Ah the beauty of an election year. As we hear about the great things candidates have done, it is in our interest to consider the realities of what has transpired during their previous incarnations.
If we are looking to Augusta, and the governorship, it serves us well to recall that $70 million of the existing surplus came from the disclosure of "accounting irregularities" in the late DHS. I suspect all monies associated with the current surplus are directly, or indirectly, derived from that audit.
There would have been no audit, and hence be no money, if not for a citizens complaint filed with the Justice Department concurrent with John Baldacci assuming office; but that doesn?t fault any act by John, who clearly kept operating costs in check and held onto the generated surplus.
It is clear that EPS funding, and the property tax shock it helped deliver to Milbridge, belong to the Baldacci administration; because Eddie DuGay was out front on claiming credit for EPS, he owns that; but Eddie is term limited, it is his obligation to rectify the EPS injustices before he departs.
Unfortunately for the Republicans ? with exception of Snowe and Collins, who openly challenged the Bush agenda ? they own Bush, Pat Robertson, and his Christian Coalition, or Civic League. The republican own any neocons they have failed to denounce and disown - in Maine and Washington; or they can go on record as supporting bigotry and the ignorance associated with Intelligent Design.
If we face economic and moral realities, that ownership is the greatest liability that can befall any of the Republican gubernatorial hopefuls. If they haven?t denounced the right-wing, now is the time.
In Washington, the Falwell and Dodson right-wing has tilted matters with regard to the affirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court ? Olympia and Susan take note: "stopped clocks can be right twice a day;" their approval must be considered, Alito speaks justice; but if they are accurate, rather than right, his appointment could drive us toward the Nazi Government Christian Nationalists seek.
As demonstrated by ongoing Medicare D debacle, Federal policies are a major drain on the Maine State Budget; and a threat to our health and well being. DHHS computerization problems clearly affected provider payments, but did not deny any of our sick, disabled or elderly their medications or necessary services. Many states, Maine included, had to step in to protect the elderly poor, the least among us, after ring-wing usurpers of the "Christian" title gifted our pharmaceutical industry with a windfall profit ? by exempting them from free-market, capitalist, price negotiation.
Again, when we look to who we shall send to Augusta and Washington, it falls to us to look at their history on protecting the fundamental tenets of American life. Consider the small things, the right-wing?s persistent spitting in the face of Yeshua Himself (Mt 25:44-45), who said he would come as the least among us; it is His litmus test for those who He will eventually be asked to acknowledge.
Yeshua is a Jew; the right-wing insistence that only "Merry Christmas" was acceptable on that rare date when both Chanukah and Christmas coincided was blatant anti-Yeshua anti-Semitism. As has been pointed out in the past, elections should be based on truth and not hurting the least among us.
