In the lobby Baldacci versus the Democrats BY LANCE TAPLEY

The gap is widening dramatically between liberal Maine Democrats, including a good number of Democratic legislators, and a more conservative Democratic Governor John Baldacci.

Will there be an electoral revolt against Baldacci — for example, a 2006 primary opponent? The possibility seems remote at this point. But a High Noon showdown between the governor and Democrats in the legislature looks far more likely. It would be over Baldacci’s proposed massive cuts to government services — especially, social services — that many Democrats blame on his 2002 no-new-taxes campaign pledge.

Many in Democratic core constituencies — such as social-service providers, people who receive government services, government employees, reform organizations, and organized labor — are seething over his new two-year budget, which gives considerable tax breaks to big business on top of the $247-million tax break to property owners he recently pushed through the Democratic-majority Legislature, while it drastically cuts state services to the poor, the sick, the mentally disabled, and the mentally ill. (See "Who pays for the tax cuts?" by Lance Tapley, Jan. 28.) Democrats are particularly concerned about these cuts when President Bush wants to slash federal money for social services.

Here is a sample of comments from liberal/progressive Democratic legislators on Baldacci’s budget proposals, including the comments of three influential committee chairs:

Senator Ethan Strimling of Portland (Labor Committee chair): "There is resentment among progressives" about Baldacci’s approach to taxes and the budget. To counter the governor’s proposals, "My hope is that we in the Legislature will begin to use the power we have to push back."

Representative Theodore Koffman of Bar Harbor (Natural Resources Committee chair): The disaffection with Baldacci "may expand." While Koffman supports Baldacci politically at present, "the game isn’t over." He thinks it’s possible a Democrat might run against him in the primary.

Representative Hannah Pingree of North Haven (Health and Human Services Committee chair): "There are some legislators quite frustrated with him," she says of Baldacci. "At this point, I couldn’t support these cuts, especially to the mentally ill, the mentally retarded, and kids."

Representative Sean Faircloth of Bangor: "There are huge public-policy proposals embedded in this budget. The Sunday hunting issue pales in comparison with the life and death of human beings." Faircloth says he has calculated that over 60 percent of the proposed social-service cuts hit abused and neglected, mentally ill, and developmentally disabled children. In an email, he writes, "The proposed state budget makes the most sweeping changes in policies affecting Maine children in two decades."

Representative Arthur Lerman of Augusta: "There hasn’t been a department that has been adequately funded in the budget. They’re all being cut. The Health and Human Services budget cuts are devastating to thousands of people."

Representative Herb Adams of Portland: "There is a serious disconnect between the philosophy of the Democratic [legislative] caucus and the spirit of the Democratic governor’s budget. We can’t pretend that sweet talk alone will cover this over."

Representative Joanne Twomey of Biddeford: "Baldacci? He’s a Republican."

A actual Republican, Senator Peter Mills of Somerset County, suggests the scenario of the possible showdown between Baldacci and the Democrats in the legislature. Because the GOP is unlikely to go along with the governor’s plan to sell future proceeds of the state lottery for several hundred million dollars, Mills predicts that without the Republicans on his side Baldacci will need "every single one of the Democrats" to pass the budget.

The liberal Democrats, therefore, "have got some leverage," he says. "A few of them could hold him up," force him to back down on the cuts, and require him to accept new taxes in order to balance the budget.

Hannah Pingree agrees with this possible scenario: "The situation [Mills presents] is very real. [Baldacci] needs the Democrats to pass his budget."

A PRETTY LIBERAL STATE AND PARTY

Fundamentally, Baldacci may be out of step not only with many Democrats, but also with contemporary Maine, which national political observers consider a deep blue state.

Item: In the presidential vote, Maine handily went for John Kerry in 2004, Al Gore in 2000, and Bill Clinton in 1996 and 1992.

Item: In Maine, even a lot of Republicans are liberal, at least on many issues. Our two GOP senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, with their stands on abortion rights, environmental issues, and the social safety net, are far to the left of the Southern-oriented Republican congressional majority.

Item: Maine has a left-wing Green Independent Party that, while still small, is a significant force in the state’s politics. Maine has the only Green state representative in the nation, John Eder of Portland.

Item: In a poll last year by the American Association of Retired Persons and the Maine Citizen Leadership Fund, Maine voters expressed overwhelming opposition to government cuts in health care (91 percent) and mental health services (83 percent). The poll, of 819 registered voters, also showed strong support for increasing the income tax on the wealthy (77 percent), increasing the sales tax (70 percent), and hiking the hotel lodging tax (69 percent) to fund property-tax reductions.

Item: In national-candidate primary choices and party-platform planks, Maine Democrats demonstrate a liberal persuasion. Rank-and-file Democrats have warmly supported the likes of Jesse Jackson, Jerry Brown, Howard Dean, and Dennis Kucinich. At last year’s state Democratic convention, among platform planks endorsed were radical reform of corporate power by ending corporations’ "personhood," socialized medicine (a national single-payer health system), adequate social services given priority over "cost-effectiveness," and repeal of the PATRIOT Act.

But among Maine Democrats a strange thing sometimes happens between the grass-roots political lip and the leadership official cup; there is a gap, a disjunction.

The Democratic State Committee and its officers, for example, often are more conservative than rank-and-file Democratic activists. After last May’s Democratic State Convention adopted a platform plank criticizing Israel’s handling of its occupation of Palestine, the state committee eliminated the plank at its meeting following the convention, citing a procedural error.

But most significant as an example of the disjunction between the body of the party and some of its leaders, Democrats — many of them liberal — nominated and helped elect a conservative Democratic governor, John Baldacci.

One obvious reason for this disconnection is that, to win general elections, Democratic office-seekers must appeal to a broader and more conservative group than voters in a Democratic primary, and even ideological liberals can be pragmatic. Another cause of the gap may be the influence on the political leadership class of the ubiquitous corporate lobbyists in Augusta — and the money they represent.

Whatever its causes, the gap seems more like a chasm at present between Baldacci and many Democrats.