Category: MAINE POLITICS

Killing me softly

~ Randy Seaver ~ 1 Comment

gun-k92At the risk of provoking law enforcement officers, irate taxpayers, members of Maine’s Legislature and people who suffer with a mental illness, I want to congratulate Tux Turkel and a his team at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for an exceptional article in this morning’s paper.

At the crux of the story is the number of fatal shootings in Maine that are connected to police calls that involve someone who is mentally ill.

Before we proceed further, it’s important to note that the vast and overwhelming majority of people who suffer from a mental illness never have an interaction with law enforcement agencies.

Secondly, despite the myths, stigma, Hollywood hype and media bias, the overwhelming majority of mentally ill people are not violent.

In fact, violent acts committed by people with serious mental illness comprise an exceptionally small proportion of the overall violent crime rate in the U.S. They are more likely to be the victims of violence, not its perpetrators, according to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW)

In its March 2011 article, “Budgets Balanced at Expense of Mentally Ill,” the NASW newsletter also mentions a new report by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that documents a nationwide decline in behavioral health care spending as a share of all health care spending, from 9.3 percent in 1986 to just 7.3 percent, or $135 billion out of $1.85 trillion, in 2005.

(See: Pocketful of Kryptonite; All Along the Watchtower, April 2011)

Mental illness is an uncomfortable subject, one which many people would like to ignore and sweep below the rug. But we ignore it at our peril.

Asking law enforcement officers to effectively deal with ill people is sort of like expecting school janitors to provide high school tutoring services.

In our current situation, there is a natural tendency to blame the survivor. If someone has a knife and they begin moving toward you in  a threatening manner, don’t you have the right to defend yourself?

Or do we blame the person holding the knife, a person with a mental illness who is unable to comprehend reality when it matters most?

Try to imagine what it’s like to be the cop who is forced to deal with that situation, to live the rest of his or her life with the knowledge that he/she ended another person’s life.

According to the newspaper: Since 2000, police in Maine have fired their guns at 71 people, hitting 57 of them. Thirty-three of those people died. A review of these 57 shootings by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram found that at least 24 of them, or 42 percent, involved people with mental health problems. Seven of the shootings were alcohol-related. Two involved drugs.

Of the 33 people who were killed, at least 19, or 58 percent, had mental health problems.

In the days following the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, “Nightly newscasts reported “no known motive” and focused on the gunman’s anger, sense of isolation, and preoccupation with violent revenge. No one who read or saw the coverage would learn what a psychotic break looks like, nor that the vast majority of people with mental disorders are not violent. This kind of contextual information is conspicuously missing from major newspapers and TV,” wrote Richard Friedman in “Media and Madness,” an article published in the June 23, 2008 issue of The American Prospect.

Friedman goes on to explain that “Hollywood has benefited from a long-standing and lurid fascination with psychiatric illness,” referencing movies such as Psycho, The Silence of the Lambs, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Fatal Attraction.

According to Friedman, “exaggerated characters like these may help make “average” people feel safer by displacing the threat of violence to a well-defined group.”

So, should we blame lawmakers or Hollywood movies for rather weak funding and policies to assist law enforcement officers in  addressing the complications of dealing with mentally ill individuals?

Or maybe, should we all take a good, long look in the mirror? In an age of economic recession, we must wrangle with legislative spending priorities.

But consider how expensive and grossly inefficient our current system is when it comes to dealing with potentially violent people who suffer from a mental illness.

In November 1993, I was living at my sister’s home near Augusta. Two days earlier, I purchased a used Lorcin .380 semi-automatic handgun with the intention of committing suicide. Fortunately, the gun misfired and jammed. Within moments, it seemed, my sister’s home was surrounded by a cadre of police officers, armed to the teeth. Who could blame them?

I was eventually transported to the Jackson Brook Institute (today Spring Harbor Hospital), where I was involuntarily committed for several days.

Compare that situation to one in 1986, when I was living in Tucson, Arizona. Pima County had a mental health rapid response team that included trained mental health workers. These teams served as the lead for responding to crisis situations. They could effectively assess the situation and call police only when necessary. They were equipped to provide the police with tools, intelligence and situational analysis that kept the officers safe.

Those types of programs cost money, but they also save taxpayers money over the long-term. More importantly, the approach in Tucson is far more likely to yield results in which no one dies. But how do you calculate the financial worth of preventing a fatal shooting?

 

I get knocked down, but I get up again

~ Randy Seaver ~ 4 Comments

Here’s a post-2012 Election tip for my friends in Biddeford:

Don’t bet against Mayor Alan Casavant.

Casavant

Sure, I know…Casavant narrowly lost his bid for a fourth and final term in the Maine House of Representatives for the District 137 seat on Tuesday night.

While Republican Bill Guay certainly deserves a lot of credit for his win, it’s far too early for Casavant’s detractors to begin celebrating and waiting for his eventual ouster from the mayor’s office next year.

Why?

Because Casavant’s numbers actually showed improvement.

First, let’s remember that Casavant won his first bid for the mayor’s office in a landslide last year, capturing more than 62 percent of the vote against a well-known incumbent.

