I did not know Curtis Robinson. He was only a few years older than me, but he was a notable, old-school journalist who got to hang around with my idol Hunter S. Thompson.
According to a recent feature story in the Aspen Daily News, Robinson was a journalist’s journalist: “dogged and irreverent kind of journalist — the type who wouldn’t take BS if it was served on a silver platter and knew a government meeting was good material if you could write about it with verve.”
Robinson’s sister lives in South Portland. Our condolences to his family and friends.
There was a time when I had tremendous respect for former Portland Press Herald Reporter Ted Cohen.
But given some of his recent screeds as a contributing columnist for the Maine Wire, I am now forced to reevaluate my prior opinion of the veteran journalist who earned an enviable reputation as a hard-working, tenacious, boots-on-the-ground reporter.
In fact, I think I should be retroactively tested for rampant drug abuse that distorted both my judgment and world view.
As is common knowledge in Maine’s rather incestuous community of former and current journalists, the Press Herald gave Cohen the boot several years ago, following an internal argument regarding a scoop he uncovered about George W. Bush’s youthful indiscretions near the Bush family’s summer compound in Kennebunkport.
Ted Cohen’s Facebook profile. where he has a whopping 123 followers
Cohen wrote a book about it, and then promptly earned his CDL license — gave up typing and covering tedious town council meetings — all for the better working hours of being a commercial truck driver.
Now — nearly 30 years later — Cohen has seemingly rebounded and is today penning an occasional column for the Maine Wire, a digital publication that matches Cohen’s unapologetic style for making government officials and the beautiful people squeamish.
But Cohen — with every opportunity he gets — routinely floods Facebook and other social media outlets with rampant complaints about his former employer, the Press Herald, Maine’s largest daily newspaper.
Tainted Love | When journalistic envy raises its ugly head
Cohen – despite his vicious critiques — is not just somewhat obsessed with his former employer. It seems that he is also a bit fixated on yours truly.
Cohen and I were colleagues and competitors back in the mid-1990s, when I was then working for the weekly Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier.
Our offices were located about 75-feet apart on Main Street in Biddeford, until the Press Herald opted to shutter their regional Biddeford bureau several years ago.
Ted and I got along nicely. I looked up to him as a more experienced and wiser competitor. He sort-of took me under his wing and offered me lots of sage advice.
But that all came to a screeching halt about two years ago.
Examples of Cohen trolling my social media accounts are almost too numerous to count. (I suck at math as much as I suck at writing).
“You should just shut-the-fuck up on social media and go back to being a full-time journalist covering the city of Biddeford,” Cohen wrote. “Nobody really cares about that crap.”
He also described me last year as “a Facebook blogger,” revealing that he has a rather loose grasp on the subtle differences between posting on Facebook and blogging.
Somehow, Cohen missed the fact that I had launched the Biddeford Gazette — a non-profit, digital media outlet — several weeks prior to his latest rant about me and my lack of journalistic ethics.
But here’s something really strange.
Despite my lack of journalistic ethics and the amateur nature of my latest endeavor – Cohen saw fit to submit a guest column about the city of Biddeford . . . in the Biddeford Gazette — just a few months ago.
Cohen, apparently, is a regular reader and subscriber of the Gazette.
Cohen’s reporting about this so-called war lacked both cohesion and common sense, leaving several glaring omissions of fact and nearly zero context.
Any editors on duty? (A favorite Cohen quip about the Press Herald).
For all of his wailing and gnashing of teeth about journalistic integrity, Ted let his emotions trump his reporting. It’s okay. It happens to the best of us sometimes.
For example, Ted only mentions one side in this alleged “newspaper war.” Kinda the equivalent of saying, “Someone bombed Iran, but fuck the details.”
Apparently, Ted is too insecure to mention my name or the name of my publication.
A newspaper war in Biddeford? Oh my!
Cohen describes the Biddeford Buzz, a relatively new media upstart as “wildly popular” in the Maine Wire’s headline. In reading the unapologetic hit piece, it becomes clear that Cohen justifies “wildly popular” by the number of people who “follow” the Buzz on Facebook.
