Feb 18 2014

Sponsoring Betrayal

 

 

Strange things, strange reports coming out of Augusta.  Yes, there are reports of unanimous bipartisan agreement on a bill; no, two bills in committee.  Democrats and Republicans alike found common ground to kill two bills in committee that would have increased the financial burden upon the people of Maine; more specifically, the hunters and sportsmen of Maine.

The first bill to discuss was LD 89.  This bill was put forth to establish a penalty for Mainers if they did not register their snow machines by a certain date.  The sole sponsor of the bill was Senator Doug Thomas.

If LD 89, An Act to Establish a Deadline for Snowmobile Registration, had been approved by the committee, it would have set a deadline for snow machine registration at December 31st and, if any Mainer had been so disobedient to mother government as to miss the set deadline, they would be punished with an additional $20 fine added to the registration fee.  This is just another blatant money grab by our government.  Thankfully, Paul Davis, the rest of the Republicans, and amazingly, all the Democrats on the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee voted in unison to kill the bill.  At least someone had the backs of rural Maine.

But there’s more.  Doug Thomas has co-sponsored a bill with Dennis Keschl , LD 153, that would create a comprehensive hunting and fishing license.  Sound’s like a great idea at first glance and some sportsmen’s’ blogs were in support, but, when one delves into the bones of the bill, the details reveal just another money grab.

Further, research shows that hunters will lose more than they will gain. First of all, studies show that over 70% of hunters, a strong majority, only hunt deer, so for a majority of hunters, this is a  $13 increase. Bow hunters would be excluded from further deer hunting if they harvested a deer during bow season.

The long lists of items that are excluded from the “comprehensive” license belie the title.  One thing is sure; deer hunters would be targeted for an increase.  They are getting the proverbial…antler.

Remember hunters; there was a comprehensive license at one time.  Government kept cutting specific hunts out of that license bringing us to this point today.  They would repeat that process again.  It’s always about getting more of your money.

Again, thankfully, the Republicans and Democrats voted with one voice, in the IF&W, to kill this bill.  It is amazing that a Senator who is supposed to represent the voters in the foothills of the 100 mile wilderness would sponsor bills that could penalize businesses so integral to the 2nd District: hunting and snow machining.  Senator Thomas can find some solace in the fact that he had a unifying influence in Augusta.  He sponsored and co-sponsored bills that were so egregious and punitive to the people of Maine that there was unanimous and bi-partisan consent to kill the bills in order to protect the people of Maine.

Feb 9 2014

Betrayal

 

 

When The Maine Conservative Voice was started, it was my desire to be just that, a voice.  The hope was to make political leaders, both statewide and nationally, aware that the conservative movement was not dead in Maine, but alive and well.  What a humbling experience it has been to have so many people in rural Maine shake my hand and say thank you for lending a voice to their beliefs and convictions.

The hope has always been that conservatives across Maine would unify in one force and work together to set Maine free from the tyranny of liberal and socialist agendas.  Time has passed and TMCV has been able to have some influence, along with other groups, on Maine’s political landscape.  Still, progress has been slowed and marred by competing egos and personal agendas.

My greatest fear when I began this column and blog was that eventually I would grow numb to the corruption and become a silent observer.  While there are some positions that I hold where ethics require silence, still my passion to expose unscrupulous behavior remains undaunted.  But what if the betrayal comes from leaders you have worked closely with and supported?  What then?  How could I retain the integrity of the ideals I set forth with if I remained silent?

I understand compromise and that it is a vital part of our political system.  What I do not understand is calling yourself a conservative yet forming an alliance with one of the most liberal members of your party.  I cannot comprehend campaigning across a Senate District touting your support of the Governor’s agenda to secure conservative votes and then joining political forces with the one man who has worked tirelessly to subvert the Governor’s policies and conservative ideals.  I am astounded that a man can campaign as a social conservative and then join forces with the very man who has fought to subvert everything social conservatives stand for.  But this is what we find in the latest revelations from the political soap opera that is Senator Doug Thomas.

