The road to nowhere (continued)
	A Democrat defends Told the gist of the accompanying article, the Democratic majority leader of the Senate, Michael Brennan of Portland, defends the legislative session. LD 1, the school-funding/property-tax bill passed in January, is "the most meaningful thing we’re done in 25 years" to help towns and cities with property taxes, providing nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in extra school aid, he says. But Brennan acknowledges municipalities may spend it instead of reducing taxes: "It’s not the best way to get property-tax relief to people." But he says legislators felt the Maine Municipal Association-backed successful June 2004 referendum vote required tax relief to be tackled in this fashion. The abandoned $450-million borrowing plan, he says, resulted from a combination of the cost of LD 1, the unattractiveness at the time of further state-agency cuts beyond $100 million made in the first budget, "and the governor took taxes off the table," including reductions of big-business tax breaks. Much of the borrowing was to reduce the debt owed by the state’s pension plan, he observes, "but that issue never got political traction." "From my perspective, Democrats are still very consumer-oriented," and Brennan here throws into evidence the passage of some labor bills, Dirigo Health, and "civil rights" — meaning the passage of the gay-rights bill. Comprehensive tax reform could take place in a fall special session or next year, he suggests. _LT

CHALLENGES TO BASIC CORPORATE POWER

Democrats joined with Republicans to swiftly kill a couple of bills that addressed what many progressives feel is a root cause of the domination of American life by huge corporations. Since corporations exist by state-granted charter, a movement has sprung up nationally to reform their charters to reflect concerns besides the bottom line — environmental, community, and human-rights interests, for example.

A sweeping bill, LD 1474, sponsored by Portland’s Green Independent Representative John Eder, was summarily shot down in the Judiciary Committee after Eder neglected to go to its hearing. A Democratic legislator, Benjamin Dudley of Portland, sponsored a narrower bill in curtailing corporate power, LD 1495. But it, too, did not get a single vote in the committee — even from Democrats.

Nevertheless, the small organization spearheading the local corporate-reform movement, People First Maine, was excited by testimony supporting LD 1495 given to the committee by Robert A.G. Monks of Cape Elizabeth, a wealthy former Republican US Senate candidate, leading corporate-governance reformer, and Harvard Law School friend of Ralph Nader. Monks decried the nation’s "decline away from democracy towards corporatism." In June, corporate reformers held a discussion in Camden on Monks’s testimony. They intend to press on.

BUSINESS COURT TOO EXPENSIVE

Anything perceived as anti-business, such as a bill to limit corporate power, is guaranteed a rough time in our Legislature from both Republicans and Democrats, who swim in a sea of corporate lobbyists. Anything seen as pro-business has it easier, such as LD 1518, a bill to establish a special court to handle business matters. Several states already have such courts. Because they deal with suits by consumers against businesses as well as corporate appeals of government regulatory decisions, consumers have a great stake in them, and business-court critics fear they tend to favor corporations over consumers.

But the Maine corporate and legal establishment was all for the business court, and the Judiciary Committee unanimously, Democratic majority and Republican minority, recommended its passage. It was carried over until the next session, however, because two new judges and their expenses amounted to $1 million a year, and this year the Appropriations Committee generally was subtracting from, not adding to, the state budget.

THE AG NIXES THE ANTI-LOCAL-REFERENDUM BILL

Sponsored by Democratic Senator Lynn Bromley of South Portland and supported by real-estate and development interests, LD 1481 would have prevented municipal referendums against property development once a planning board gave developers approval. But Attorney General Stephen Rowe, a Democrat, opined that it might be unconstitutional because he believed only municipalities had the power to limit their referendum process. The bill was carried over, but Rowe’s opinion makes its future problematical.

EDER’S CREATIVE VOTES

Trading his "yes" vote for the first Democratic budget, Green John Eder said he got a commitment from the governor for $200,000 for the Portland School Department’s multilingual and multicultural efforts and $500,000 for a new arts-oriented "creative economy" business "incubator" in Portland. Then in exchange for his vote for the second Baldacci budget, Eder said he got a written commitment from the governor to hold a special legislative session on tax reform.

So how did Eder’s political laundry come out in the end-of-the-session wash? The state’s Department of Human Services confirms $200,000 has been set aside for Portland’s multilingual and multicultural programs. And Eder says he’s been meeting with people from the University of Maine System, "and I was told the money [the $500,000] was secure" for the incubator. As for the tax-reform session, Eder has a brief letter signed by Baldacci’s chief of staff, Jane Lincoln, indicating "the governor intended to call a special session," he reports.

PRO-OBESITY DEFEATS ANTI-OBESITY

Among the ironies of this year’s legislative carryings-on is what happened to legislation on the subject of obesity. With fanfare, anti-obesity bills poured out of a blue-ribbon state commission established to attack this ever-enlarging social problem. The commission recommended such actions as requiring chain restaurants to list calories on their menus, improving nutrition in school lunches, increasing the time schoolchildren spend in physical education, and allotting one percent of the state Transportation Department budget to build walking paths to schools.

All the bills were defeated. They were lobbied against by the restaurant industry, among other special interests. But guess what Governor Baldacci signed into law? LD 645, which shields a restaurant legally from customers who might claim their obesity resulted from "long-term consumption of food" from the restaurant. Democrats and Republicans voted overwhelmingly for it (though Joanne Twomey, again, vigilant to protect consumer rights, was one of a handful who voted against it).

THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES

Baldacci’s and the legislative Democrats’ principal attachment to progressive politics seems to be gay rights. Even their much-bragged-about Dirigo Health plan to cover the uninsured is not coming off as very progressive since they have given it little money. After two years, it covers 2000 of the 130,000-plus uninsured.

On economic issues, Baldacci and many Democratic legislators, in their pro-corporation conservatism, seem to be competing for the same constituency as the Republicans. But they may not be able to beat the Republicans at their own game since most businesspeople don’t trust Democrats, who may be unwilling to go quite as far as the GOP in cutting state services and lowering taxes.

To many observers, Baldacci and the Democrats appear to be floundering, with no distinct program or distinct constituency, and Baldacci’s job-approval rating has sunk in the polls. In an out-of-power opposition party, legislative Republicans mainly have a negative program, but it looks more defined than the Democrats’ chart of the future.

"It’s not conducive to good health," says Representative Twomey of the legislative atmosphere. Describing herself as a "New Deal" (old-fashioned) Democrat instead of a (corporate-oriented, conservative) "New Democrat," she adds: "I think the Democrats have lost their way."

Lance Tapley can be reached at ltapley@prexar.com