The soul-destroying clash of presidential politics this election year is enough to put anyone off. There is some solace in turning to local elections, where there is still decency and common sense to be found. There are eight House districts that include at least one Hancock County town. In three the incumbents were term-limited, leaving …
Debate No. 2 for Maine’s U.S. Senate seat is a wrap, leaving the standing of the four candidates much as the first debate did. Sen. Susan Collins had recovered her equanimity, coming on a little more relaxed, a little less brittle. Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon remained in good command of the policy issues, avoiding …
Let’s daydream together about an election where the candidates talk about why they are running in real terms, not platitudes. Where they don’t even mention their opponents but simply lay out their plans for how they would serve in the office they are seeking. Where they tell us why they think they are qualified for …
The four candidates for Maine’s U.S. Senate election held their first debate last Friday night. There were two major party candidates, incumbent Sen. Susan Collins and challenger Sara Gideon, current Speaker of the Maine House. There were two independents, Lisa Savage and Max Linn. And there were two separate universes. Sen. Collins and Speaker Gideon …
The U.S. senators representing the state of Maine have been a distinguished bunch. Many have had outsized impact given the relative lack of political influence of their home state. Margaret Chase Smith was perhaps the most emblematic with her “Declaration of Conscience,” but through the last decades Maine has been served by senators nationally recognized …
Most years around Labor Day it is only the politics-obsessed who are paying close attention to a November election. This is not most years. This year we are thinking not only about who to vote for but how we will vote. There will still be the option of showing up at the polls on Nov. …
Mount Desert Island Hospital is holding its annual meeting next week. There are sure to be the usual reports, updates and expressions of pride in a competent staff, but MDIH has something special to celebrate this year. Chief Operating Officer Chrissi Maguire is taking the reins as CEO from retiring president Art Blank and Patricia …
With stacks of unfinished bills still in the system, Maine’s 129th Legislature has decided to make like Congress and do nothing. Democratic leadership made a bid to reconvene in mid-July, but that requires bipartisan cooperation. That’s a quantity in short supply. Both sides want a short session, but to Democrats that means working quickly to …
State and local governments are in a world of financial hurt. When the pandemic started back in late winter, the priority was preventing the spread of disease and saving lives. It wasn’t long before other elements of the Great Debate crept in. How do we save the economy, on which lives also depend? That was …
The last primary election to be decided in Hancock County is now on the books. In a recount requested by her opponent, incumbent Bucksport Republican Kimberley Rosen’s margin shrank by eight votes, but she was confirmed the winner by 52 votes. Her opponent was Larry Lockman of Bradley, an extreme conservative who enjoyed the backing …
If you are not the kind of person that tears out the election results page from The Ellsworth American and settles down with a pen and a calculator, you might want to stop reading right now. However, while we are hanging out at home more than usual, we have the chance to indulge these little …
Will they or won’t they? That is the question for the Maine Legislature as discussions continue about whether to convene for one last special session. At the end of May, it was Republicans who requested a meeting between the Legislative Council (the Legislature’s leadership group) and Governor Janet Mills for a “discussion … on issues …
