Once again the “Honorable” Senator Doug Thomas has produced a nearly unanimous by-partisanship in Augusta. A feat to be proud of; I’m not so sure. Senator Thomas is the sole sponsor of a bill so egregious that all the representatives in the House voted against it save one. Thomas’s one ally, Diane Russell, was a socialist Democrat from Portland.

LD 1834 would have given government bureaucracy the authority to determine for the people of Maine what is truth and what is a lie in a campaign. I guess Senator Thomas feels we are not capable of doing that for ourselves. His socialist friend agrees. In her speech to support the Thomas’s bill, she affectionately called it the “truthiness” bill. She was thrilled that she and “the good Senator …agree on something”. She admonished the legislature asking them, “Do you really want to leave it up to ‘The People’ to determine whether that’s true or false? She further extolled the “virtues” of the “truthiness” bill saying, “These are the important issues of our time and it is absolutely imperative that a government agency give us a hand-up on the truth.” Ah, a piece of legislation only a socialist could love.

We The People of Central Maine do not need government to “give us a hand-up” to understand truth. Is this really the way Senator Thomas feels about his constituents? Does he really believe we can’t think for ourselves? This is one more government intrusion we don’t need.

But this is not the first time the “good” Senator has forced Republicans and Democrats to join forces to stop him. Remember, he sponsored a bill to raise the fee on snow machine registration and impose a fine for late registrations. It was killed in committee by unanimous consent.

State registrations are a takings or a tax. So it is ironic that Mr. Thomas is attacking Paul Davis for not signing the tax pledge, while Doug Thomas signed the pledge and then proceeded to sponsor a bill to not only raise taxes on snow machines, but also fine those who registered late. So you make the comparison: One man prefers to let his record speak for itself and keep his pledge to the people by his actions, another, signs a pledge, then sponsors legislation to raise taxes all the while waving his signed tax pledge around like a get-outta-jail-free card. Where is the “truthiness” here?

His version of “truthiness” also has Paul Davis voting against the tax cuts. What Thomas fails to acknowledge is that Paul Davis voted against the budget because the Governor asked him to, along with a group of fellow conservatives in the legislature. The Democrats had watered down the Budget and the Governor vowed to veto it. He needed Conservatives to stand with him and Paul Davis did.

I wonder; Are all the other conservatives who stood with the Governor guilty of the same “crime” as Paul Davis? I’m sure they would like to know. Maine People Before Politics says that Paul Davis has a 100% rating of voting with the people. So, where is the “truthiness” here?

I think Mr. Thomas wants an exemption from his own bill. He is proud, though, of the glowing review he received from the Bangor Daily News. I recently heard former Senator Steve Hall state emphatically, “You can’t believe anything from the Bangor Daily News!” I couldn’t agree more!