While we’re all busy just trying to stay alive, there’s speculation that Republican legislators in Maine are staging an attempt to disparage Speaker of the Maine House Sara Gideon in order to score points for Susan Collins.
Democratic state legislators have voted twice to return to Augusta to finish work on hundreds of bills, 74% of them receiving bipartisan support in committee. It appear as though Republicans are refusing to return to work so that they can keep saying Speaker Gideon isn’t doing her job.
Three historic bills designed to begin repairing the state’s relationship with the Wabanaki tribes are in need of votes by the full legislature, as well as bills targeted at “bolstering the state’s economic recovery, public school readiness, housing and nutrition needs of citizens, aid to small businesses and the tourism economy …” In short, “ensuring that we are addressing the needs of Mainers.”
Committees have been meeting for months to review and prepare bills to be voted on by the full Legislature. Without those votes all the committee work will be for nothing. A waste of time, effort and tax dollars.
So, Republicans have decided that their first priority is political theater rather than addressing Maine’s critical needs during a pandemic and an economic apocalypse.
They don’t deserve to win reelection.
Mary Ann Larson
Portland
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