Senator Roger Katz of Augusta recently held a fundraiser for Senator Thomas in his law office in Augusta.  For those who don’t know, Roger Katz and the Pretentious Eight, as I have dubbed them, wrote an infamous op-ed against the Governor in an attempt to undermine his leadership at the very onset of his administration.  Roger Katz has repeatedly opposed many of the initiatives the conservatives have put forth.  It was Katz that spearheaded a move by liberal Republicans to help Democrats overturn the Governor’s veto of a budget that raised taxes on the Maine people.

And Doug Thomas is breaking financial bread with him?  In political speak, fundraising for a candidate is a statement of allegiance.  There are no political favors without one in return.  Conservatives had been uncomfortable with the various sightings of Thomas and Katz at public functions, but there was no way to verify a betrayal until now.

It’s no secret the Roger Katz has been maneuvering for power in the legislature to build his campaign against the Governor.  Obviously, he has found that the “Honorable” Doug Thomas can be bought, easily.  Katz wants Thomas’s vote for leadership and rumors have a way of materializing. Doug Thomas is selling out his fellow conservatives and the Governor for money.

TMCV has worked hard in the past to support and elect Doug Thomas into office.  I have written many columns in his behalf.  That ends now.  I have grown tired of the duplicity.  I will not look the other way and be silent.

When confronted on his behavior, Senator Thomas responded that it doesn’t matter and the people don’t care.  I was told that I don’t understand how business is done. Actually, I do understand and I’m tired of business as usual.  I will not be silent.  I will be a voice for truth.  We must stand for what we believe if we truly want to Set Maine Free.

Feb 1 2014

Gut Punch

 

 

Everyone has been there.  We all should empathize.  It’s that feeling when you’ve been betrayed, you are cornered with no recourse and there is no possible way to win.  At one time or another, we have all felt that way.

That’s why I am uncomfortable with the name-calling that has issued from the conservative side of the political divide as all the dire predictions concerning this President have come to fruition.  Frustration at those who voted for this experiment in socialized medicine has boiled over and, as the price tag hits the American main street, it’s easy to shout, “You voted for it, now how do you like it?!!!” or “You get what you deserve!!”  I have been as guilty as others of making snide, perhaps tasteless, but certainly sarcastic remarks at peoples’ unfortunate circumstances. Now, I have come to understand and be reminded – these are my fellow Americans.  No matter who or what they voted for, they now face a future of despair.  Hope and Change has decimated their own hope of a better future for themselves and those they love.

I recently saw a news report that documented the reaction of workers in an urban auto body shop.  The expression of despair on these blue-collar workers’ as they looked at their new premiums under Obamacare was heart wrenching to watch. There was no space to gloat.  No desire to say, “I told you so”.  Just the wish that I, a fellow American, could have some power to make everything right again and takes us back to when things seemed more sane.

Who knows what these workers’ political ideology is?  I don’t!  And I don’t care.  I have felt that same sick feeling of despair in the pit of my stomach.  That same feeling when it seems the perfect storm of calamity is upon you and it can’t possibly get worse.  Then, it does.

It feels like a gut punch, the feeling that the control of your future has been taken out of your hands.  It’s like watching every dream evaporate and you are bound and helpless to prevent it.  That’s what I saw in those, my fellow Americans, eyes.

Much has been said about the great divide within our Nation.  Perhaps the disaster that has been this Presidency can have one positive effect.  Maybe, it can unify us.

Let us remember that one size does not fit all Americans because we are so diverse.  Let us return to the standards that celebrated individuals and that our differences are what make up all the great pieces to this great engine of the United States.  But most of all, let’s show compassion to our fellow Americans who have been betrayed by this President.

Deepening the divide will not help us. It will destroy us.  This President has proven what a majority of us knew all along; the government cannot help us.  So, let’s do what Americans have always done.  We can stand together again. Together we can rise from the ashes of this disaster the same way we have risen from every other disaster.  But we must choose to stand.

