Author: Matthew Gagnon

To state the obvious, Maine’s economy is in trouble. The 14 day quarantine has already wrecked the early and middle stages of Maine’s tourism season, and the alternative option recently unveiled will not do anything to truly improve the situation, leaving open the very real possibility that the entire season will be effectively lost. The state’s problems are hardly limited to hospitality and tourism, though. Maine’s unemployment recently hit a record high at nearly 11 percent, and while May saw an encouraging uptick, the state has still lost nearly 140,000 jobs since the pandemic took hold and scores of local small businesses have been forced…

Jared Golden did not receive more than 50 percent of the vote after the ranked choice vote tabulation. To say he did is a lie, and one the Secretary of State’s office seems all too happy to tell. I have not seen a final tally of voter participation in the second district in the “first round,” but we do know that the number is at least 284,455 people. Both the Portland Press Herald and the New York Times have reported that number, and both indicate that such a number represents 95 percent of the total precincts reporting. That means the number is…

Oh, Edgar. There’s something almost comical about reading a piece of writing that is so bad, so riddled with errors, so logically inconsistent, and so factually inaccurate, that you don’t even know how to begin to refute it. Something sad, but also humorous about its failed attempt at profoundness. Such is the case of Edgar Allen Beem’s recent column in The Forecaster, attacking The Maine Heritage Policy Center for our recent report on the ballot initiative process. Despite the difficulty in even figuring out where to begin in responding to it, I am going to go ahead and give it…

Oh, Alexandria. Ever since she won a stunning upset victory over her democrat primary rival, incumbent New York Representative Joe Crowley, self-described “democratic socialist” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has become the far left’s new “it” girl, appearing in a nauseating number of puff media appearances, showing up in hyper-liberal candidate fundraising appeals, and generally just being everywhere. Including Maine. But I’ll get to that in a minute. Of course, her rising media star hasn’t actually been a good thing for her. The candidates she has endorsed have been almost universally trounced. She made an abject fool out of herself when trying to fake…

The Common Core State Standards, since their adoption in 2011, have been an expensive and harmful experiment that threatens Maine’s educational competitiveness. Unfunded mandates for local schools districts, excessive testing requirements, developmentally inappropriate material, and dubious data collection practices underscore how Common Core has caused, and will continue to cause, problems for Maine’s schools, teachers, and students. This session, Rep. William Tuell, R-East Machias, introduced LD 1578, a bill that would repeal Common Core in Maine and adopt new learning standards for our students. In the 1990s, at a time when schools used a much more localized and flexible set…

Maine is one step closer to a manageable, cost-effective health care system that enhances choice and access to services. Gov. Paul LePage signed into law last week a bill that stamps Maine’s Direct Primary Care (DPC) health care model into state law. The bill, LD 1385, created by the Maine Heritage Policy Center and sponsored by Sen. Rod Whittemore, R-Somerset, removes insurance companies and other barriers from the health care equation. DPC is an alternative health care model that allows patients to enter into a contract with physicians while paying a flat monthly fee for services, eliminating third-party influence entirely…

Disparities in medical prices in Maine are enormous. If you have insurance through Anthem, for instance, the cost of a hip replacement at EMMC is $39,000. At St. Joseph s Hospital, a hip replacement costs only $29,000 – $10,000 cheaper, with very similar quality ratings. Yet too often, patients are completely unaware of a lower-cost alternative available nearby. LD 445, or “Right to Shop,” sponsored by Sen. Rod Whittemore, R-Somerset, is designed to highlight these disparities and transform Maine’s health care market by empowering patients to be informed, discerning consumers when selecting a medical provider. Under this bill, if a…

One of Maine’s most pressing public policy challenges is controlling the cost of healthcare. In 2009, the most recent year for which complete data is available, Maine’s per capita healthcare expenditures ranked 5th highest in the country, up from 9th in 2000 and 31st in 1992. It is no coincidence that the rise in our healthcare expenditures relative to other states occurred as the government sought to tighten its regulatory control over the healthcare sector through Certificate of Need (CON). CON laws mandate that medical providers seeking to add or expand additional facilities and services must first obtain approval from…