Let’s also remember that Casavant was the anti-casino candidate in a city that overwhelmingly wanted a casino, which was being championed by Casavant’s opponent.

Let’s also not forget that Casavant won three consecutive terms to the Maine House., nor forget that he trounced his House seat challenger in the June 12 Democratic Primary.

Before we get to the numbers here, it should also be noted that the city’s voters overwhelmingly rejected three proposed municipal bond projects and that the city’s taxpayers just got hit a few months ago with a heavy tax increase.

Guay

Logic would suggest that Casavant should be political toast. Under his watch, Biddeford taxpayers took a big hit.

Furthermore, House District 137 is actually composed of Biddeford’s coastal neighborhoods and the town of Kennebunkport, a Republican community if there ever was one.

Last year, when he made his first run for mayor, Casavant decimated his opponent in Ward One by earning 727 votes.

One year later, in his next bid for office, Casavant received 871 votes in Ward One, a better than 20% improvement.

In fact, when just considering the city of Biddeford, Casavant beat his opponent, 1667-1,030….nothing to sneeze at, folks.

Casavant’s detractors were overjoyed when they learned of his narrow defeat on Tuesday night. City Councilor Melissa Bednarowski clapped her hands like a little girl who just got a pony for Christmas, and fellow Democrat State Senator Nancy Sullivan — who is soon to be termed out of office and was defeated by Casavant in the June 2012 Democratic primary — chortled at her table in the Wonderbar restaurant on Election night.

Is Casavant’s loss to Bill Guay on Tuesday a sign of things to come? I asked Sullivan. “I think so,” she replied.

“Would you run against him as mayor next year?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Sullivan replied, leaning forward from her table. “As they say, I don’t have any plans, but I’m not ruling anything out.”

It should be noted that Sullivan is certainly not happy with me, especially since I called her out earlier this year for a rather nasty attack ad she ran against Casavant during the primary.

“I remember,” she told me, her eyes narrowing on my jugular…”and I will get even.”

Wow, I thought. Here’s a woman I once described as petty and vindictive, saying she will “get even” with someone who had the temerity to criticize her.

People before politics? Hardly. Personalities above all else? You betcha.

Sullivan

Sullivan, a lifelong Democrat, would rather see a Republican win than a fellow Democrat who beat her in the primary. understandable, I suppose…sort of like former Mayor Joanne Twomey, another vindictive and particularly nasty politician from Biddeford.

In February, just months after being humiliated by Casavant in her bid for a third mayoral term, Twomey was at the city’s Democratic Caucus meeting, telling members of her party how she was the real Democrat. And here I thought she was just trying to make a political comeback by challenging fellow Democrat Paulette Beaudoin for the District 135 House seat. Democrats ultimately  stuck with Beaudoin.

And Twomey? She put up a lawn sign for Beaudoin’s Republican opponent. Hmmm…real Democrats vote for Republicans. I get it.

I wish Mr. Guay the best of luck. By all accounts, he is a decent, well-respected, hard-working man. He seems like a natural fit for a citizen Legislature.

My only advice for Mr. Guay? Watch out for some of those Biddeford Democrats! They can be vicious.

Then again, they may be some of your strongest allies.

Just around midnight

~ Randy Seaver ~ 2 Comments

Within 24 hours the family feud will be over but political tensions in Biddeford will likely remain high long after the ballots from the June 12 Primary Elections are counted.

For the first time in more than 25 years, incumbents in each of the city’s three legislative districts are facing primary challenges.

Joanne Twomey

Now for a few predictions about tomorrow’s outcomes. (these are not necessarily my choices, just my predictions)

District 135 House Seat (Paulette Beaudoin v. Joanne Twomey)

Beaudoin, the incumbent, has never faced a primary challenge, and she has her work cut out for her with a challenge by former Biddeford Mayor Joanne Twomey. Twomey held the House seat and previously recruited Beaudoin to fill her shoes. Joanne took her loss for a third term as mayor hard, but this campaign has been relatively quiet, despite a last-minute dump of cash from a pro-casino PAC. If signs are any indicator, Beaudoin will do well….but political signs are little more than psychological warfare and Twomey is a savvy campaigner. In this race, I predict a razor-thin victory for Beaudoin. (less than 5%)

District 136 House Seat (Megan Rochelo v. Bobby Mills)

Bobby Mills
Bobby Mills

This is a rematch between incumbent Rochelo and perennial political candidate Bobby Mills, a city councilor who often runs for elected office). Rochelo is hoping for a second term in the district that is bubbling over with Democrats. Mills is hoping to settle a score, but screwed up significantly a couple of weeks ago by posting callous and stupid remarks about his opponent and her husband’s funeral on his campaign’s Facebook page. Mills attempted to edit his stupidity, but it was too late for his revisionist tactics. Several of his supporters backed away; and despite his open and forceful support for a casino in Biddeford, even the boys from Vegas took a few steps back and Mills did not receive any of the support that other local legislative candidates received from a pro-casino PAC. Rochelo by 10 points or better in this race.

