Jon Reisman
I made a snap trip down the airline to Bangor to attend the Bobby Charles affordable energy policy presser. A crowd of about 50 materialized at the no-frills business incubator building just off the airport, where Flexware entrepreneur and Charles/LePage energy policy advisor Jim LaBrecque is located. Speakers included Charles, LaBrecque, Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) and former Emera (predecessor to Versant) President Gerald Chasse. Other attendees included Rep. Matt McIntyre (R-Lowell), C-SPAN, and most — but not all — of Maine’s legacy media. Most of the crowd, including yours truly, reflected Maine’s oldest state in the nation demographic.
Charles focused on energy affordability and charged Hannah Pingree with favoring leftist political ideology over engineering and economic facts to the detriment of the people of Maine. He made the case that Hannah’s present electric grid policy course is neither affordable nor sustainable. I found the presentation pretty compelling, but I know there are big headwinds. The legacy press queries immediately pivoted to Trump, Iran, and the price of gas and diesel. I thought Charles handled it well, but Trump and the split between blue CD1 and red/purple CD 2 will continue to impact the upcoming election. But skyrocketing electric bills and the Democratic policy malpractice that has caused them matter too.
As I left the presser, I stopped to thank Bobby and made one suggestion — tell folks to send their electric bills to Hannah, as in “Return to Sender.” On the drive home, I channeled Elvis and offered the following on WVOM’s “What Tees You Off” the next morning.
“I got my electric bill, and as Bobby Charles said, this is unaffordable and unsustainable. I suggest "Return to sender" — send your electric bill to Hannah Pingree, Rick Bennett, and legislative Democrats for energy/climate policy malpractice. (https://www.wvomfm.com/episode/rewind-09-16-what-tees-you-off-1330/) (at 3:15)
Ric Tyler’s comments only encouraged me, and after my Constitution Day morning constitutional flushed a large flock of wild turkeys, I sat down and finished the following parody and political polemic:
Return to Hannah
Got my 'lectric bill from the postman
I put in my stack
Early in November
Vote to send it back
She wrote the climate plan
Return to Hannah, address unknown
Virtue signal, cover blown
No climate change averted
Or equity defined...but nevermind.
So I'm waiting on the ballot box
Can't afford the power bill
Can't wait to November
Cause Hannah's kind of shrill
She wrote the climate plan
Return to sender, address unknown.
Virtue signal, cover blown
This time I'm gonna call her fraud and put her on the stand.
And when she doesn't answer, perhaps you'll understand
Policy Malpractice
Return to Hannah, address unknown
Virtue signal, cover blown.
Return to Hannah (4x)
I’m looking for an AI/music producer. In the meantime, please consider sending your exorbitant power bill (after paying it, if you can), whether from Versant, CMP, or even Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, to the source of your misery — Hannah Pingree and the legislative Democrats, who have doubled our power bills whilst paying off their climate alarmist friends and averting no climate change whatsoever. If Elvis and Return to Sender is not your cup of tea, try “Take this Policy and Shove It.”
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.
