Letters to the Editor

To the Editor,

Not long ago the legislature passed a budget which included a $447 Million bond, to pay current expenses. This will likely take 16 to 18 years to pay off, long after the money is spent.

Normally the voters are asked to authorize any spending over $2 Million, but this almost Half Billion Dollar loan didn't have the luxury of a citizen approval.

The heart of the problem? Maine state government has outgrown the ability of the citizens to pay for it. This cannot be blamed on a bad economy. Maine is at nearly full employment - 4.1% unemployed. It has the second highest per capita tax burden in the nation. Still, we cannot produce enough revenue to pay for a state government that has spread like crabgrass over the last decade. If we're running a big deficit in a strong economy, imagine the gloom that would descend upon Augusta in a recession.

We're at a point where it appears the taxpayers won't tolerate any more abuse, so Augusta tries to slip this past the public, hoping they won't notice.

The good news is you can do something about it. There are two actions currently in play which allow the citizens to check the actions of an out-of-control Legislature.

The first is called "The People's Veto" a Constututional provision which allows the voters to stop an action from Augusta, this is also known as "Don't Mortgage Me." The second is known as TABOR or the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.

Petitions should be appearing at local businesses soon, be sure to ask about them. For more information, go to:
www.dontmortgageme.com and www.taxpayerbillofrights.com

Sincerely,
Rep. Michael Vaughan HD105

To the Editor:

I want to thank everyone who helped make consideration of my National Guard article at town meeting possible, and all those who spoke for it. I also thank those who to respectfully voiced their disagreement. Though I was dismayed at the persistent misunderstanding of my intent, I have no quarrel with the way the forum of town meeting played out, including the obvious political orchestrations - that's all part of our system.

I do take vigorous exception to the conduct of Steve Libby. One would like to think that the Board of Selectmen Chairperson considers it a sacred duty to set an example of scrupulous ethics in his public role.

At town meeting he tried to manipulate the rules to shut down debate prematurely, he persisted in misrepresenting the nature of the article, misinformed the gathering about validity of some petition signatures, and used that misinformation to imply that a conspiracy of non-residents would try to cast their illegal votes unless proof of residency could be presented to the clerk.

I challenged him on this during balloting, and he professed not to know what the "NR" written beside 8 names on the petition meant. It meant, as Deputy Clerk Barbie Seaver confirmed, "Not Registered," which is the reason you always gather more signatures than the number required. At this point it was too late to have thiscorrected. I had no illusions that the correction would change the outcome, but did hope for a repair of my personal reputation, and the integrity of the proceedings.

If Libby hadn't known what NR meant, he should have asked. Not to do so would have been extremely stupid and irresponsible. With this as only the most obvious instance of manipulation and withholding of information, I think Steve Libby is unworthy to hold office.

Penny Hilton, New Gloucester