District 137 House Seat (Alan Casavant v. Nancy Sullivan)

Nancy Sullivan
Nancy Sullivan

Casavant, serving his first term as the city’s mayor, is being challenged for his House seat by outgoing State Senator Nancy Sullivan. Sullivan really does not want to leave Augusta, and she is running a tight and competitive campaign with plenty of help from the boys in Vegas. Although she approached Casavant late last year, suggesting he should run for her termed-out senate seat, she is now campaigning on the premise that Casavant cannot effectively serve two masters. The problem here, is that she may be right, especially when considering some of the things Casavant repeatedly writes on his Facebook page. This will be a close race. Despite a contentious municipal budget, Casavant is still very popular and downright likable. Sullivan, however is a fierce competitor and better financed. Despite the intent of term limits, I predict Nancy will recapture her old House seat in what will be one of the state’s tightest Primary elections. Sullivan by less than 2 percent.

In other races, expect Linda Valentino to roll past Don Pilon in Senate District 5; Jon Courtney will blow Patrick Calder out of the water for the GOP’s chance to take on Democrat Chellie Pingree in November for Maine’s First District Congressional seat. In a crowded race, Republicans will almost evenly split between Rick Bennett and Bruce Poliquin for the chance to hold Olympia Snowe’s US senate seat for the GOP. (Charlie Summers looks tired, and not enough people know any of the other candidates.) Meanwhile Cynthia Dill will do well with Democrats in southern and coastal Maine, and expect her to dominate college campus towns and maybe Blue Hill; Jon Hinck will do well in Portland’s West End neighborhood, but Matt Dunlap, a more moderate candidate from Old Town, will ultimately win the ticket to a suicide bid against former governor and independent candidate Angus King in November.

First blood

~ Randy Seaver ~ 7 Comments

Hell hath no fury like a politician scorned, or so they say….

Enter State Senator Nancy Sullivan, the self-righteous, semi-retired English teacher who desperately wants to keep her state health insurance and can’t accept the terms of Maine’s term limits law.

Sullivan is being forced from the senate because of term limits, so now she wants to go back to Augusta as a state rep in District 137.

There’s just one little thing standing in her way: Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant, a fellow Democrat who also happens to be the incumbent state representative in District 137.

Despite winning a landslide mayoral election in November, Casavant also wants to serve a fourth and final term in the Maine House of Representatives.

In a rare Primary election attack ad that was published in local newspapers, Sullivan questions Casavant’s commitment to both the mayor’s office and his state rep seat.

I don’t blame Sullivan for going after Casavant’s competing public service roles. Frankly, his dual roles represent one of his biggest political liabilities.

But Sullivan conveniently forgets to mention a few other things in her attack ad, which is labeled: “Being mayor is a full-time job.”

For starters, Sullivan wouldn’t know what a full-time job looks like if one jumped up and bit her in the face. Before heading off to Augusta to begin her political career, Sullivan was a middle-school English teacher in Saco.

Teachers work hard, long hours, but they also get a week of vacation during Christmas, a week of vacation in February, a week of vacation in April, and then 6-7 weeks of summer vacation from mid-June through mid-August.

Going from being a full-time teacher to being a part-time legislator doesn’t require much of a transition, if you get my drift.

Sullivan was more than happy to ignore her obligations as a “full-time” teacher to launch her political career in 1998. To her credit, she used part of her teacher pay to reimburse Saco schools for the “full-time substitute” teacher who had to take over and run her classes.

But she also enjoyed nice perks by racking up retirement funds from both positions.

Her rival is not much different. Casavant also went to Augusta during his lifelong career as a teacher at Biddeford High School. Neither Casavant nor Sullivan has held a private sector job for more than three decades.

So don’t expect Sullivan to make much noise about Casavant being both a teacher and a legislator.

Sullivan has a long history of talking out of both sides of her mouth. It’s a big mouth, so it’s not an especially remarkable feat.

In her ad, Sullivan chastises Casavant for missing three recent “School Board” meetings. Maybe someone should tell Sullivan that Biddeford does not have a school board. We have a school committee. Yup, there is a big difference between a board and subservient committee.

She also criticizes Casavant for not taking the time to more closely examine the city’s budget “in order to lessen the tax burden on citizens.”

I’m not exactly sure why an English teacher would capitalize the word “budget” in the middle of a sentence, but hey….cut her some slack. It’s been a while since Nancy was in a classroom.

There’s also this fact: there is no burden on Biddeford’s taxpayers as a result of the recently proposed budget. Umm, Nancy…this is why they call it a “proposed” budget. It will likely be re-tooled before being voted upon by the city council.

Apparently, Sullivan is very worried about this budget. It’s hard to know. I didn’t see her at Monday night’s budget workshop meeting. Casavant was there, and as I write this, he is at another budget meeting.

Sullivan also conveniently ignores the fact that Casavant has repeatedly said this proposed budget represents too much of a burden. and he will not support it as it is now proposed.

And then there is the fact that one of the biggest increases in the city’s proposed budget represents a shift of funding from the state level to the municipal level for general assistance funding.

Does Sullivan support slashing general assistance funding? Didn’t she criticize Republican Governor Paul LePage for basically the same thing?

Perhaps Sullivan would like to see the proposed increases in Biddeford’s school budget slashed. Which teachers would she like to fire? We coud certainly use her experience and savvy in this arena.

