Tag Archives: John Kasich

Cruz, Kasich may be teaming up to stop Trump. That didn’t happen in Maine

Good morning from Augusta, where Monday’s news of Gov. Paul LePage’s private school reform commission meeting (which violated open-meeting law, according to Attorney General Janet Mills) conjured a soundtrack that definitely doesn’t reflect what happened at the Blaine House. But first, we’ll turn our attention to the presidential politics that the governor was heavily involved in over the weekend at the Maine […]

Report: LePage wanted to stop Trump less than a week before endorsing him

Less than a week before endorsing him, Gov. Paul LePage urged fellow Republican governors in a closed-door meeting to condemn presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, the New York Times reported Saturday. It’s a schizophrenic twist made public just after LePage’s Friday endorsement of Trump, the billionaire businessman who the governor has criticized in the past, and a potential example of the campaign horse-trading […]

Maine moves to 48th (!) on Forbes business-friendly list

Good news, Maine! We’re No. 48! That’s on the Forbes magazine list of business-friendly states. Maine sat at 49th last year after taking 50th place — last among states, for you civic-minded people — from 2010 to 2013. It gives Maine the worst economic climate in the country, pegging the state’s growth prospects at 49th. Forbes does […]

LePage offers Stephen King a deal: ‘Make me the villain of your next book’

Good morning from Augusta, legislative committees are continuing to plow through the thousands of bills on docket this session. Normally we outline some bills to watch, but we’ve got so much stuff for you in the Daily Brief today that I’m going to leave you to your own devices with a link to the public […]

At LePage’s request, lawmakers will vote on Article V balanced budget convention

Maine could become the 28th state to join the call for a constitutional convention with the hopes of amending the U.S. Constitution to require balanced budgets at the federal level. Jim Cyr, a spokesman for Senate President Michael Thibodeau, R-Winterport, confirmed Thursday that Thibodeau would introduce a joint resolution in the Legislature at the request […]

Daily Brief: Will Maine throw its support behind balanced budget amendment?

Good morning from Augusta, where the fallout from the sudden firing of Brig. Gen. James Campbell, who until Tuesday was the head of the Maine National Guard, is still reverberating. In an interview with the BDN, Campbell categorically denied that he lied to the public about plans to transform the storied 133rd Engineer Battalion into […]

Poliquin defends votes on austere GOP budget bills, touts constitutional amendment

Bruce Poliquin, Maine’s freshman 2nd District congressman, voted on the side of austerity Wednesday evening when he cast his support behind the so-called Price 1 and Price 2 budget bills. The votes spurred Democrats to call Poliquin a “one-term wonder” and a rubber stamp for GOP policies that would slash social safety nets and curtail programs […]