“It’s worded funny.” Thus spoke one Mainer who knows a lot about these things. He was speaking of Question 3 on the Nov. 2 referendum ballot. It seems a noble effort, but it’s confusing to many a voter. Question 3 proposes a constitutional amendment to “declare that all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable …
It was a cry for help, laced with capital letters and exclamation points and oozing frustration. It came from a local citizen trying to do his civic duty and find out what Question 1 on the Nov. 2 referendum election ballot is all about. It did not go well. There are three questions on that …
The Maine Legislature has spoken and we have been redistricted. It was a workmanlike effort on the part of the Apportionment Commission, by whom we were stirred but not shaken. Augusta had to walk the plank, shifting from Congressional District 1 to CD2, but the results were approved by the Legislature and blessed by Governor …
With a Sept. 27 deadline pressing down on them, members of Maine’s Apportionment Commission agreed on proposals for redrawing district lines for Maine’s counties, its two congressional districts and Maine House districts. The exercise, undertaken once in a decade, is meant to restore population balance to voting districts after tallying births, deaths, in-and out-migration and …
With autumn come tiny stirrings of political life. We are a bit more than a year away from a gubernatorial election in Maine and the lead players have taken the stage. Governor Janet Mills will be bidding for a second term and former Governor Paul LePage will be trying for a third. LePage sat out …
With a modest time readjustment due to COVID, Maine is nearing the end of its latest “apportionment” cycle. Also known as redistricting, it is a process required by the Maine Constitution and undertaken every 10 years following a U.S. census. Over time, the population of a voting district may wax or wane. Apportionment is the …
Labor Day? Done. We are now moving toward the winter of our discontent, but we don’t yet know just how much discontent. The winter of 2020 had barely begun before an unknown coronavirus rocked the world. There followed a year of adjustment, anxiety, suspicion, fear and an unaccustomed lack of mobility for this peripatetic nation. …
Summer is a magic time in Maine, with warm weather, ponds for swimming, the ocean for paddling. Though many in our touristed locale are looking forward to slowing down, the end of summer is always bittersweet. Kids tend to live in the moment, so their attention soon turns from summer to school. There is back-to-school …
Turns out state Rep. Trey Stewart does not have such sharp elbows after all. After serving three terms in the Maine Legislature (two in the House, one in the Senate) he entered the Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat. Now he has dropped out, bowing to former Congressman Bruce Poliquin’s effort to regain …
Another shoe of the centipede that is COVID-19 has dropped. Governor Janet Mills announced on Aug. 12 that all health-care workers must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1. Though Governor Mills terminated her “State of Civil Emergency” on June 30, 2021, she used existing state law to add the COVID vaccine to a list of …
Now that the 130th Legislature has closed shop for the summer, we can rummage at leisure amongst bills passed or defeated to see what curiosities may be found. There are bills tiny in scope, such as “An Act to Increase the Number of Lincolnville Sewer District Trustees from 3 to 5.” They may be narrowly …
Ever so briefly, Hancock County joined the ranks of Maine counties with a “substantial” risk of COVID transmission. The rating is based on COVID cases per 100,000 people over seven days. Hancock joined Somerset County with “substantial” transmission; Waldo County is rated “high.” Just a day or so later, Hancock’s cases-per-100,000 index slipped back below …