In closing out her ad, Sullivan states: “I have time for YOU!”

This confuses me. Allow me to explain why.

During each of her campaigns for the senate, I have supported Sullivan. Laura and I have donated to her campaign. I have attended her fundraising events, and I have always put her campaign signs on my lawn.

A little more than two years ago, Laura called Nancy to ask a questions and offer some perspective as a state employee about one of Governor John Baldacci’s proposed budget shifts.

Sullivan never returned the call. Laura sent an e-mail. Again, no reply from Sullivan. We also didn’t hear back from our state rep, Paulette Beaudoin.

Frustrated, Laura called Alan Casavant, a state rep in a different district. Casavant called her back the same day.

The funny thing about Sullivan’s ad is that she never mentions anything she has accomplished for the people of Biddeford. Not one thing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.

Instead, Sullivan did what she does best: full-on attack, tearing down her opponent.

After 14 years of serving Biddeford in Augusta, Sullivan can’t recall one thing she has accomplished for the people of Biddeford? Combine that with the fact that she still hasn’t been able to land a job for her husband; and you are left with a pretty dismal track record.

If you prefer petty, vindictive self-serving politicians, please vote on June 12 to send Nancy Sullivan back to Augusta for another two years…maybe then, she can actually do something for Biddeford.

The Usual Suspects 2.0

~ Randy Seaver ~ 8 Comments

What a difference a day makes.

Bobby Mills

Members of Maine’s Democratic Party are breathing a collective sigh of relief today after learning that Biddeford City Councilor Bobby Mills has returned to the fold as a solid Democrat.

For those of you playing at home, yesterday Mills announced that he was leaving the Democratic Party and his Primary challenge against incumbent Democrat State Rep. Megan Rochelo for the District 136 seat.

On his campaign Facebook page, Mills lamented that he is “too conservative for the Democrats and too liberal for the Republicans,” thus he was filing as an independent candidate — in the neighboring District 135.

That announcement followed on the heels of Mills’ decision to buy a new home.

But today Mills learned that his new home is, in fact, still part of District 136. So, of course, he is back to being a full-blooded Democrat, no different than FDR, Ted Kennedy or Joe Brennan….solid donkey all the way.

Apparently, a 2003 error at the Biddeford City Clerk’s office caused Mills and several others to believe a portion of Green Street (where his new home is located) was actually part of District 135, where former state representative and mayor Joanne Twomey is planning a Primary challenge against incumbent Paulette Beaudoin.

It’s been a tough couple of years for Maine’s Democrats. In 2010, their party lost control of both the Maine House and Senate. Libby Mitchell, the Democratic nominee for the Blaine House, got smoked by Independent Eliot Cutler, who got smoked by Republican Paul LePage.

Then, when Republican Senator Olympia Snowe surprised everyone with the news that she would not seek re-election, a few Democrats poked their heads out of their caves and briefly considered a run…right up until Independent and former governor Angus King announced he was running and most of the Democrats went back into hiding.

It’s a rebuilding year for Maine’s Democrats, but at least they did not lose Bobby Mills.

“It would have been catastrophic for us,” said one party insider who asked to remain anonymous. “Bobby is a real party stalwart. Losing him would have been the nail in the coffin for us. I mean, really…our morale is so low…the only candidates we can throw at the Senate race are Cynthia Dill, Matt Dunlap and John Hinck. It’s not like we have a deep bench.”

The source declined to comment on growing speculation that Mills could be drafted by the Democratic Party to make a run for either Snowe’s senate seat or possibly challenge President Barack Obama in the primary.

“He (Mills) is a solid guy,” the source said. “When push comes to shove, we know we can count on him when the going gets tough.”

The Usual Suspects

~ Randy Seaver ~ Leave a comment

In just a few weeks, Biddeford voters will face a rather unique set of choices.

For the first time in more than 20 years, all three of the city’s incumbent state representatives are facing challenges from members of their own party for the June 12 Primary election — well . . . up until an hour or so ago.

Although both Alan Casavant and Paulette Beaudoin are hoping to serve a fourth and final term in Districts 137 and 135, respectively; the District 136 race took an unexpected turn today when city councilor Bobby Mills announced he was dropping out of the Democratic Party and will not challenge incumbent Megan Rochelo in the June 12 Primary.

On his campaign Facebook page, Mills announced his sudden departure as a philosophical awakening of sorts….what recovering alcoholics generally refer to as a “moment of clarity.”

Mills says he is “too conservative” for the Democrats and “too liberal” for the Republicans.

Of course, there is also the technical fact that he just bought a home not located in District 136.

So, voila…Mills is now an Independent, just like Angus King, Eliot Cutler and Jesse Ventura.

Funny how a real estate transaction can alter your political priorities.

Fortunately for those of us who live in District 135, we will now have a third choice in November as Mills stakes out the ground between whomever wins the Democratic Primary (Paulette Beaudoin or Joanne Twomey) and Republican Perry Aberle, a former city councilor.

So, who cares? What’s the big deal? The same people who have been running for office for more than a decade are back at it again. Yawn.

