PORTLAND, Maine — FUNDRAISING FOR MAINE'S U.S. SENATE RACE
Speaker of the House Sara Gideon says her campaign raised more than $1 million in the first week since she announced her campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. And the eventual nominee will have access to a $4 million fund created in the wake of Sen. Susan Collins' vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh,
Former state senator, Republican Phil Harriman, says this illuminates "what we're going to see, this is how anxious and angry (Democrats) are to do something about that vote."
Democrat John Richardson, a former Speaker of the House calls it a big wake up call for Sen. Collins. He says "I give a lot of credit to Sara Gideon for coming out of the gate so fast and so strong. It does demonstrate a wide level of support for any credible candidate will take on Susan Collins."
GOV. MILLS SIGNS MORE THAN 600 NEW LAWS
Gov. Janet Mills says more than 700 bills reached her desk during the legislative session, and she signed more than 600 of them.
Harriman thinks the prospect of 600 new laws "seems a little overwhelming, but it's not that unusual for a legislative session."
And Richardson says that number represents promises made and promises kept by Democrats. But he also points to the 39 bills that Go. Mills put on hold until the next session, including one that would legalize sports betting in Maine.
Richardson says "You can only do so much to repair the damage of the LePage administration. You need to take a big time out, look at where you are, and make a decision as to whether these other bills merit moving forward."
CITY MANAGER VS. FIREFIGHTERS UNION
Portland City Manager Jon Jennings is feuding with the city's firefighters union, and he has ordered that a brick bearing his name be removed from the city's memorial to fallen firefighters. Jennings helped raise more than $20,000 for that memorial when he was president of the Maine Red Claws. The inscription on the brick says "special thanks Jon Jennings."
But Jennings is unhappy with what he described as a political campaign by firefighters to stop the city from decommissioning Engine 1 on Munjoy Hill, telling radio station WLOB that city employees should not "incite fear in people and cause a great deal of anxiety in our community."
John Richardson says Jennings is being petty and adds Jennings "shouldn't interfere with what I think is a legal right on the part of the firefighters union to advocate politically to elected officials their case of whether this engine should have been taken out of service or not."
Phil Harriman says it seems Jennings took the firefighters efforts personally. "I understand why that matters so much to him. But it's not good politics that we're talking about it in this way."
Political Brew airs Sundays on The Morning Report