Since the release of the House Republican “plan” for repealing Obamacare, conservative reaction has been dismal at best. It has been roundly attacked by several prominent conservative organizations, as well as many public officials. Senator Rand Paul deemed the plan “Obamacare Lite.” In Maine, Governor Paul LePage wasted no time blasting the plan, registering his disappointment with it on a radio appearance Tuesday morning. “Right now I am very, very discouraged and disappointed with what House Republicans are introducing,” LePage said. “We don’t know what the cost is, but based on what I see and I’m reading and what has…

On October 19, Garrett Martin, executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP), published an article on Question 2 that was rife with inaccuracies. Here’s why, according to Jim Rier, former commissioner of the Maine Department of Education and one of the state’s leading experts on the school funding formula. No Communities Will Lose Education Funding as a Result of Question 2 FALSE- Some units will lose unless the Legislature makes changes to Chapter 606-section 15689 (sub 11). By lowering the required mill rate that Question 2 does, some units will no longer be eligible for the minimum subsidy adjustment for…

The self-righteous, egocentric lectures about “restoring civility” coming from the left have increased in frequency recently. The implication, of course, is always that members of the right-wing of American politics are knuckle dragging neanderthals who can’t function in polite society, and that the populist frustration that has boiled over both nationally and in Maine is crass, uncivil and worthy of reprehension, and that liberals politicians are, by comparison, tremendous, dignified statesmen and left-wing voters are concerned with politeness, tolerance and fair-mindedness. I myself have problems with the state of politics and political discourse in this country, and have loudly proclaimed…

The moment news broke about the shooting in Orlando — now the nation’s most deadly mass shooting — it was only a matter of time until Americans everywhere called for a “national conversation” about guns. It took even less time for that national conversation to devolve into, predictably, an absurd farce. This was by no means simply a matter of liberals being ridiculous. Conservatives are not immune, either, to using tragedy to make completely invalid points based entirely on political ideology. Any time you hear about some hypothetical parallel universe where people at the nightclub were armed to the teeth…

In 2010, then-Mayor Paul LePage managed to win the governorship with roughly 38 percent of the vote, prompting a group of disaffected whiners to put “61%” stickers on their car. It was then that the Ranked Choice Voting dream was born. Ranked Choice would replace our current system of electing candidates with a new system that asks you to rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gains 50 percent of the vote, an “instant runoff” occurs, with the bottom candidate eliminated, and his or her second-choice votes added to the total, and so on until a winner is…

As you may have seen, there was a big, important meeting regarding the so-called “Great North Woods National Park” and the potential designation of the area as a “national monument” by the president, held Monday. I attended the meeting, and five things stood out to me as important. 1. This designation does not meet the threshold laid out by the Antiquities Act of 1906. According to the language of the law, the president is authorized to declare a national monument by public proclamation for “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest.” I challenge…

In a BDN column earlier this month, David Farmer attacked the LePage administration and the Department of Health and Human Services because they have “kicked thousands of people off of food assistance, maintained a steady attack on General Assistance, and undermined successful programs that provide training and education for TANF parents so that they have the skills to re-enter the workforce.” To Farmer, and liberals in general, poverty is a problem (which it absolutely is), and the solution is managing it through government assistance. Farmer highlights a number of statistics showing how many children live “in poverty” and how LePage’s policies…

It is quite rare that ideas are proposed that transcend partisanship. Even rarer is an idea that transcends partisanship in the area of health care, which is one of the single most demagogued and polluted issues in American politics. Typically, when it comes to health care, the left and the right go to war with each other. Liberals demand more coverage for more people, paid for by the government, and conservatives demand market-based reforms. Battle lines are drawn, and virtually no common ground can be found. But, believe it or not, there is a bill currently being considered in the…