Maine voters overwhelming approved the adoption of legislative term limits in 1993, and most political observers point to the scandal involving then Speaker of the House John Martin as the catalyst for the referendum that was approved by 68 percent of Maine’s voters.

But according to a 2004 report by Richard J. Powell of the University of Maine and Rich Jones of the National Conference of State Legislatures, Maine’s term limits law is “relatively weak compared to the other states because the law applies only to consecutive terms.”

Thus, people like Nancy Sullivan can turn around and swap seats instead of returning to the dreaded private sector.

The strategy of toggling between the House and Senate every eight years has worked wonderfully for Martin, even though he was described as the “poster boy” of Maine’s term limits law.

According to the report by Powell and Jones, Maine’s term limits law was enacted after an especially tumultuous turn of political events that included the slim re-election victory of Republican John McKernan and the “ballot-gate” scandal involving John Martin.

Voters were further dismayed by sheer partisanship in Augusta. A protracted budget fight between McKernan and the Democrats who controlled both the House and Senate in 1991 caused a 17-day state shut down.

Those who support term limits say it prevents an entrenched system of government and prohibits the development of professional politicians.

Someone ought to explain that to Martin, the Earl of Eagle Lake, one of the most hated, yet simultaneously respected, members of the Maine Legislature.

Martin was first elected to the Maine Legislature in 1964, the same year I was born. And he got real comfy, real fast in Augusta. For nearly 50 years, Martin has been the proverbial leader of the Legislature.

Those who oppose term limits say it takes almost two years for new lawmakers to learn how to submit legislation, work in their caucus, find the washroom or learn how to stuff a ballot box.

And, of course, we cannot forget about the dreaded lobbyists, most of whom have been wandering the Capitol Hallways since Elvis was alive. Term limit opponents invariably ask the same question: “Do we really want to have lobbyists with more experience than legislators?”

Just remember, everyone hates lobbyists, except their lobbyist.

Whether it’s renewable energy, labor rights, the ACLU, the banking industry or realtors, just about everyone, with the exception of overweight bloggers from Biddeford, is represented in Augusta by a powerful lobbyist.

So what will Biddeford’s Democrats do in June, when they are asked whether to stay the course with the incumbents or choose some not-so-fresh blood?

If past election results mean anything, it’s likely that most Democrats will skip the Election and head to the beach, the movies or stay at home sticking hot needles in their eyes.

Casavant is facing a serious challenge by Sullivan, who is a savvy campaigner, tenacious and hungry for the job.

Although Casavant easily overwhelmed Twomey in last year’s mayoral race, he has a whole new set of challenges, including a looming municipal budget battle and the appearance of divided loyalties.

Can Casavant simultaneously serve as Biddeford’s leader while also representing a portion of Biddeford and Kennebunkport in the Legislature? The odds, for better are worse, are in Sullivan’s favor.

Meanwhile, Paulette Beaudoin, the sweet little old lady who does exactly as told by her caucus, is facing a very serious threat from Joanne Twomey, one of the best campaigners since Huey Long.

Beaudoin might stand a chance if she could figure out how to use a telephone to return calls or how to raise her needed seed money for a Clean Elections campaign. Here again, the incumbent is in trouble and Twomey can expect an easy and overwhelming win.

I have no dog in this fight, but I can assure you this much: when the November general election rolls around, you can expect to see a lot of the same faces you’ve seen for the better part of the last decade.

I am not a believer in term limits. I believe in voters, and I also believe this will be one of the most interesting June elections Biddeford has seen in a very long time.

Just remember, if nothing changes…then nothing changes.

We love dirty laundry

~ Randy Seaver ~ 1 Comment

It’s a strange time for the newspaper industry — especially here in Maine, where we recently witnessed several seismic shifts in the media landscape.

Yesterday it was announced that Donald Sussman’s investor group will now own a 75 percent stake in the company that publishes the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal, Waterville Morning Sentinel and the Maine Sunday Telegram.

Hedge fund financier and philanthropist Donald Sussman said he wanted to save a Maine institution and will keep his hands off the wheel of editorial decisions. (Bangor Daily News Photo)

That’s all fine and dandy, except for one small twist: Sussman’s wife just happens to be Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, and she shows no sign of leaving Maine’s First Congressional District anytime in the near future.

Sure, Sussman says he has only the best  of  intentions, and adamantly vows that he will not interfere with the newspapers’ editorial process. Yeah, okay…whatever. For the record, I actually have a full-head of hair.

I was lucky to work for a family-owned group of weekly newspapers. David & Carolyn Flood gave me a very long leash, but I was never foolish enough to forget that I was on a leash. The Courier was not my paper.

There were many times when my editorials and opinion columns came nowhere close to matching the opinions of my employers, but they sighed…rolled their eyes…and kept giving me a paycheck. For better or worse, I was promoted three times during the seven years I worked for David and Carolyn.

My salary steadily increased and the newspaper thrived. The Courier was the paper of record in Biddeford and Saco, but I always knew I had a boss…heck, sometimes I even paid attention to David.

But all good things come to an end, and it remains to be seen whether the Press Herald or smaller weekly papers such as the Courier will continue to survive in this brave new world of digital media.

