Appearances matter.
But recently the images projected by the Maine and U.S. governments have
contributed to a loss of the positive reputation Mainers and all Americans
consider their birthright.
Maine has a reputation of being populated by hard-working
people with their own sense of humor and a serious, if not dour, demeanor. Mainers are often considered calm and solid
with a strong sense of community.
The state’s politics have been conducted in a civil and
respectful manner, even when there were sharp differences between the parties.
Take the election of Edmund Muskie as governor in 1954. He was the first Democrat to be elected governor
in decades, and he faced an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature. Yet Maine government was able to produce
results with minimal acrimony to the point that both Muskie and GOP legislators
were sent back to Augusta after the next election.
These days, Gov. Paul LePage is not getting along nearly that
well with the Democrats, who control the House, or with many Republicans, who
control the Senate.
After winning only 39 percent of the vote in his first run
for governor, he sought to prove his popularity. His opposition, once again split, allowed him
to boost his vote nearly to a majority.
His re-election proved his first victory was no fluke. But LePage seems to believe that it meant
Mainers were giving him a blank check to run state government, and legislators
ought to fall in line.
He charged, “the Democrats are going to disenfranchise the
Maine people,” meaning the other party would not roll over for him in light of
his electoral victory. He would
retaliate he warned, by vetoing any bill “with a Democrat sponsor.”
LePage had made the bold proposal to abolish the state
income tax, but this keystone of his legislative package ran into opposition
from both Republicans and Democrats.
With three more years in his term, he might have chosen to negotiate on measures
moving in his direction and pressed for more later.
Instead of using the political process and the urge to
compromise, LePage went to war. Beyond
making good on his veto threat, he heatedly labeled his opponents as “bums.”
If you are a LePage supporter, you might have hoped he would
advance his program as far as he could instead of slamming the door on any possible
cooperation, creating a crisis.
Under LePage, the slogan has been “Maine is open for
business.” Almost everybody recognizes
the
need for attracting new business and new jobs, but corporate chiefs look
for consistent and rational government before they invest.
A state government in turmoil cannot present that desired
appearance. In waging his political
battles, LePage apparently ignores their effect on business development and acts
with indifference, as he did when he chased Statoil, one of the world’s largest
companies, out of the state.
The political conflict that has come to Maine already exists
in Washington. In an interview earlier
this year, former U.S. Sen. Bill Cohen, a Maine Republican, said that the
“dysfunctional system” there had become “an embarrassment to me as I travel
around the world.”
The world’s greatest power, supposedly a model of open,
democratic government is almost paralyzed by its inability to find compromises
that gain enough support to produce results.
That comes across as an abandonment of a leadership role that many want
it to play.
“Compromise is a word you can’t use any longer,” Cohen
said. Without the willingness on either
the extreme right or the extreme left to make concessions, there can be no
compromise. And without compromise in a
country this size, decisions become impossible.
In the same interview, former Sen. George Mitchell, a
Democrat, found we want competition between the parties, but we also want them
to reach compromises. The difficulty, he
said, is in striking a balance. But you
cannot do that if you don’t try. Or, as
in LePage’s case, if the prime dealmaker prefers conflict.
Congress did manage to find a compromise on the USA Freedom
Act, which allowed continued N.S.A. searches through telephone data, but added
a requirement for court supervision. An
overwhelming majority was achieved in both the House and Senate after members
of both parties, concerned about personal rights, moved away from insistence on
secret, broad-scale government surveillance.
Both Maine House members, one Democrat and one Republican, and
independent Sen. King voted for the compromise.
But GOP Sen. Collins stuck with her party and strongly opposed added
protection from government data sweeps.
Though an advocate of compromise, she missed her big chance.
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