It turns my stomach, but I actually agree with Justin Alfond. And David Farmer. And a lot of liberal Democrats. Luckily for me, I also happen to agree with Gov. Paul LePage, Mike Thibodeau and Ken Fredette. Maine should move away from a caucus system to select each party’s presidential nominee, and instead conduct a primary. I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group of students at a local high school. My mission was simple — to show them how the caucus system (in both parties) worked, and give them an understanding and appreciation for the process. Being…

Today, Governor Paul LePage announced that he was withdrawing, albeit temporarily, the nomination of Dr. Bill Beardsley as commissioner of the Maine Department of Education. The move, according to the governor’s press release, was in response to a planned unanimous “no” vote from the Democratic members of the Education Committee. In a statement, the governor blamed partisan political games for the situation: “I am temporarily withdrawing Dr. Beardsley’s nomination because Democrats on the Joint Standing Committee on Education are planning to unanimously oppose him solely for partisan political games, without regard to his impeccable qualifications,” said Governor LePage. “Let me…

Want your voice to be heard in Augusta? The Maine Heritage Policy Center is currently preparing a report on harmful and unnecessary regulations that stand in the way of business growth in Maine – everything from absurd eviction rules to redundant licensing requirements to over-complicated employment regulations. But we want your help. Do you own a business?  Have you had to deal with overburdensome regulations that have cost you time and money?  Have you had to hold off growing your business, hiring new employees, or expanding your capabilities because regulations have stood in your way? We would appreciate your input.…

I have never been much fan of spiking the football.  I like to let victories speak for themselves, which is why I wasn’t planning on rubbing salt in the wound of the Maine People’s Alliance after its stunning, spectacular train wreck failure in the Lewiston Mayor’s race earlier this month, but when hilariously incompetent attacks are levied by the MPA at The Maine Heritage Policy Center, I suppose they have left themselves open to a little good natured ribbing. This morning, an “article” appeared in the MPA’s adorably charming rip-off of The Maine Wire, The Maine Beacon (you see what…

Ask any average person what they hate most about their government, and you’ll get a variety of answers.  Typically they hate the dysfunction, the partisan backstabbing, the inability to get anything of any substance done, and a whole host of other issues. But one charicteristic seems universally reviled by everyone: politicians using their office to enrich themselves, and get sweetheart jobs that they have no real qualifications for, just because of the power they hold and who they know.  I challenge you to find anyone, of any party, that doesn’t hate that.  I certainly do. Yet, one of the most nakedly obvious…

For the last week and a half, the left has been seeking to preemptively blame an impending government shutdown on Ken Fredette, and the House Republicans.  But don’t let that blustering political spin fool you.  If the government shuts down, it will be the fault of Democrats in the House of Representatives, and Speaker Mark Eves. Oh, I know, that sounds like partisan finger-pointing.  You are free to take it as such, but it is very much the reality. This all started with a deal that was cut between the Senate Republican leadership team, and Mark Eves early last week.  That…

Bruce Poliquin isn’t wasting any time getting his feet wet in Washington. Yesterday, at his first Financial Services Committee meeting, Poliquin had the opportunity to question Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt, on the status of Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), two Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). In September of 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship, that is run by the FHFA. This was in response to the subprime mortgage crisis, the combined losses of $14.9 billion, and concerns about the ability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…

At its best, research can be the backbone of policymaking.  It can provide the numbers that illuminate problems for lawmakers intent on solving them, and can either prove or disprove the wisdom of proposals made by leaders of all political persuasions and parties. At it worst, though, it can be a maddening game of telephone, where bad or misleading numbers spread like wildfire, and are then used to make critically important policy decisions for tens of thousands of people. Take for instance, the case of the minimum wage, and Bangor City Councilor Joe Baldacci. On Friday afternoon, Baldacci began to…