Regardless of the financial implications of producing dead-tree news, the Press Herald and its sister publications have crossed a murky line, despite the financial necessity of the decision.

It’s a tough call. Do you fold, and allow a historical institution to become nothing more than a memory? Do you surrender and send hundreds of employees to the unemployment line?

Or do you hold your nose and make a deal with the devil?

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine)

I’m sure Donald Sussman is a nice enough guy. I’ve never met him. But regardless of his Boy Scout oath to be ethical, every story that involves his wife, her decisions or her detractors will now be tainted with lingering doubt.

In November 2010, the Portland Press Herald surprised many of its readers by endorsing Republican Dean Scontras over Pingree during her campaign for a second term. If that happened now, we would have to wonder whether such a stance was motivated by an editorial board trying to make a public statement about its objectivity.

Journalists bristle when discussing ethical standards, so I do not envy the dilemma now faced by the reporters and editors at Maine Today Media.  No matter what lines they feed themselves before going to bed each night, each one of them also knows that they also are on a leash . . . a very tenuous leash.

But before you criticize reporters being on a leash, consider the plight earlier this month for the more than 50 employees at the Village Soup newspaper who were laid off when that group of weekly newspapers suddenly closed.

Being off the leash feels good, right up until you discover that you no longer have a bone to chew.

Let’s be independent together

~ Randy Seaver ~ 2 Comments

Angus King has some problems.

I know, I know . . . King is the heir apparent for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated this year by Olympia Snowe.

Although the polling data points to a considerable edge for the feisty and “independent” former governor, I’m not so sure that King is a lock for the seat.

I’m still a tough guy: Talking Points photo

But it would seem that I’m in the minority among political observers. Pundits from Brunswick to Baltimore have essentially declared the race over, chattering with glee and wildly speculating about which political party will earn the King’s favor.

Here’s my guess: you won’t find Angus King sipping mint juleps with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the Kentucky Derby.

King is about as independent as my left foot.

Sure, my left foot likes to think it’s independent, but it’s still my left foot. It serves my left leg. It is the foot I always use for a pivot when I decide to make a left turn while walking.

Make no mistake, King is a Democrat who doesn’t have enough guts to call himself a Democrat.

If you want to see an independent from Maine, drive to Millinocket and visit Democrat Mike Michaud, a pro-life Democrat.

Being a pro-life Democrat is sort of like being a vegetarian Republican. Such a distinction makes you rather unpopular within your caucus and immediately leads to obscurity in Beltway power circles, which probably explains why Michaud serves on the Transportation and Veteran’s Affairs committees.

It’s no wonder why Roll Call named Michaud in 2009 as a prominent member of the Obscure Caucus, a group of men and women who,when combined, have fewer Facebook friends than my dog.

But at least Michaud has the guts of his convictions.

Let’s be independent together: Eliot Cutler and Angus King: Bangor Daily News photo.

Sure, there are advantages to being an “independent.” First, you don’t have to spend any time or money on primary campaigns that can suck the last remaining dollar from a candidate’s wallet and leave him or her pleading for a lobotomy some four months before the real campaign begins.

Being an independent also means you can play both sides of the political aisle without feeling like a hypocrite. Being an “independent” in the U.S. Senate automatically puts you on the short list of those who get to lead the daily singing of Kumbaya at Dupont Circle.

Besides politics, in what other realm can you describe yourself as an independent?

“I’m not a Red Sox fan or a Yankees fan. I just like baseball and think both teams should work together and not be so concerned about winning the game.”

In fact, All Along the Watchtower has obtained secret footage of closed-door meeting between Angus King and Maine’s other so-called “independent,” Eliot Cutler in 1992:

But enough of my loathing for political “independents.” Let’s take a closer look at King’s strengths and weaknesses going into this race.

We’ll start with his strengths:

1.) King is very popular, and his “independent” label will allow him to draw on a voting pool from both Democrats and Republicans who enjoy singing Kumbaya while roasting marshmallows.

2.) He has strong statewide name recognition and the gravitas associated with being a two-term governor.

3.) In a state not known for picking the sharpest tool in the shed as its governor, King is actually quite smart and articulate.

4.) He is tall and appears physically fit.

5.) He has a wicked cool name. I mean, really . . . say it out loud . . . Angus King.

Now for some of his weaknesses:

Will being indeppendent still fly with Maine voters? Eliot Cutler thinks so. Bangor Daily News photo

1.) A fiscal conservative? Not so much

I recently asked someone who knows Angus King quite well how King differs from Democrats. “On what specific issue would King break ranks with Democrats and side with the GOP?” I asked.

“Oh, he’s a fiscal conservative,” came the reply, right on cue.

A fiscal conservative? Hardly.

In his weekly Politics & Other Mistakes column, Al Diamon eviscerated the former governor’s favorite talking point with this gem:

“King, the alleged fiscal conservative, emptied the state’s Rainy Day Fund. The socially liberal governor called for cuts in Medicaid and other human services programs. The financial hawk wanted to delay scheduled income tax cuts, and allow cities and towns to impose a local-option sales tax. But true to his left-wing side, he insisted on spending at least $25 million on those laptops.”