Disclosure: The Biddeford Buzz – only seven months old – has more than double the number of followers of the Biddeford Gazette (2.1k).
I cannot accurately reveal the number of people who follow the Biddeford Buzz. They have me blocked from seeing their Facebook page.
Using Cohen’s logic, does that mean that I am more than 16 times as friendly as Ted Cohen because I have nearly 2,200 Facebook friends compared to the 123 people who follow Cohen on Facebook, where he describes himself as a “digital creator?”
In his hit piece, Cohen makes no bones about the fact that he was unable to determine (or reveal) who exactly is behind the Biddeford Buzz — even though it is rather common knowledge in Biddeford.
If you visit the Biddeford Buzz website, you will note that they are trying really hard to be a lot like the Biddeford Gazette, though the bulk of their “content’ is reserved for their Facebook feed.
There are, however, a few key — perhaps nuanced — differences between the two digital publications.
The Gazette uses bylines and attribution in all of our stories;
The Gazette tries to steer clear of ‘cutting and pasting” press releases, and then passing them off as “news;”
I opined that the Biddeford Buzz serves a valuable role in my hometown, providing Biddeford people a viable alternative to the status quo of local journalism.
Apparently, I have enough reporter curiosity to ferret out who is actually behind the Buzz, another individual who really does not like me and trolls my social media accounts.
If Cohen bothered to actually visit Biddeford again, he could find Wolfe sitting in the front row at almost every city council meeting.
This could be fun
Both Cohen and Wolfe may be interested to know that I will soon — once again — be teaching my Introduction to Journalism class via the Biddeford-Saco-OOB Adult Education program. They be interested in a refresher course?
I still like Ted. I just don’t trust him.
Hey, Maine Wire – any editors on duty?
________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Randy Seaver is a nearly insufferable malcontent living in Biddeford, Maine. He is a veteran journalist and a jazz aficionado. He is also the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette, a non-profit digital media outlet that focuses on the city of Biddeford. Send your praise, angry comments or inquiries about journalistic ethics to randy@randyseaver.com
Apparently, a lot of people have absolutely no clue
about the First Amendment or ‘free speech’
__________
It would appear that a lot of people did not pay attention during their seventh-grade Social Studies classes.
That’s okay, I slept through my English and math classes and look where I landed.
For more than three decades, I have made my living as professional writer, reporter, columnist, communications consultant and newspaper editor.
For better or worse, I am also one of four administrators on a community Facebook page — a volunteer gig that is the equivalent of poking at your eyes with the sharp end of a hot pencil.
If I had a nickel for every time someone threatened to sue me for libel, defamation or just really bad grammar, I would be living comfortably and sipping banana daiquiris in Boca Raton rather than shoveling tons of snow and walking my dogs in sub-freezing temperatures.
I am also – with increasing frequency — roundly criticized and accused of “censorship” by about a half-dozen or so malcontents – most of whom were banned from participating in the above-mentioned community Facebook group by yours truly.
Somehow, these rather insipid mental giants don’t understand the very basic role of being a community Facebook administrator or moderator.
The Facebook admins and moderators exist only to moderate and control whatever page we operate. That’s really it. We make sure that group members adhere to eight basic group rules and follow principles of basic human decency and community standards — all of which are clearly spelled out by the Facebook big wigs.
Facebook group admins are, in fact, supposed to censor comments that violate the community rules or Facebook standards.
I violated your First Amendment rights? Sue me.
For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth, I have yet to receive a single complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union for my egregious violations of the U.S. Constitution, most notably its First Amendment provision that discusses the concept of “free speech.”
And despite repeated threats of civil (and criminal) action, I have yet to receive a subpoena or a call from any of the big law firms like Joe Borenstein’s office.
My own attorney is bored and growing restless.
Free speech isn’t free
Before we proceed, let’s all pull out our copies of the U. S. Constitution and turn to the Bill of Rights, specifically the First Amendment, which reads as follows:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The First Amendment does not allow you to say or write whatever batshit idea that pops into your head in public places or on public forums — and it most certainly does not mean that you can force a privately operated media outlet to publish your non-sensical thoughts and opinions.
