Katz fight to GOP, backs wind project
Good morning from Augusta. Today’s Daily Brief is brought to you by two letters from Gov. Paul LePage’s administration that caught our eye last week. LePage isn’t big on Roger Katz these days LePage has escalated an intra-party fight with Sen. Roger Katz, forwarding two letters to the Maine Republican Party’s state committee urging the senator to recuse […]
