John Baldacci

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Maine's donkey party loves the rich and the poor — but can't protect both

In the current legislative fight over Republican Governor Paul LePage's lust to slash Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) programs because of a $221-million shortfall in its budget, Democrats say over and over that they want to protect the po
Two-faced Democrats
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 17, 2012

Museum dreams

This week, we're joining a guided tour of the Maine Museum of Political Paleontology. A docent is explaining to a group of schoolchildren what's happening in a scene depicting cave people trying to register to vote.
Political Paleontology
By AL DIAMON | August 26, 2011

How they hate him

Republican Governor Paul LePage has every right to be angry at Maine journalists for depicting him as a clueless buffoon with the political skills of a rabies-maddened raccoon and the public-relations prowess of day-old bait.
LePage vs. The Media Alliance to Ridicule, Degrade, and Eviscerate Normal Society
By AL DIAMON | August 12, 2011

Democrats celebrate victory in the face of defeat

Senator Dawn Hill, of Cape Neddick, the lead Democrat on the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, which fashioned the recently passed $6-billion state budget, explained to the Phoenix why she voted to reduce income and estate taxes on the rich whi
They cozy up to Republicans and the rich
By LANCE TAPLEY | July 01, 2011

Liquored up + lacquered down

It's possible that every member of the 125th Maine Legislature is dead drunk.
Maine's senators need to sober up
By AL DIAMON | June 24, 2011

Going, gone

Republican Governor Paul LePage should do himself, his party, and his state a favor by pulling a Sarah Palin and resigning.
LePage should just resign
By AL DIAMON | May 13, 2011

Facebook group becomes an organizing force

When Governor Paul LePage returned to the Blaine House after his Jamaican vacation on Monday, he got a special welcome-home gift: an oversized card, signed by 1300 of his constituents (plus some balloons and Jamaican Me Crazy coffee!).
Maine's majority
By DEIRDRE FULTON | April 15, 2011

Smoke Local

Lobsters, blueberries, potatoes, and . . . pot? As Maine's medical-marijuana program inches closer to business-as-usual, weed is on the verge of becoming a meaningful part of the state's economy — a budding piece of Maine's local, sustainable, pro-agricu
Where will marijuana fit into Maine's economy?
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 18, 2011

LePage's secret bankers

Paul LePage was making national headlines last week for all the wrong reasons: telling the NAACP to "kiss my butt" on the eve of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, dismissing the civil-rights organization as a "special interest" he won't be "held hosta
How much the governor really owes, and to which special-interest groups
By COLIN WOODARD | January 21, 2011

What's missing?

After an intense investigation into the backgrounds of Republican Governor Paul LePage's nominees for top administration posts, I've discovered an astonishing lack of diversity.
LePage's nominees
By AL DIAMON | January 21, 2011

2011 predictions: Winds of chance

It's impossible to predict the future, obviously, but we at the Phoenix have peered into our crystal ball in search of important issues that will arise in 2011.
A casino, wind-power exploration, fighting hunger, challenging Snowe, and more head our way in 2011
By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 31, 2010

Lie to me

If Paul LePage's wife asked him, "Do these pants make my butt look big?" he'd probably answer, "Yeah, you look like you've got twin entrants in a giant pumpkin contest dragging around behind you."
LePage's brutal honesty
By AL DIAMON | December 31, 2010

I never promised you a rose garden

Some readers have suggested that last week's column was unfair to outgoing Democratic Governor John Baldacci. They're correct.
Baldacci's failures
By AL DIAMON | December 24, 2010

Walking on broken glass

There must be some kind of law that kicks in whenever a prominent politician leaves office, requiring every columnist and pundit to blather on at length about the triumphs and tragedies of that esteemed figure's checkered career.
A (very) short list of Baldacci's successes
By AL DIAMON | December 17, 2010

LePage interested in corporate prisons

In the gubernatorial campaign the controversial Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit prison operator, spent $25,000 on behalf of Republican candidate Paul LePage, now the governor-elect.
The $25,000 contribution question
By LANCE TAPLEY | December 17, 2010

Brave the new world

Maine is in crisis — big budget shortfalls, lots of people unemployed, a cold winter approaching. And there's this new governor, talking about making life easy for business.
Press releases
By JEFF INGLIS | November 19, 2010

Penal future

The few things that Republican Governor-elect Paul LePage was reported as saying on crime-and-punishment issues during the campaign mostly sounded harsh and, of course, right-wing.
Will LePage's zeal to cut the budget make prisoners and guards bleed?
By LANCE TAPLEY | November 12, 2010

Celebrity gossip

In the final days of a tight gubernatorial race, the campaigns tend to get desperate, then frantic, then crazy. That progression leads to increasingly wacky attacks on the opposition, few of which turn out to be true, although many of them ought to be.
Candidates in their final, desperate moments
By AL DIAMON | October 29, 2010

How progressive are Maine's gubernatorial candidates?

Political rhetoric is cheap. Does a candidate have specific, practical proposals that are fresh approaches to stubborn problems? Or are their ideas irresponsible?
The gubernatorial candidates' specific ideas to make Maine better (or worse)
By LANCE TAPLEY | October 22, 2010

Be careful what you say about Libby Mitchell

You can get in a lot of trouble if you use the words "Libby Mitchell" and "old" in the same sentence.
Old and in the way
By AL DIAMON | October 15, 2010

Cleaning house

Maine’s government contains more than 300 boards and commissions — ranging from the influential, such as the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME) and the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC), to the obscure, such as one that oversees landscape architects a
Board overhaul
By AL DIAMON | September 17, 2010

Holy war

And so it came to pass, Roman Catholics, Mormons, and evangelical Protestants have banded together to battle, well, the rest of us — the heathens, the godless liberals, the Hitchens-reading progressives.
How an unholy alliance of Catholics, Mormons, and evangelicals seeks to control our lives
By JEFF INGLIS | June 25, 2010

Plan B(1)

With the end of the long primary campaign, Mainers are facing an ugly reality.
Post-primary predictions
By AL DIAMON | June 11, 2010

Wrote a song for everyone

Political experts know the most important factor in a successful race for governor is the campaign song.
Name that tune
By AL DIAMON | May 07, 2010

Are doctors complicit in prison torture?

In the past few years an outcry has arisen over the involvement of military and CIA medical professionals and psychologists in torture. Some critics have even suggested criminal prosecution of the medical staff involved or, at least, revocation of their
The Maine medical community looks at solitary confinement
By LANCE TAPLEY | April 23, 2010

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