Ben Grant, the former chair of the Maine Democratic Party, is running for state representative for House District 41 in Portland. Grant, an attorney and PTO board member among other things, is trying a novel approach to fundraising for his race. Candidates can finance their campaigns in one of three ways: they can pay for […]
Members of the Maine Legislature, judges and the governor deserve a raise – not because they’re all great at their job, though many are, but because they are woefully underpaid for the difficult work that they do. A recent story in the Portland Press Herald by reporter Scott Thistle, however, highlights the problem with giving […]
As we put the Election Day 2019 in the rearview mirror and look forward to 2020, here are 20 election thoughts for your consideration. 1) In the movie “Welcome to Mooseport,” President Monroe “Eagle” Cole moves to his vacation home in Maine and ends up running for mayor of the fictional Mooseport against plumber and […]
There’s a real race going on in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District where Republicans will pick their nominee to face U.S. Rep. Jared Golden next year. Failed U.S. Senate candidate and former state Sen. Eric Brakey was the first candidate to announce his intention to run. For months, he had the field to himself and managed […]
The first text from my daughter arrived at 10:40 Tuesday morning. “I’m in lockdown.” “It’s not a drill.” The third text was chilling: “Probs won’t die, but just in case (heart symbol) (heart symbol).” The texts continued for a few minutes. “They may be evacuating not really sure, but we hear lots of movement in […]
It wasn’t a wild animal that distracted me. It was a wild phone call, an argument about work no less. I wasn’t paying close attention to where I was. I wasn’t driving with the care we all should expect of one another. And I made a mistake. I was lucky. I didn’t cause an accident, […]
Outrage is in right now. And there’s plenty to be outraged about: The president has asked other countries to help him smear a political opponent, he’s abandoning Kurdish allies in Syria and he continues his relentless attacks against LGBTQ people. A million people were detained at the U.S.-Mexico border last year, some of them kids […]
I’m nervous about next week. Really anxious. The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on three cases that have the potential to upend the lives of LGBTQ people across the country. If President Donald Trump and his allies are successful in their arguments to the court, overnight it will overnight become OK under federal law […]
Signers beware. That’s the first lesson all Mainers should take away from the recent people’s veto effort targeting vaccine regulations in the state. This summer, an anti-vaccine group collected signatures to challenge a new law that limits exemptions to vaccine requirements for public school students. Under the new law, which is now on hold, children […]
We no longer have a two-party system in American Democracy. We have an asymmetrical system where one party continues to comport itself largely along traditional lines with deference to the law, the Constitution and Democratic norms, and the other has declared total and complete war on any institution or check that would constrain its power. […]