You’ll see that our founding fathers (some of them quite experienced in journalism) took great pains to specifically protect the press, giving it wide latitude to criticize the government and operate its publications – on its own terms and as it sees fit.
Now, let’s talk about what the First Amendment does do for every day Americans.
In a nutshell, the First Amendment limits what the government cannot do to you when it comes to free speech. It does NOT allow you to publicly demonstrate how big of a moron you are and how few active brain cells you possess.
Facebook can determine its own standards of community commentary. You cannot sue them for enforcing their own standards and or for removing speech that they determine as offensive.
Also, the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Biddeford Gazette are NOT legally required to print or publish your crazy-ass rants that were written at 2 a.m. while you were chugging gin & tonics and watching reruns of Celebrity Apprentice on cable television.
In fact, there can be serious consequences for certain types of speech, even here in the United States where we all have the freedom to put mayonnaise on our French Fries if we want to.
For example, you cannot yell “Fire” in a crowded movie theater. You cannot publicly threaten to harm the president or anyone else.
Even threatening to harm yourself comes with certain consequences. Just trust me on this one. I’ve been there. Done that. Got the tee-shirt.
Am I full of shit?
If you still don’t believe me or think I’m full of shit, try this as an experiment: Log onto Facebook and make some rude comments about your boss and your place of employment, specifically mentioning their names.
Later — when you get called into their office — simply tell them they must respect your First Amendment rights. Threaten to sue them when they fire your ass. That will leave them trembling in their shoes.
Maybe you don’t have a job, so here’s another experiment: Walk into your local Applebee’s restaurant and start telling other customers that the restaurant is likely serving rat poison and that your waitress is a cocaine-addicted prostitute and the bartender is certainly a pedophile, and probably named in the Epstein Files.
I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that the management team will not let you finish that platter or riblets – and that’s if you’re lucky.
You do not have the “right” to use Facebook or any of its pages. They can bounce you like a hot tamale whenever they choose.
You don’t pay for Facebook. You don’t control Facebook. In fact, you are the Facebook product, not the consumer.
Facebook gets its money from advertisers. Advertisers give Facebook money to get you and grab your attention.
I hope this is helpful. And if you want to sue me, my attorney is standing by and waiting to hear from you 24/7.
I hate to break it to you, but we all have to follow rules.
_________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Randy Seaver is a nearly insufferable malcontent living in Biddeford, Maine. He is a veteran journalist, a Constitutional scholar and jazz aficionado. He is also the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette, a non-profit digital media outlet that focuses on the city of Biddeford. Send your praise, angry comments or questions about French Fries or the First Amendment to randy@randyseaver.com
Although I am no longer working as a political/PR consultant (Thank Christ), I still find the subject matter intriguing, especially when it’s literally taking place in my own back yard.
Today, I am pretty much consumed with running the Biddeford Gazette, a non-profit media outlet hyper-focused on covering the city of Biddeford.
As part of our ongoing news coverage, the Gazette is beginning its coverage of this year’s various legislative and county races in the Biddeford area.
I am currently working on a preview piece about the race in State Senate District 32, which includes Biddeford and its surrounding communities of Arundel, Dayton, Hollis and Lyman.
The seat is currently held by Henry Ingwersen, a nice enough guy and a retired beekeeper from Arundel.
Ingwersen is today facing challenges from at least two lesser-known candidates, Jason Litalien, an unenrolled Biddeford attorney and political newcomer John Salamone, a Republican who recently moved to Hollis from Portland.
I personally know both Ingwersen and Litalien, and I will be writing much more as we continue the march toward the Nov. 2026 election, but today I’m focusing on the reportedly brash GOP candidate trying to make a splash in the sleepy hamlet of Hollis,
IngwersenLitalienSalamone
According to his social media accounts, Salamone is a “digital creator,” just like thousands of 16-year-olds on Tik-Tok.
