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Sussman Press Herald Passes on Another GOP Op-Ed
Last
Sunday, the Donald Sussman/Chellie Pingree owned Press Herald ran an
editorial titled “Republicans fail to honor their word.” The piece was
about the recent decision by the majority of Maine’s legislature not to
re-convene early to attempt an override of Governor LePage’s recent
line-item veto of the budget bill.
The Press Herald said that, “Republican lawmakers decided in a secret
poll not to support the budget compromise they had publicly backed just
a few days earlier.”
An earlier version of the story called out the Senate Republicans for
their lack of transparency, although the Senate Republicans had released the poll showing how each Senator had voted four days earlier.
At 3am yesterday, the PPH offered a correction on their website version of the op-ed, saying they “mischaracterized Republican senators’ transparency in letting stand Gov. LePage’s line-item vetoes.”
The Press Herald editorial ran four days after Senate Republicans say
they had sent an op-ed from Senators Mike Thibodeau and Ron Collins,
that explained their reasons for voting Nay to go back into session
ahead of schedule to address the line-item veto. Senate Republicans
assert that the PPH had agreed to run it on Friday the 20th, but it did
not appear.
The PPH editorial, however, mistake included, did run on Sunday the
22nd and the Senate Republicans decided to withdraw their submission of
their own op-ed. In a press release they noted that, “our piece has
still not run and we are dismayed by the total lack of objectivity on
the part of the newspaper [PPH]. Why can’t readers be presented with
competing opinions and make up their own minds?”
Below, in it’s entirety, is the Senate Republican op-ed that the Press Herald passed on:
______________________________________________________
Legislative Republicans will address the general assistance
shortfall in a responsible manner that protects taxpayers from
unnecessary costs
By Senator Mike Thibodeau and Senator Ron Collins
Just last week, Governor LePage utilized a previously unused
provision in Maine law: the line item veto. Passed during the King
administration and supported by voters in a statewide referendum, the
line-item veto can be used by Governors to object to portions of a
budget without vetoing the entire document.
The two items Governor LePage chose to veto were a portion of the
additional funds needed to cover a projected shortfall in the FY 2013
General Assistance allocation, and $3 million in “disproportionate
share” funding to hospitals and psychiatric facilities in order to
offset losses in federal funding. If the Legislature were meeting, we
would take up a Governor’s veto within the prescribed time limit of five
days. However, the Legislature is adjourned until May 15th, when we
will return to finalize work on the FY 2013 supplemental budget.
Given the fact that the Legislature will be returning next month,
legislators had to decide if it made sense to reconvene again within
five days solely to deal with the line-item veto.
Maine’s Constitution – specifically Article IV, Part Third, Section 1
– provides that the Legislature may convene on the call of the
President of the Senate and Speaker of the House, with consent of the
majority of the members of the Legislature of each political party, all
members of the Legislature having first been polled. Based upon this
provision, and a letter from the House and Senate Democratic leaders, we
conducted the poll of members of both parties required to grant consent
to reconvening the Legislature. It failed when two-thirds of
legislative Republicans declined to give consent to coming in this week.
As two Senators who voted not to reconvene, we are writing to
highlight the reasoning behind our decision. There is plenty of time to
address the issues contained in the vetoes in a thoughtful, responsible
manner that is both timely and respectful of the extra costs that would
have been borne by taxpayers had we added yet another session day.
It is important to note that the supplemental budget we passed will
fund the general assistance shortfall for the 2012 fiscal year that ends
June 30th. The line-item vetoes strike a portion of the projected
additional appropriations needed to cover the general assistance
shortfall in the fourth quarter of next year’s budget.
The vetoes leave in place several policy changes we made that will
help us to address the issues going forward. For example, a Department
of Health and Human Services working group will proceed to review
General Assistance Program rules and regulations and make
recommendations to the Legislature no later than December 1, 2012. The
focus of this stakeholder group is to improve the efficiency,
effectiveness, uniformity, and financial accountability of the program.
The budget passed by the Legislature also includes a reduction of the
current reimbursement rate to service center municipalities from 90
percent to 85 percent and a nine month cap on housing, with some
hardship exceptions. Even if the Legislature were to wait until January
2013 to act, it will have a full four months to address the projected
shortfall.
The Legislature is now in recess until May 15th, pending revised
revenue estimates due at the end of April and the work of the
Appropriations Committee once those figures are available. When we
return, we will act on the second FY 2013 supplemental budget, which
addresses the estimated $85 million shortfall in the Department of
Health and Human Services.
Reconvening the Legislature before May 15th would cost taxpayers an
estimated $15,000 per day at a time when we are seeking ways to
eliminate unnecessary costs. None of the items addressed in the line
item vetoes will occur before we have the opportunity to address the
issues.
As legislators, we have a responsibility to carefully weigh the
issues and act in the best interests of sound policy and fiscal
responsibility for the people of Maine. In short, convening the
Legislature this week would have been an unnecessary exercise and
expense. We will continue to work to address the general assistance
shortfall and ensure that the program protects Maine’s most vulnerable
citizens and is financially sustainable for taxpayers.
Senator Mike Thibodeau chairs the Energy, Utilities, and
Technology Committee and is a member of the Agriculture, Conservation,
and Forestry Committee. He represents Maine Senate District 23 which
includes all of Waldo County.
Sen. Ron Collins chairs the Transportation Committee and is a
member of the State and Local Government Committee. Collins represents
Maine State Senate District 2 which includes the York County towns of
Acton, Berwick, Cornish, Lebanon, Limerick, Newfield, North Berwick,
Parsonsfield, Shapleigh, and Wells. Collins chairs the 125th
Legislature’s Transportation Committee.
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