Jon Reisman
Message to Democratic candidates Hannah Pingree (governor), Troy Jackson (senator), Matt Dunlap (2nd Congressional District), and Shenna Bellows (secretary of state):
Hannah, Troy, Matt, and Shenna: all I can say is this is another fine mess you’ve gotten Maine into.
The end of September featured the following in my in-box:
Maine faces a $1.2 billion “structural gap” between expected expenditures and expected revenues in the next biennium. The new Governor, be it Hannah, Bobby or Rick, will either have to cut spending (which increased from $7 to $12 billion over the last eight years), raise taxes (already among the highest burdens in New England and the nation) or both. The spending drivers are MaineCare (fraud, delayed hospital payments and suicidal empathy), education (55% or bust, Maine Education Association minimum salary sabotage and damn the reading scores and transphobic parents), and unreasonable demands for paved roads for peasants driving carbon-spewing diesel- and gasoline-powered planet killers. Based on their records, Hannah will deny there is a problem and raise taxes, Bobby will cut spending and prosecute fraud, and Rick will lean into that Steely Dan classic, Rikki Don’t Lose That Number, whose opening lyrics are eerily relevant more than 50 years later:
We hear you're leavin', that's okay
I thought our little wild time had just begun
I guessed you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run
But if you have a change of heart
Rikki, don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki, don't lose that number
It's the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfZWp-hGCdA
State Auditor Matt Dunlap, who sort of noted the MaineCare and no-bid contract fraud but did absolutely nothing about it, will debate Paul LePage in a 2nd Congressional District debate on a Portland TV station. Wouldn’t want the rubes from eastern and northern Maine to actually see, hear, and audit his sorry performance.
Senate candidate and consanguineous cretin Troy Jackson reaffirmed the Platner/Democratic Socialist antisemitic lie of Israeli genocide in Gaza, and then apologized for invoking a blood libel that “a few” Maine Jews took exception to. At least Troy honors his French Dreyfus roots, although, as a cretin, he is probably unaware of them. If 10-15,000 reliably Democratic Jewish voters vote for Susan, or just don’t vote for Troy, that could be the difference in a close election. The Democrats should bring Free Palestine Jew impersonator Macklemore to Portland for a big rally. I bet all the DSA-proud Platner/Jackson antisemites would come out. After all, Susan did work for and eventually replaced Bill Cohen, who was the son of a Russian Jewish baker. You’ve got to watch and monitor those sneaky Jews.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows finally sort of responded to Freedom of Access Act requests, suggesting that her office has some serious election integrity issues, starting with why a left-wing Soros-funded Maryland/DC NGO, which she had partnered with in the past, has received envelopes for returning absentee ballots. Maine’s legacy media couldn’t be bothered with the whole sorry saga.
Nearly a century after Laurel and Hardy found some humor in the fine mess of the depression, Hannah and her siblings are sadly providing some very dark, clueless, and cretinous curtain calls. Let’s hope it’s a last call without an encore.
Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at jreisman@maine.edu.