Tag Archives: Republicans

In era of fake news, our society needs a baseline reality

Seven years ago, I never could have imagined how much things would change. In 2011, I was CEO of The Maine Heritage Policy Center, a free market nonprofit that served as the intellectual backbone of the Republican takeover of state government after 30 years in the wilderness. MHPC’s place of prominence within the conservative movement […]

Shawn Moody — LePage’s Mini Me

In politics, authenticity has become the coin of the realm. Voters value “straight talk” over ideology and style. The ascension of both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, two men who never would have been serious contenders for the presidency 10 or 20 years ago, shows the value voters now place on people willing to speak […]

Grab the popcorn — this legislative session is going to be a doozy

Maine’s next legislative session is going to be a madhouse. To begin with, this is Paul LePage’s last legislative session as governor (cue the hallelujah chorus). It’s pretty hard to guess what move LePage is going to make next, but he loves attention, and will go to almost any length to get it. As the […]

Tax policy is not worth jail time

Here’s a waypoint I think everyone should be able to agree with: We need to be able to debate tax rates in this country without people getting arrested. Unfortunately, we’re not there at the moment. The over-the-top reaction to the tax reform bill now moving through Congress has shifted our public discourse into the most […]

The party that cried wolf, far too many times

The Republican National Committee is actively working to elect an alleged child molester to the US Senate. And the president of the United States is taunting a nuclear-armed dictator on Twitter with juvenile name-calling, while his associates receive subpoenas and indictments for their potential roles in Russia’s interference with our presidential election. Despite all this, […]

For Fredette and Mayhew, GOP primary may have ended before it started

It’s unconventional for a sitting governor to select his preferred successor from outside of his own party. But there are indications that’s just what Gov. Paul LePage did with Shawn Moody last week. Moody was not a Republican until he registered as one several weeks ago, and now LePage’s campaign team is working to deliver […]

Political parties are destroying public policy in Maine

  Political parties are meant to help win elections. By providing their extensive behind-the-scenes networks, parties lend their infrastructure to their chosen candidates to bolster their chances of getting elected. In this way, parties can be very effective. In fact, the parties have been so effective in providing electoral infrastructure that they’ve locked our nation […]

From cigars to chicken wings, an election is an experience like no other

People who work on campaigns experience November much differently than the rest of the world. As election day approaches, we tend to be low on sleep and high on passion, and by this point, fairly convinced that the fate of the free world depends on our efforts. From Labor Day through the month of October, […]

Democrats could have demanded accountability at DHHS. They caved instead.

Maine Democrats had an opportunity to start correcting a grievous wrong last week. A federal report showed Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services failed to investigate more than 15,000 suspected cases of abuse, neglect, and medication error within the state’s Adult Protective Services (APS) division, including the deaths of 133 developmentally disabled adults. Acting […]

How not to lobby Susan Collins

If you want to influence Susan Collins on a key vote, the last person you’d enlist to help is Gov. Paul LePage. But that’s exactly what the Trump administration did when they flew Maine’s governor to Washington for a press conference on Friday. Looking like a nervous kid waiting in the principal’s office after spray […]