If you want to sample what fiscal Republicans think of King, you should visit As Maine Goes, a conservative web forum where an entire thread has been dedicated to calling out King’s shortcomings as a fiscal conservative.

2.) An awkward connection to Eliot Cutler:

Ironically, the AMG thread is labeled, The King Files, a tounge-in-cheek tribute to the controversy surrounding the Cutler Files, an anonymous website dedicated to exposing the shortcomings of Eliot Cutler, Maine’s less popular “independent” who lost his 2010 bid for the Blaine House.

Like a double-chocolate cheesecake, this aforementioned tidbit is layered with irony, especially since Dennis Bailey, one of King’s closest advisors who also served as his communications director, admitted last year that he helped create the site.

3.) Father Time:

King is 68, meaning, if elected, he will be approaching 75 by the end of his first term. Statistically speaking, that means King will finish one term in the senate roughly three years before he takes a dirt nap. Time is certainly on Chellie Pingree’s side.

4.) Waning influence?

For a guy who is so gosh-darned popular, King has had recent difficulty pushing his policy goals as a private citizen. For example, despite being consistently trotted out to oppose casinos, King’s dire warnings about the evils of gambling have fallen on deaf ears lately. Maine will soon have two full-service casinos. Is King’s influence as strong as he remembers it?

5.) Technology:

Further irony would normally be difficult at this point, but it certainly seems strange that a former governor who spent the bulk of his second term extolling the virtues of computer technology would now find himself snarled in the tangled web of social media pitfalls.

When King left the Blaine House in 2002, there was no such thing as Facebook or Twitter. But a lot has changed since King convinced lawmakers that every seventh-grade student should have a laptop computer. In fact, one of those former seventh-graders grew up and decided to launch a Twitter account for the former governor.

There’s just one problem: The former governor and senate hopeful has no control over the Twitter account, best evidenced by its pithy and hilarious tweets, such as:

  •  Maine is completely covered in rain and clouds, and crappy tweeters are still purporting. Coincidence? Don’t test me; or
  • Lordy it’s bad enough I have blowhard Cutler calling me day and night. Now I have this pushy broad (Cynthia Dill) sending me crappy twitters.

For more of the Twitter feed that is driving Angus berserk, you can follow the anonymous, fun-loving tweeter: @king_angus

See what happens when you give every seventh-grader a laptop?

Money for nothing

~ Randy Seaver ~ 3 Comments

Anyone with a pulse and an IQ exceeding room temperature can likely agree that our nation’s health care system is seriously flawed.

But that’s generally where the agreement stops.

That’s why I was impressed when Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant posed a series of observations about Maine’s own raging health care debate on his Facebook page.

August 2009: Large crowds in Portsmouth, NH, protest outside a high school where President Obama speaks about the need for health care reform.

Casavant is also a member of the Maine House of Representatives, and his comments were based on his observations during a legislative hearing about how best to address rising health care costs.

“Clearly, resentment [of] the Obama plan drives a lot of these bills,” Casavant noted, referring to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2009.

“For some, the costs of treatment and medicine exceed their ability to pay,” he said. “So the moral question is: What should a society do in such situations? What should government do? Do we act, or do we allow the laws of Darwin to supersede our compassion, integrity and our humanity? The system is broken. . .”

I applaud Casavant for raising the topic, but submit that our health care system is NOT broken, it is fixed . . . meaning it is rigged.

Our current system is either outdated and ineffective, at best ; or it is favorably geared toward an ever shrinking pool of those who can afford to keep up with skyrocketing costs.

Are you with me, so far? Good; because this is where the debate gets tricky.

Before we proceed any further, we must agree to at least one basic fact, regardless of our individual political/cultural/socio-economic viewpoints.

Health “care” and health “insurance” are completely different topics that are too often linked at the hip.

Let’s start with health insurance.

If you drive a vehicle in Maine, you are required by law to have a minimum-liability insurance policy. This law exists to protect drivers who are harmed by another driver’s neglect or carelessness.

Driving, as the state of Maine tells all new drivers, is a privilege, not a right.

I will take that a step further and say that health “insurance” is also not a right.

Laura and I scored tickets to see President Obama speak about the need for health care reform in 2009. Then, just as it is now, we both had reservations about the president’s plan. Laura tried to ask a question, but she and many others did not get picked.

The argument about whether health care is a right remains a bit more ambiguous, but let’s remember we’re now discussing health “insurance,” not health “care.”

The discussion about rights and expectations have only been muddied by the nation’s new health care law, which mandates individuals to purchase health insurance in the private marketplace.

The so-called “individual mandate” is one of the more controversial aspects of the health care reform law signed by President Obama. That issue is scheduled to be deliberated by the U.S. Supreme Court this year.

Interestingly, critics of the individual mandate can be found from both the left and right side of the political spectrum.

Conservatives argue that the individual mandate further erodes personal liberty and crosses the sacrosanct line between personal choice and government mandates.

On the other hand, more progressive Democrats — especially those who pined for a public option or a single-payer system of healthcare reform — describe the individual mandate as nothing more than a very big gift for evil insurance companies that stand to gain millions of new customers.

