OP-ED Polls don’t tell Baldacci’s story BY BENJAMIN DUDLEY, MAINE STATE REPRESENTATIVE, PORTLAND

I have no argument with the opinion polls Lance Tapley cites in his piece, "Bad News for Baldacci" (June 17). I wish only to place them in context — Governor John Baldacci is not afraid to shake things up in order to do what he sees as best for the state and its people. Isn’t this exactly what we want our leaders to do?

John Baldacci stepped into the confluence of some of Maine’s deepest problems: huge budget shortfalls, a health-care cost crisis, public demand for property-tax relief, and legally sanctioned discrimination. Further, a sluggish national economy and an unresponsive federal government have meant budget crises for nearly every state in the union. While the Bush Administration avoids domestic entanglements, federal funding for Maine has been cut by more than $560 million, from programs including Medicaid, education, and homeland security.

Despite the failure of federal leadership, perhaps because of it, Governor Baldacci has made tough choices and has put the welfare of working Mainers ahead of partisan politics and special interests. Positive change often means disrupting the status quo, and Baldacci has not shied away from disrupting it. You can’t lead without risking your popularity; the measure of a good leader is what you accomplish in exchange for taking that risk. So, what has John Baldacci done in exchange for his recent dip in the polls?

Unfortunately, Tapley doesn’t fully develop the answer to this fundamental question. Understanding the full context of the challenges in Augusta and Baldacci’s approach to navigating them are essential parts of the story. Tapley neglects to recognize Baldacci’s insistence on meeting Maine’s toughest problems head-on.

On property-tax relief, the state enacted $250 million more in K-12 education spending in the coming biennium, doubled the maximum benefit and lifted the cap on eligibility for the circuit breaker program (direct property-tax relief to low- and middle-income Mainers amounting to a $17.5 million increase), promised extra relief to service-center communities like Portland, and placed caps on the growth of state and local government spending. The naysayers notwithstanding, it will be at least another year before the homeowners and renters feel the full effect of this legislation.

The Governor has taken a lot of heat for refusing to include a referendum component to the civil-rights bill, but this only underscores my point. His leadership on equal rights only serves to highlight his integrity. The Governor’s anti-discrimination bill justly extends basic civil-rights protections to a group of Maine people who have too long suffered levels of discrimination unthinkable to most of us. Thanks to his leadership, Maine is taking a stand with the commonplace American notion that minority rights are to be protected against the majority. Does anyone think Governor Baldacci didn’t know this might hurt his popularity in District 2?

Regarding the budget, Tapley’s article fails to capture the truth of the majority budget passed in March. The controversial borrowing plan in fact began as a bi-partisan effort, and Representative Sawin Millet (R-Waterford) was one of a team of legislators exploring the idea. Following the Bush Administration’s alarming recommendations to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC), Governor Baldacci recognized that, in the face of such enormous economic uncertainty, we needed another approach to balancing the budget. Meeting with Republicans and Democrats, the Governor asked the Legislature to reconsider the budget. Although they continued to attack the Governor and legislative Democrats, and mounted a petition campaign for an unprecedented citizens veto of the budget, Republicans presented no plan of their own to balance the budget. Eventually, bowing to public pressure, the GOP introduced an 11th-hour proposal full of gimmicks and nightmarish cuts threatening the healthcare of 40,000 Mainers. Fortunately, as a result of Baldacci’s leadership, the Legislature adopted a sensible approach to cost-cutting and beneficial revenue increases.

Finally, in terms of vision, Governor Baldacci sees a Maine where all people are full participants, free from discrimination. He sees a Maine where low and middle-income families won’t have to sell their homes because of high property taxes and where low-income seniors won’t have to choose between basic healthcare and food. Governor Baldacci is making tough choices in support of Maine’s working families and has articulated a balanced vision that any free-thinking conservative, liberal, or moderate should support.