MAINE, USA — NEWS CENTER Maine political analysts, Republican Phil Harriman and Democrat Betsy Sweet, discussed several hot-button issues in this week's Political Brew, from the state's revenue forecast to a bill seeking to arm teachers and former vice president Mike Pence testifying before a federal grand jury.
Revenue Forecast
New numbers out of Augusta show the state will see more tax revenue over the next few years than predicted. Maine's nonpartisan Revenue Forecast Committee predicts the state will take in about $223 million more than expected in the current budget. Its predictions indicate $1 billion more in revenue by fiscal year 2027. That is why Republicans are proposing some $400 million in tax relief.
ZACH: Phil, I want to start with you. Is this doable?
PHIL: Well, it is. The Democrats passed a majority budget because they wanted to make sure that their baseline spending was in place. Now, this means, particularly with this news, that you brought to us this morning, over $1,000,000,000 of new revenue indeed calls for an opportunity to get some of that money back into Mainers' checkbooks so they can deal with their energy costs, their food prices and other things that have been putting a lot of pressure on families in Maine.
BETSY: I mean, I think the devil's in the details, right? We want to make sure that any relief goes to the right people, not the people at the high end who don't need it, but the people who are really struggling. I also think we have to look at our woefully underfunded services, particularly when we look at things like child abuse and neglect, something that we know is really underfunded.
Child Welfare Report
A new disturbing report out this week ranks Maine among the worst in the nation for child maltreatment. The Kids Count report is released annually by the Maine Children's Alliance and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. It evaluates issues affecting kids, like abuse, poverty, and mental health.
ZACH: Betsy, it's an ongoing issue that has plagued the Mills administration and lawmakers, but is it a surprise?
BETSY: Well, yes and no. I mean, I think if you look carefully at the report, what it shows really is the places where it's worse is in our rural areas. And that, again, is because we have shrunk our services so much in terms of mental health prevention services, mobile emergency crisis, things that can actually provide support to families that need help... It's horrible, and we can do something about it. We know what to do. It just takes resources combined with what we were just talking about. I'm hopeful that we might be able actually to make some progress.
ZACH: But it's been years, and progress hasn't been made.
KEN: Yeah, we've had this conversation going back to the days when I was in the Maine Senate working with Betsy. This is not a new conversation, and it's very disappointing, particularly when you consider, even ten years ago, what we were spending in the state budget today. It's billions more, and we can't put these children as the number one priority. We can do better than that.
Arming Teachers
Several bills addressing school security to prevent mass shootings were addressed this week. Among the proposed legislation was a bill to allow teachers to be armed.
ZACH: Phil, does this one go too far?
PHIL: I don't think it does. And here is why. We basically put a sign out in front of schools that says we're a gun-free zone. So anyone who's got that propensity to behave this way knows they're walking into an unarmed environment. If someone is adequately trained, just like we let other citizens in Maine carry a weapon, why shouldn't someone who's got the training in a school who could prevent these things from turning into carnage?
BETSY: Well, why? Because of accidental deaths, more guns create more violence. This is not the answer. Teachers opposed it. Superintendents opposed it. Principals opposed it. Who wants to know that their second-grade teacher has a gun on their desk, in their pocket, or where they have it? You know, this is if Johnny throws a rock at Phil on the playground, the answer is not to give Phil a rock to throw him back. We have got to look at different methods of security and to make sure, but arming teachers and putting more guns in our schools is the least safe and the worst idea I've heard in a really long time, and teachers think so too.
Book Ban Fallout
School boards across the state and country are considering book bans, including content geared at LGBTQ+ youth. This week a report by the Lakes Region Weekly found that the challenges to books in RSU 14 have led to increased bullying and harassment of LGBTQ+ students.
ZACH: Betsy, this really shouldn't come as a surprise here, but what does this say about the efforts going on in school districts all across the state?
BETSY: You know, it's somewhat perplexing, you know, to decide this whole idea. And we see it in Maine and across the country that somehow limiting people's access to information will make us better. And, you know, we've had just gotten, you know, no child has ever picked up a book and killed another child, or no adult has picked up a book and killed another child.
PHIL: You know, it just seems to me that we have obscenity laws in Maine. The secretary of state led the charge to decide what you could have on the license plate because it was considered obscene. Can't we have that same conversation about some of the books? Maybe not ban the books, but maybe there's content within that book that maybe is inappropriate for the age of the student who's reading it.
BETSY: But that's what librarians are doing now. I mean, schools do this. I mean, the thought that this notion, that somehow our schools are full of, you know, obscene, pornographic material and we're just willy nilly letting kids in second and third grade read this. That's absurd. It's a political ploy. And kids are the target.