His campaign website is fairly standard: it’s clean, easy to navigate and provides detailed information about the candidate’s policy concerns. But there is one rather glaring, missing piece of information: There is no contact information. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
Do digital creators just communicate via telepathy?
If you’re a candidate for public office, don’t you want the media — and voters — to be able to contact you?
Look, let’s get real. I’m an old-school hack born on the cusp between Boomer and Gen. X.
My own websites — this blog and the Biddeford Gazette’s landing page — are both rather perfunctory and pedestrian– not a lot of pizazz. Web site design is not my forte, but I do know enough to have a visible “Contact” link.
Call me old school, but most people still enjoy using email, telephones and text messaging.
Finally, on a somewhat unrelated note, who is advising this guy? His campaign photo shows him scowling and not looking at the camera (translated: not looking at potential supporters) He comes across as an angry millennial about to kill the neighbor’s dog.
Like I said at the top, my days as a campaign consultant (an 82.3% win ratio) are behind me. So, what do I know?
Good luck to Mr. Salamone, but maybe you should try cracking a smile and don’t make it so difficult for us pesky journalists to contact you.
_______________________
Randy Seaver is a nearly insufferable malcontent living in Biddeford, Maine. He is a veteran journalist who has been annoying politicians, pundits and his peers since 1981, when he served as an unpaid student intern at the former Journal Tribune. He is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette, a non-profit digital media outlet that focuses on the city of Biddeford. Send your praise or angry comments to randy@randyseaver.com
Dammit! Feeling devastated. I just learned (via social media) that my best friend in Oregon, Tim “Nooner” has died.
This one really hurts
It was the early 1990s. I lived alone in Portland, and often felt isolated, nearly 3,000 miles away from my family and friends.
Tim and I were co-workers, he was a semi-reformed hippie with a hearty laugh and a wide smile. He had an awesome sense of humor and was a skilled woodworker, originally from Eugene, Ore.
He was a few years older than me but took me under his wing and befriended me almost from the first moment I arrived as a transplant from Nashville, Tenn.
The first thing he said to me was, “you don’t talk like a southerner”
I told him I was originally from Maine. He lit up. “That’s fantastic!” and then gave me a bear hug.
He introduced me to The Acropolis, a local steakhouse that was also a . . . (If you’re from Portland, you know where I’m going with this.) I was blown away. It became a favorite haunt.
Tim and I would passionately argue about politics. He was pretty far left and struggled with my Libertarian perspectives, but man we had a good time.
_______________
“You can’t go through
life broke and bald.”
__________________
He accompanied me as I explored Oregon’s coast during long weekends. I fell in love with Cannon Beach and Lincoln City. It always felt so weird to see the sun set on the ocean. It took me a while to get used to that.
It was during my time living in Oregon that I wrote my first novel (self-published). The Upper Deck Dreams. Tim read an early draft and said he found it fascinating and troubling.
“You need to lighten up,” he laughed. “We need to get you laid.”
A little more than a year after I arrived in Oregon, Tim was helping me pack. “You need to go home,” he said. “Keep writing and do your best to make more money at it.” You can’t spend the rest of your life broke and bald.”
Fuck. I miss you Tim a.k.a Nooner. Give the angels hell, my friend.
P.S. I’m still bald and broke, but having lots of fun
To say that I was less than impressed with many of the ads featured during Sunday’s Superbowl matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots would be a gross understatement.
But there was one ad that stuck out as especially insipid, defying common sense and serving only to bolster one of our nation’s biggest challenges.
No, I’m not talking about polar bears discovering that they actually prefer Pepsi over Coke.
I’m talking about a rambling 30-second public service announcement that was brought to us by none other than the NFL.
The You Are Special ad was unapologetically lifted right from the lips of the Mr. Rogers’ television show and featured Michael Strahan and Christian McCaffrey singing the silly song and deluding the minds of millions of American children.
Let’s stick with the good Superbowl commercials (Photo: Washington Times)
Although intended to be a warm and fuzzy reminder that we should always promote “unity and community,” the ad supports the feel-good notion from the NFL’s Inspire Change Program that “everyone is special.”
