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Maine improvements
Baldacci: ‘Things are going great!’
BY SAM PFEIFLE

TUESDAY, July 27, 2004 -- One hundred and twenty seconds. That’s what I clocked Maine Governor John Baldacci’s speech at. One hundred and twenty seconds. Just enough time to hit the bullet points like he was playing whack-a-mole.

• "It’s great to be here and great to be from the great state of Maine." Really. Three greats. And he was introduced as "from the great state of Maine," accompanined by a muzak version of a song I couldn't quite place, but fans of ’70s rock would know. It was great.

• In Maine, "we’ve worked hard to create good-paying jobs," improve public education, and "increase access to higher education." He worked hard, mind you, but doesn’t necessarily say he’s succeeded. There simply aren’t more good-paying jobs in Maine than there were two years ago when Governor Baldacci defeated Republican candidate Peter Cianchette and Green candidate Jonathan Carter. In fact, the US Department of Labor estimates that Maine lost 17,300 manufacturing jobs between July of 2000 and June of 2003. The last year hasn’t seen anything to negate that trend.

As for public education, things have gotten so bad that the state recently passed a citizen-initiated referendum demanding that the state government live up to a long-forgotten promise to fund state public education at 55 percent of total costs. Cities and towns are struggling mightily to pay for public schools.

As for higher education, though Baldacci can take some credit for creating a community college system that didn’t exist before, the president of the University of Maine system, Peter Hoff, just recently resigned and there has been speculation that he wasn’t happy with plans to consolidate (read: shrink) the UMaine system.

But there’s nothing to say Governor Baldacci isn’t working hard.

• "With the Democratic-led Legislature," Governor Baldacci noted that he has created Dirigo Health, a program that aims to cover the uninsured in Maine by creating a state-run health-care program, but doesn’t go so far as to create a single-payor system, and isn’t exactly universal health care. He mentioned also his intent to "work toward universal health care."

This is something he also spoke of when he addressed the Maine delegate breakfast on Monday morning. Which is interesting. When I interviewed Baldacci after a 2002 debate against Green Jonathan Carter — well, it was more of a co-appearance, before the Preble Street Resource Center, a homeless-support center — I asked him directly whether he would support, as Carter did, the single-payor health-care bill that was before the Maine Legislature. He said he wouldn’t. I asked him if he supported the idea of universal health care. He said not right now, but he was working toward it. In his working toward it, he seems to be closer to it now, if his rhetoric is any indication.

• He noted his creation of "Pine Tree Economic Zones," which are basically tax-free trade zones in economically depressed parts of the state, often near the Canadian border, "to help provide jobs for working families." That’s possible, but he’s addressing the country. Does anybody have any idea what a "Pine Tree Economic Zone" is?

• "But we largely had to do those things without the benefit of much federal funding," he noted. That’s a pattern that economically strapped states like Maine have had to deal more and more with under the Bush administration, he said. "Obviously, we need a new pattern. With John Kerry, states will have a stronger leader."

At this point, I lost my train of thought because Baldacci starting riffing on the "stronger" attributes Kerry would instill, but all I could focus on was Baldacci’s Maine accent finally showing through: everything would be "strong-uh."

Now that’s representing for your home state.

• And, of course, Baldacci finished with the new Democratic mantra that we’ll be "strong at home, respected in the world," a phrase that Delaware Senator Tom Carper; Washington Congressman Adam Smith; Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.; Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, Douglas Palmer (twice!); and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius all repeated verbatim in the half hour leading up to Baldacci.

The only professional politician (i.e., not Teamsters boss James Hoffa, or League of Conservation Voters President Deb Callahan) not to repeat the phrase was Joe Manchin, candidate for West Virginia Governor, who only said the "strong at home" part. Maybe respect isn’t something that goes over well in West Virginia.


Issue Date: July 27, 2004
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