By Michael Shepherd - April 11, 2023
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📷 State Treasurer Henry Beck, left, State Auditor Matthew Dunlap, center, and Attorney General Aaron Frey attend Gov. Janet Mills' budget address on Feb. 14, 2023, at the State House in Augusta. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

Good morning from Augusta. The Legislature is in today. Here are the House and Senate calendars, plus the committee agenda.

What we're watching today

Will the attorney general's troubles lend momentum to this often-considered effort? Maine's odd arrangement leaving the election of the attorney general, secretary of state and state treasurer to members of the Legislature have been a target in the State House for more than 100 years.

Lawmakers have tried to make them popularly elected or even appointed by the governor, but they have never been able to persuade their colleagues to give up their authority over the insider elections conducted after Election Day every two years. This year's effort may have gotten a timing boost.

Last week, Attorney General Aaron Frey disclosed a months-long relationship with a subordinate after the Bangor Daily News began investigating tips on it. He reassigned his romantic partner to his deputy at that time, saying an internal review found no violations of law or policy. His office does not follow a state policy saying supervisors must disclose relationships with subordinates.

On Tuesday, members of the State and Local Government Committee will take testimony on a constitutional amendment proposed by Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, that would send a change making all three offices popularly elected to the 2023 ballot. Watch it beginning at 1 p.m.

In a Monday statement, Andrews said the Frey news makes it more urgent that the offices be "directly accountable to Maine voters, not political insiders."

The Republican angle here is quite clear. Democrats control the Legislature. As long as they do, Democrats with legislative experience will hold the inside track on these jobs. Frey, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, State Treasurer Henry Beck are all former legislators, as is State Auditor Matt Dunlap, who is elected in the same way but not a constitutional officer.

However, there are also a group of populist Democrats who have long supported such a change. The 2021 effort was sponsored by Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, who initially got the measure through the Senate before it stalled out short of the needed two-thirds majority in the House. Baldacci's late bid to subject the elections to ranked-choice voting turned off Republicans.

Andrews now has an eclectic list of cosponsors, including Baldacci, Republican leaders in the House and Senate, plus Democrats including Sen. Craig Hickman of Winthrop and progressive Rep. Sophie Warren of Scarborough. While getting the Legislature to give up its power will be hard, this bill is worth watching given Frey's situation and the progress made last time.

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News and notes

📷 U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (left) looks over plans for the renovation of the Colonial Theater in downtown Augusta with Richard Parkhurst, the president of the theater's board, on April 4, 2023. (BDN photo by Michael Shepherd)

📣 Maine's Republican senator criticizes an anti-abortion judge's ruling.

◉ Sen. Susan Collins was one of the few Republicans to criticize a Texas judge's ruling last week to rescind federal approval for the abortion drug mifepristone.

◉ The drug sits in limbo for now with the administration of President Joe Biden preparing an appeal and another court issuing a conflicting ruling preserving access to the drug in a number of states including Maine, which is one of the rural states where most abortions are done with medication.

◉ The judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk of Texas, was a controversial appointee of former President Donald Trump. Collins was the only Republican senator to oppose his confirmation in 2019, citing his “alarming bias against LGBTQ Americans and disregard for Supreme Court precedents.”

◉ "In 2019, I voted against Judge Kacsmaryk's confirmation, and I disagree strongly with his decision in this case. Mifepristone is an FDA-approved drug that has been on the market for more than two decades and extensively studied," Collins said in a Monday statement to outlets including Newsweek.

👏 The governor applauds Frey but hasn't commented on his relationship.

◉ Gov. Janet Mills issued a Monday statement saying she "applauds" Frey for his move alongside top lawyers in more than 20 other states to file an amicus brief trying to get Kacsmaryk's mifepristone decision overturned.

◉ The Democratic governor said her administration is looking at ways to fight back against the ruling, including by considering stockpiles of the drug like the one Massachusetts announced on Monday.

◉ Mills' office has not responded to repeated requests for comment on Frey's relationship with a subordinate since it became public last week. Her spokespeople did not answer another message on it Monday.

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What we're reading

⏩ Maine argued in court the $1 billion corridor was rushed to evade voters.

🤏 A former aide to an eccentric Maine candidate was indicted for allegedly stealing $225,000 from the late Max Linn.

🪧 Portlanders protested the police response to a recent neo-Nazi march.

🧑‍🚒 Bangor firefighters want a chunk of the city's cache of federal aid.

📇 A court ordered the secretary of state to reword the utility takeover referendum question, Maine Public reports. Here's your soundtrack.

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