The irony of people — who make millions and millions of dollars by throwing and catching a leather ball — telling the rest of us that “we’re all special” is almost too much for my diseased brain to handle. I honestly thought I was going to have a stroke.
According to my leather-bound dictionary from Brown University, the word “special” is defined as follows: “distinguished by some unusual quality.”
Unusual quality. Think about that for a moment.
If we’re all special – as the NFL tells us – then none of us are special. You simply cannot be special if there is nothing unusual about you, nothing that sets you apart from the masses.
And that’s okay. Pull the shotgun out of your mouth. The world needs average, ordinary people like you and me.
We have a whole generation of entitled brats each believing that they are special simply because they have mastered the art of inhaling and exhaling.
Let me put this another way.
I made a point of mentioning that my dictionary is from Brown University. No, I didn’t attend or graduate from Brown. In fact, I dropped out of both the University of Southern Maine and Boston University in less than 90 days.
I doubled-down on my academic accomplishments by then enrolling in and also quickly dropping out of the Sacred Heart School of Theology in Wisconsin.
Bown University is special, especially when compared to a school like USM. People are willing to pay a lot more to attend Brown than USM. Both schools are not equal.
In fact, I’m almost positive that the University of Southern Maine doesn’t publish its own leather-bound dictionary with gold-leaf pages. Maybe they have something available online. I don’t know.
Let me be perfectly clear. There is nothing wrong with the University of Southern Maine. I wish I had graduated from USM. I really regret never getting an undergraduate degree.
A lot of very good and smart people graduated from USM. But I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that most of those students would have gladly accepted a transfer to Brown, Bowdoin, Dartmouth or Harvard.
There is special. And there is ordinary. We should all learn the difference.
As I said, the world needs ordinary people; people who aspire to do special things. Doing something special requires hard work, commitment and practice.
Ordinary people can – and often – do special, extraordinary things. But we’re not all special. Special is not a birthright. It’s something you have to work for.
______________________
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For a lot of people, it means stress, extra work and financial strains. For others, it means awkward obligations to attend family events.
On the other end of the spectrum, many people are facing the prospect of being alone with no place to go on a day that is supposed to be merry and bright.
Well, let go of that stress and let’s make Christmas fun again!
You are now invited to the ninth annual Seaver Christmas Chaos Event on Christmas Day, Dec. 25. This is a free, community event with zero obligations, no expectations and no formalities!
There are no strings attached, no gifts, no expectations. Just fun, laughter and camaraderie. Stop by for an hour or two or stay the entire day.
Doors open at 10:30 a.m. we will open a fully-stocked bar and my famous Bloody Mary Cocktails that include giant shrimp and bacon. Plenty of soft drinks and other beverages will also be available.
Appetizers, including Laura’s world-famous stuffed mushroom caps, deviled eggs, spicy meatballs, shrimp, finger sandwiches, baked spinach balls, pickles, crackers and chips. will be available throughout the day.
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE: We will not do a sit-down dinner this year. We want flexibility for our guests and give Laura more time to enjoy the festivities.
Thus, there is NO need to RSVP. Come when you like, leave when you want.
You are welcome to bring a guest (or two, or three . . . whatever. This is a dog-friendly home. Each year, we have more participants, the more, the merrier.
This is a great way to decompress and have some fun. You don’t need to bring anything. If you choose, however, we will be collecting non-perishable food items for the Biddeford Food Pantry.
Come meet new friends and see old friends! This event gets more popular each year. We look forward to seeing you!
WHEN: December 25, 2025 (Christmas Day) 10:30 a.m. to midnight.
Many moons ago, Mick Jagger and the boys made a whole lot of money singing about a lack of satisfaction.
But on this particular weekend, I am feeling nothing but satisfaction, patting myself on the back for a job well done and celebrating the one-year anniversary of when former Biddeford City Manager James Bennett finally ran out of excuses and found himself no longer able to play the proverbial victim card.
