Who amongst us can deny, that our government officials at both the State and National level, are out of touch with the people? Can anyone with honesty look to Augusta and Washington and say that they are doing a good job? I think not my friends. Not only have the politicians forgotten what it is like to earn one’s daily bread, but so too have they betrayed the very trust of those who elected them to office in the first place. What am I talking about? Strangely enough I’m speaking of hope, in my own convoluted way.
This past week governor Baldacci announced a sixty three million dollar budget shortfall. The vast sum, which boggles my mind, must be “made up” through departmental budget cuts alone. According to Gov Baldacci no new taxes or fees will be imposed on the people of this good state. As much as I would like to applaud the governor for his fine rhetoric, I’m afraid my hands sit idle.
The reality of the situation is this; the legislature will resume session in January and as they look to cut budgets, department heads from DHHS, and DOT, will protest loudly. Those departments will at first say “we are already cut to the bone”, a most favored line of government agencies when asked to make cuts. Secondly, if the legislature and the governor insist, the bureaucrats will come back with a list of cuts to the most dramatic and oft times crucial programs within their budgets. This we saw a few years ago when DHHS bused homeless veterans, mentally disabled persons and elderly pensioners up to the state house to display the impact of the legislature’s demands.
This type of display has a great effect on the legislature especially during election years, which by the way 2010 is. No Representative or Senator in his/her right mind would openly deny services to homeless veterans or the elderly, not if they wanted to be re-elected for another term. If there was a legislator who did happen to point out how viciously false the display is and how utterly disingenuous the reasoning, that legislator’s next opponent would be a fool not to take advantage of it. I can see the campaign slogan now, “Senator so and so hates veterans.”
So to perpetuate their hard won seats, those representatives in Augusta who seek reelection in 2010 will waver and wane in the face of such protests. They will place self interest over what little interest they are supposed to have in their constituencies and state as a whole. Intellectual honesty will be ignored for the sake of their positions. In the case of the missing $63,000,000 from the budget, that means the revenue will have to come from another source won’t it?
This type of politicking is not exclusive to Maine but to the Federal system as well. Chellie Pingree, Maine’s 1st district representative, has all but admitted that most of her time is spent fundraising for her next election bid, which leaves her not much time to do the work of legislating. This must explain why she has chosen to be naught but a cheerleader, shouting on the sidelines, on the healthcare reform debates. For how could she have the time to read all 2000 pages of that bill before voting for it if she is spending all her time on the phone and at fundraisers asking for money?
Dire times indeed.
However, there seems to be a glimmer of hope on the horizon, for the people of Maine, as I know of no less than three persons, who are of honest, strong, character who are looking at serving in our government. Ellie Espling has declared she is running for district 105 out of New Gloucester, Gary Foster plans to run for the District 109 seat out of Gray that is being termed out by Sue Austin, and last but not least Dean Scontras has created an exploratory committee to examine the possibility of running for the 1st district for US Congress. Each and every one of these people understand that to serve in government is to serve the voters. That they are the stewards of the seat not the owners, and that intellectual honesty, though not politically expedient, has great value. Perhaps, with luck more good people will come forward and we the people may have the chance to take back what was once ours. I have hope, as this is going to be an interesting year indeed.
Sláinte
Allen Butler
*This article was written for and printed in Lakes Region Weekly newspaper*
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