LePage’s war trades headlines for progress

Gov. Paul LePage testifies before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on May 13 in Washington, D.C. Reuters | Jonathan Ernst

Gov. Paul LePage testifies before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on May 13 in Washington, D.C. Reuters | Jonathan Ernst

With Gov. Paul LePage’s theatric meltdown last week and a full-blown shutdown showdown looming, there’s no wonder that the media coverage this week has focused on the fracas and Republican infighting.

But lost in the dust of the melee are the details of what’s at stake.

And those details are a lot more than numbers on a piece of paper or chess pieces to be moved around a political game board.

In his budget, which was panned by everyone but steadfast Republican allies in the Maine House, LePage took dead aim at state aid to municipalities, to poor people and to the elderly.

Masked as “reform,” the governor proposed a plan that would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. The plan received no real support, but it did start a rather remarkable conversation.

Both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature came to the table with their own versions of tax reform. While the two plans were very different, there was, for a brief moment, an opportunity.

Democrats had developed a substantial tax and budget plan that would deliver to many Mainers a Republican priority — an income tax cut — without hurting essential programs, such as health care, education and aid to municipalities or raising property taxes.

Republicans — including LePage — had proposed some tax increases around sales or meals and lodging taxes to fund their priorities.

While it seems crazy to say so now, there was a real chance for a deal.

But instead of seizing on the opportunity to find common ground and advance his stated goal of reducing income taxes, the governor changed his focus to a complete elimination of income taxes — details be damned.

Maybe it’s good politics, but it’s terrible public policy.

And in his zeal, he did something that I didn’t think was possible. He united the very conservative Senate President Mike Thibodeau and his Senate Republicans and Democratic Speaker Mark Eves. And he launched a full-on assault against other Republicans.

Thibodeau and many other Republican senators had risen to electoral success opposing an increase and broadening of the sales tax back in 2010, a lynchpin of LePage’s plan. They would not — could not — go along.

Eves and his cohorts in the House were more open to compromise on the sales tax, but their demands included restoration of aid to municipalities and a more progressive income tax cut that would benefit working families, not Maine’s wealthiest or corporations.

And here’s why that’s really important.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income in Maine is about $48,000 a year, and the average per-person income is about $27,000.

For the 50 percent of Maine households who make less than $48,000 a year and for all those people who make around $27,000, things just aren’t going that well.

A new report from the Federal Reserve puts the numbers in context. It found that nearly 47 percent of respondents to the survey could not cover a $400 emergency expense.

Thirty-one percent said they went without needed medical care during the last year because they didn’t have the money. That same number said that they have no retirement savings.

Those from households making $40,000 a year or less told the Federal Reserve that they were having a hard time getting by or are just getting by.

“Just getting by” doesn’t count as the American dream.

A $400 emergency shouldn’t put a family underwater or send them to the pawn shop, and hard-working families should be able to save for retirement, for college for their kids and for a down payment on their homes.

These basics of middle-class life in America are slipping further and further out of reach for a growing number of families.

Smart public policy choices can bring them back into reach. And, as Democrats demonstrated, those choices can include targeted reductions in income taxes as part of a fair tax plan.

As the governor has shown, ultimatums and name-calling are easy. It’s a lot harder to pass laws that lift families up.

That’s the responsibility he’s left to the Legislature as he’s decided to wage very ugly and destructive intramural war.

It’s up to leaders in the Legislature to deliver — even with LePage standing in the way.

David Farmer

About David Farmer

David Farmer is a political and media consultant in Portland, where he lives with his wife and two children. He was senior adviser to Democrat Mike Michaud’s campaign for governor and a longtime journalist. You can reach him at dfarmer14@hotmail.com.