But all that debate and Constitutional introspection pales in comparison to the more fiery rhetoric associated with the subject of health insurance profits.

Left-leaning groups, such as ACORN and HCAN (Health Care for America Now) say that corporate, for-profit health insurance profits are skyrocketing and have quadrupled over the past few years.

It’s a favorite talking point of progressive Democrats and very handy when whipping up grassroots mobilization to support the president, but it’s not entirely accurate — although rated as “mostly true” by PolitiFact, a Pulitzer Prize-winning organization established by the Tampa Bay Times to fact check political rhetoric.

Meanwhile, the health insurance industry is crying poverty, saying their profit margins are among the lowest of any industry in the United States — ranging between two and four percent.

So, which one is right?

Unfortunately, the inconvenient truth is that both groups are a little bit right, and a lot wrong.

And that is bad news for those of us trying to navigate the turbulent waters of this complex debate.

But simply blaming “greedy” insurance companies conveniently ignores too many other factors that drive health care costs. Moreover, such rhetoric is debatable, at best; and intentionally misleading at worst,

Rick Newman, chief business correspondent for US News & World Report, makes a compelling  case about why health insurance companies make lousy villains, pointing out that profits are hardly the root of a much larger and complex problem.

“Overall, the profit margin for health insurance companies was a modest 3.4 percent over the past year, according to data provided by Morningstar. That ranks 87th out of 215 industries and slightly above the median of 2.2 percent,”  Newman reports.

Despite my right-leaning, free-market beliefs, I admit to being somewhat conflicted on this issue, and that’s probably because my household is knee-deep in our own health-insurance nightmare.

My wife, Laura, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis just three days after Christmas in 2008. Her disease is never going to go away. It is never going into remission. It takes a little piece of her each day, even when we don’t notice it.

Laura does a good job of managing her illness, but there is no escaping that MS is a progressive illness that will never go away and only get worse over time.

I also have a chronic disease, one that gets a lot less sympathy than MS, cancer, epilepsy or diabetes. For more than 25 years, I bounced in and out of psychiatric hospitals all across the country, ringing up thousands of dollars in debt because I had no health insurance.

Neither of us asked for our respective illness. We both work full-time. We pay our taxes, but we are also a health insurance company’s worst nightmare…we take out a lot more than we put in to the system.

If you’re a conservative, Tea-Party Republican, you are advised now to reach for the duct tape because otherwise your head may explode when I offer up this next tidbit:

You are paying a portion of our health insurance.

Laura is a state employee and thus, we are more than lucky to have an outstanding health insurance plan that is offered to all state employees and their immediate family members.

But even if Laura lost her job, and we relied upon a more traditional (and much more expensive) private health insurance plan, you would still be paying for our health insurance.

Why? Because in our current system, healthy Americans subsidize the costs of treatment for the ill. That is the fundamental core of the individual mandate: we need more young, healthy people in the system to offset the cost of treating older and sicker Americans.

I am not a big fan of the individual mandate – beyond the Constitutional arguments, I think the system unfairly penalizes healthy people and will do little to drive down the costs of health care.

There is a lot more to cover, but I will end this installment here and borrow Casavant’s closing observation from his Facebook post: Stalemate [on this issue] is unacceptable.

Next installment: Health Care: Is it a right?

Like a bridge over troubled waters

~ Randy Seaver ~ Leave a comment

If one could only be a fly on the wall inside the offices of U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree

Today, former Maine Governor Angus King officially took his big toe out of Maine’s political pool, climbed a 15-story ladder and then did a quadruple jacknife dive (with a twist) into the deep end of the pool.

The ensuing splash was felt in places as far away as Madawaska, and in less than six hours — King received more media attention than Pingree has gotten since the last time Donald Sussman bought a group of newspapers.

Gov. Angus King (Bowdoin College photo)

Until today, Pingree was the commonly accepted front-runner to fill Senator Olympia Snowe’s moderate, size 6 shoes, despite the fact that every Maine resident with at least one vowel in their last name was considering a run for either the First Congressional District or the US Senate.

King’s gravitas, combined with his popularity and solid polling numbers, has Democrats across Maine wondering aloud tonight whether Chellie should just sit tight in her First District House seat rather than risk splitting the vote, allowing a Republican to capture Snowe’s seat.

The balance of the entire US Senate is in play. The stakes are high, and the potential consequences are severe.

But the Republican candidates, a bench which so far includes the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer and the Maine Attorney General, should also be paying attention.

King’s entrance into the race could impact Republicans and Democrats equally, and that’s because King is much more centrist than his independent counterpart, Eliot Cutler.

Many Democrats remain bitter about Cutler’s independent bid for the Blaine House in 2010, speculating that his candidacy split the Democrat base and allowed Republican Governor Paul LePage to win with 38 percent of the vote.

If Republicans are banking on a repeat of that 2010 split-the-Democrat vote strategy, they may want to consider a Plan B . . . because Angus King is no Eliot Cutler.

For starters, King is likable and he also appeals to right-leaning independents.

Sure, King has plenty of detractors and vulnerabilities…but minimizing his candidacy will be a tall order for any of the usual suspects, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats.

RELATED: An interview I conducted with Governor King during his final days in office .