Pence Testifies
In national politics, former Vice President Mike Pence testified for hours before a federal grand jury this week on former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
ZACH: What will this mean for Trump's chances, especially as you have Pence hinting at a run of his own?
PHIL: Well, you know, say what you will about Mike Pence's politics. You can tell this is very, very important to him, the rule of law, the Constitution, following the responsibilities that he has as a citizen and as a former vice president. My understanding is that he spent a lot of time preparing for this, and his grand jury testimony lasted several hours. So, yeah, this is going to be pivotal, I think, in this case.
ZACH: Former President Trump is actually in New Hampshire this week, rallying supporters there, showing he's hitting the ground running. But I want to go bigger picture. What does this really mean for the presidential race?
BETSY: You know, I think I think that the fact that Trump remains the frontrunner in the Republican Party, no matter what is very troubling for Republicans, and I think on both sides, I think that this idea that this has already been decided that this is going to be a Biden-Trump repeat, you know, by the powers that be. And there are other candidates who are entering, but... they're dismissed.
PHIL: I think it's interesting that even people on the progressive/liberal side of the political agenda see what's happened with Trump in this indictment in New York and feel like this is not, you know, justice the way it's supposed to be. And I think that fuels the reason you see some of the enthusiasm for him today, the fundraising that he's been able to accomplish. We're a year and a half away from the election. A lot is going to change in that time frame. And as I've said before, Trump may be able to secure the Republican nomination. I don't know how he gets the hearts and minds of independents and moderate Democrats to cross over.
Supreme Court Accountability
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, is pushing a new effort to create a "code of conduct" for Supreme Court justices. It comes after Justice Clarence Thomas came under scrutiny for not disclosing he was taking luxury trips thanks to a prominent billionaire Republican donor. King's proposed legislation would require justices to develop a "code of conduct" they would be required to follow.
ZACH: Betsy, is this realistic?
BETSY: I think it's incredibly sad that we need to do this. You think of the Supreme Court as the highest justices, the people with the most integrity. If you think back over history, you know that has been the body that everyone trusts. And we see now that... Americans have the lowest trust ever in the Supreme Court. So I think this is trying to bring back some of that trust, as Senator King said. You know, I don't think it will pass.
PHIL: The Supreme Court is an equal branch of government. They are not going to be constitutionally impacted by this bill that Senator King has proposed, that they have to run their own house, so to speak. And clearly, this is a message they're hearing. But Congress is not going to pass a bill that the president is going to sign that's going to tell the Supreme Court to do anything.
Tucker Carlson Out
Popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson was fired this week. The same day CNN's longtime anchor, Don Lemon, was also let go.
ZACH: What message does this send, Phil?
PHIL: Well, it's very clear that the corporate media is in charge of what goes on the airwaves. And for whatever reason, they decided that Carlson's message was no longer worthy of their airwaves. I think it's interesting, Zach, that within 24 hours of his dismissal, he put out a very brief clip, 3 minutes long, roughly. He got 60 million impressions and 20 million views. [It] tells you he's got a connection to the American public that's not going to go away.
ZACH: Whether he has the Fox News platform or not.
BETSY: Yeah, no, he totally has a connection. And I mean, it is no coincidence that it came after the settlement with Dominion and, you know, all those things... I'm saying bye-bye, you know, and that was good news. It was some good news for my day. But, you know, one of the things that's fascinating is how little on the Dominion suit that Fox reported on it. So people who have watched Fox News, like some people in my family, as their only news source, didn't even know about the settlement and didn't know what might have led to this. It was like this big surprise. And it's like, no, there's much more we don't know.
Winners & Losers
BETSY: My winners of the week was this week. There were over 150 young people who came to the state house just to be involved in the process, to learn about the process, and to talk to legislators about things they care about. I was thrilled to see those people there. It was Maine Youth Action Day, and it was awesome.
The losers to me are the Republican legislators in the Montana legislature who have barred the transgender representative from being on the floor of the Montana House. I don't know what we're so afraid of, but this is not how democracy works.
PHIL: My loser of the week is the federal housing finance authority which decided that people who save money, put down payments, [and] have good credit are going to pay more in fees than people who have lower credit scores. It's not the right message.
The winner this week for me is the number of high school seniors who are now hearing from the colleges that they applied to and getting ready for the next phase of their life. Good for them.
You can catch Political Brew every week Sunday morning on NEWS CENTER Maine's Weekend Morning Report.