Former Biddeford City Manager James Bennett performing as a Shriner’s clown
Yup, it was one year ago, when Bennett found his back against the wall. The growing public pressure had grown to a critical mass. Even Mayor Marty Grohman and former mayor Alan Casavant could no longer defend the egomaniacal tyrant who ran City Hall as his own personal kingdom.
Looking back over the course of my career in journalism and public relations, there are a few professional achievements that stand out. Moments when I can say, “yeah, I did that.’ Moments that still bring me a sense of pride and the satisfaction of a job well done.
Getting Jim Bennett out of City Hall was one of those moments.
I had absolutely nothing to gain by dedicating myself to Bennett’s ouster. I was not being paid. In fact, I had to give up being a reporter for a few months to avoid a glaring conflict of interest.
I created The Bennett Files and was relentless, hammering away almost daily at the city manager cloistered in his fortress of solitude at City Hall. I interviewed people across the state. I pored over media reports that followed Bennett’s 40-year-career in eight different communities. I filed FOIAs. I pressured city councilors.
I was dogged and relentless. I was a man on a mission.
What drove me was the stories people shared with me. I heard from municipal officials from all over Maine. I heard from investors who were considering business deals with the city of Biddeford. I heard from former employees and current employees. Current and former city councilors. The stories were always the same.
I remember meeting with one employee in my backyard. They were shaking and on the verge of tears while telling me an all-too familiar story. We were meeting in my back yard because this person feared that Bennett would fire them if he found out they were talking to a reporter.
Marty Grohman was not happy with me. He pulled me aside at a Chamber of Commerce event in July 2024. He was frustrated. “Why are you doing this to me?” he asked, trying to defend the city manager who seems to leave every job he’s held under a cloud of doubt.
It’s no secret that former mayor Casavant and I are good friends. I ran Alan’s campaign in 2011 and 2013. We’re still friends, but that friendship was strained because Alan was one of Bennett’s biggest supporters. In fact, Alan made it a priority to consistently push for Bennett’s contract to be extended in three-year increments.
I risked friendships and a job in my pursuit of getting Bennett out of Biddeford.
I risked friendships and a job in my pursuit of getting Bennett out of Biddeford.
And now — one year later — I can tell you with confidence that it was worth it.
Truc Dever, Biddeford’s new city manager, is a breath of fresh air. She is the exact opposite of Bennett. She is curious and she listens. She is friendly and transparent. She does not run rough-shod over the council. She is accountable and ready to lead. She is a coach, not a bully.
I swear to God, you can almost literally feel the difference when you walk into City Hall today.
Sadly, Dever, Grohman and many others are still cleaning up the mess that Bennett left behind more than eight months ago. The city finally showed some courage and showed Bennett the door on February 20, two months ahead of his “phased” resignation.
Bennett did NOT retire. He resigned in the middle of his contract, leaving a $15,000 retention payment on the table.
He had no choice. He was finally exposed, leaving the city’s finances in disrepair with a blistering report from financial auditors.
Bennett has filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging that the city violated his contract. The city answered by pointing out several questionable things that Bennett did during his stint in Biddeford.
Make no mistake. Jim Bennett has big balls. Unfortunately, taxpayers — you and me — are still paying for his mistakes, mismanagement and out-of-control ego.
But let’s focus on the good news, Jim Bennett is finally gone.
You’re welcome.
Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be reached by email: randy@randyseaver.com
c.) 2025 All Rights Reserved
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Once again, it would seem that many of Maine’s most ardent Democrats cannot see the forest for the trees.
And that’s saying something, especially since Maine is the most forested state in the country.
Matt Dunlap, Maine’s former secretary of state, decided to end his four-day titillating tease, ceasing the media foreplay — will he or won’t he — make a primary challenge against incumbent Rep. Jared Golden, a much more moderate Democrat?
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (photo: Wiki Commons)
Maine’s Second Congressional District offers a virtual smorgasbord of political ideologies. Despite the common misconceptions of southern Maine folks, CD2 is not just a swath of God-fearing, gun-toting and Bible-thumping rednecks, it is also home to progressive enclaves such as Belfast, Lewiston and Bar Harbor.