Dec 13 2013

One Trick Pony

 

 

Ah, to be young again.  Why the nostalgia you ask?  Is it the season, the holly and the berries?  No, quite frankly, it’s the nuts, the fruitcakes and the bologna that has me wandering down memory lane.  Specifically, I remember a trip as a boy to the fabled Santa’s Village in Jefferson, N.H.

There I stood entranced by the jerk-stop movements of the animatronics elves as their mouths squeaked and groaned in motion only a half-step behind the lyrics they were supposed to be singing.  It was a wonderful mechanical, robotic choir singing the great songs of yuletide, clanging and grinding each painful note for their young breathless audience.  One song, I particularly remember was a song by an elf, who was an Elvis impersonator, named, yes, …Elfis.  There is a rumor that the originator of that idea was also the engineer behind the ObamaCare site, but that’s just a rumor.

Elfis, yes, Elfis “sang” his version of “Blue Christmas”.  The lyrics being “I’lla hava aha bluuuuu Christmaaaass without me,” much to the laughter of those of us in the audience. Why is this very odd and strange memory coming back to this columnist?  Well, it was prompted by some very odd and strange behavior coming from our old friends, the Democrats.

You see Democrats are, if anything, consistent – the one trick pony.  No matter the situation, no matter the problem, and no matter the event, it is really all about them.   So I have decided to start a yearly tradition like none other.  Inspired by the photogenic leader of the Democrat Party, I hereby announce the First Inaugural Presentation of The Maine Conservative Voice Selfie Awards.

 

The First and Magnanimous Selfie goes to the Selfie-and-Chief himself, Barack Obama.  There is not a camera you don’t like and not a moment that shouldn’t be about you.  Thanks, Mr. President, for being our inspiration.

 

A Dopey Selfie to the people of South Africa who used the funeral of a revered leader to boo the U.S. President, George W. Bush, who worked with Mandela to initiate the PEPFAR program, and spent millions to eradicate aids in South Africa, and then cheering the U.S. President, Barack Obama, who defunded the PEPFAR program and cut millions of dollars to aids research worldwide.

 

A Regal Selfie to Maine’s own monarch, Angus King, who is showing his “independence” to Mainers by joining a Democrat taskforce, emphasis on force, to “sell” ObamaCare to the people, because whether you want it or not, Obamadoesn’tCare.  He also voted with Democrats to kill the filibuster and violate the rules of Democracy.  He also doesn’t seem to mind that his windmill conglomerate now has a waiver from Obamadoesn’tCare to kill Bald Eagles, the National Bird.  It’s always been about the King, hasn’t it?

 

A Wholelotta Selfie goes to the one and only Justin Alfond.  There have been so many selfie moments in the mystical reign of the Senate President, but the grandest of all must be his most recent claim that the Democrats are responsible for paying the hospitals back, not the Governor.  Wow!   Other Selfie moments include blocking a bill to aid victims of sex trafficking because it wasn’t an emergency, but promoting his bill for wine tasting because it was…?

 

A Wingman Selfie to House Speaker Mark Eves for being Alfond’s partner in crime and pushing for MaineCare expansion, while a company he represents will directly benefit from those monies.

 

A “Wha..?” Selfie goes to N.H. Representative, Ann Kuster, who didn’t want to talk about Benghazi because she was there to talk about the Middle East.  She also receives a complimentary geography class from the local fourth graders.

 

A “Whaaat?!!” Selfie to Maine State Representative Brian Bolduc who sent an expletive laced email to announce, in no uncertain terms, that truck drivers do not have brains.  As a former truck driver myself, I am so pleased to announce he will receive, in addition to his selfie, a complimentary blast of the air horn every time a truck driver passes his house.

 

A “What the…?” Selfie to the Maine Democrat Party for sitting by silently while a member of your Party railed against and insulted the hardworking people of Maine.  Your silence was deafening. You waited to hear what your advisors and strategists had to say before doing the right thing and standing up for the people of Maine?  Once again, to the Alfond led Maine Democrats, thanks for absolutely nothing. It’s all about you and your selfies, isn’t it?