Over the last four years, Golden has figured out how to saddle the district that is almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
Victories for Golden have been hard fought and razor-thin, but never since winning his first election to the U.S. House in 2018 has Golden been challenged by his own party – – – until now.
Less than a year ago, Golden eked out his re-election campaign with only 50.3 percent of the vote over Republican newcomer Austin Theriault, who lost by a little more than 3,000 votes with 49.7 percent of the vote,
Folks, federal elections don’t come much closer than this.
But that was 2024, when Trump supporters were campaigning with a fevered pitch. Still, Golden held strong and put on a clean flannel shirt for the cameras on Election Day.
Golden won his first term as a U.S. Representative in 2018, facing incumbent Bruce Poliquin. That race was telling. Golden won, but it was no landslide: 50.9 percent to 49.4 percent.
For a while, it seemed that Maine Democrats had learned their lesson, suffering back-to-back losses in CD2 when progressive candidate Emily Cain was propped up by her party to take down the evil Poliquin. The short, balding guy with a creepy grin beat her twice, in 2014 (45.2 percent) in a three-way contest; and again in 2016 (54.8 – 45.2 percent)
I believe it was the 2016 election when Democrats were finally willing to admit that a more moderate approach would be needed if they wanted to capture Maine’s Second Congressional District.
In fact, Golden – though acting like a political maverick right out of the gate – did not face a primary challenge in 2020, 2022 and in the 2024 race.
But many Democrats said they were simply holding their noses when casting a ballot for Golden. The balance of power in Washington was shifting. Republicans had gained a lot of ground.
“For a while, it seemed that Maine Democrats had learned their lesson”
Every seat mattered.
According to several of my sources within the Maine Democratic Party, the Dems realized that they had to forsake the perfect to get the good.
But enough is enough, I suppose.
Enter Matt Dunlap and the Golden ticket he apparently found in a Wonka chocolate bar.
Will there be a test?
From all accounts, Dunlap is a decent guy. He is affable, a bit quirky and probably never sat at the cool kids’ table in the high school cafeteria.
Sure, he is currently Maine’s auditor and previously served as Maine’s Secretary of State (both appointed positions by the Legislature) but it seems as if there is not a lot of meat on his 61-year-old bones.
State Auditor Matthew Dunlap
Let’s face facts. Dunlap is hardly a heavy hitter. But his party has called him up from the JV team and coordinated a press conference.
Here’s a fun fact: Dunlap was elected Maine State Auditor by the Maine Legislature and took office on January 4, 2021, but had to give up the position after failing the exams needed to meet the requirements of his new position.
He did later meet the requirements and was selected for the position again on November 14, 2022.
I’m a boy, and I’m a man
Golden, it seems, has gone a bit too far in being a moderate. He consistently refuses to toe the party line all the time. He must be held accountable.
With Trump in the White House, the last thing Democrats want is a representative who is willing to reach across the aisle. You know? A consensus builder . . . a, what do you call it? . . . oh yeah, an “Independent.”
But here’s the deal. Maine is really a purple state.
Former Maine Governor Paul LePage
Chellie (I’ll stay in D.C. until I die) Pingree is a progressive Democrat, and she’s not going anywhere, despite the incredibly stupid move by now Biddeford Mayor Marty Grohman who ran as an Independent and tried to beat her.
Yeah, that didn’t work out so well.
Susan Collins, a Republican, is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. She is going nowhere. Maine’s other senator won’t even call himself a Democrat even though he votes with the Democrats more than 98 percent of the time.
On the heels of Trump’s 2024 victory, Maine Republicans are betting on former Governor Paul LePage to finally knock Golden from his perch.
Trump did well in Maine’s CD2 last year. As expected, Harris won Maine’s 1st Congressional District while Trump won Maine’s 2nd Congressional district.
For Democrats, the question once again becomes are you going to sacrifice the good for the perfect?
If so, I think you’re making a big mistake. But what do I know?
_________________
Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be reached by email: randy@randyseaver.com
c.) 2025 All Rights Reserved
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LESSONS IN MEDIOCRITY | OUTLAW JOURNALIST 