By Michael Shepherd - Jan. 30, 2023
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📷 Maine Republican Party Joel Stetkis is pictured as the No. 2 Republican in the Maine House of Representatives on June 30, 2021, at the State House in Augusta. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett.)

Good morning from Augusta. Supplemental budget hearings continue today in the Legislature, where the first bills are being worked on by other committees. The full agenda is here.

What we're watching today

A bad 2022 and a rule dispute led Maine Republicans to make a change. Things have been bumpy for the Maine Republican Party over the past decade. Divided government under former Gov. Paul LePage has now turned into solid Democratic control of Augusta. There is no easy path back to power for the party after Mainers chose Gov. Janet Mills in a rout over LePage and her fellow Democrats held control of the Legislature.

In office and out of it, LePage has been the key figure in party politics. One of his 2010 campaign staffers, Jason Savage, has been the state party's executive director since 2013, and LePage helped Chair Demi Kouzounas keep her seat after Democrats won the 2018 election. But despite some calls to state committee members from LePage, she lost her bid for a fourth term on Saturday to former Assistant House Minority Leader Joel Stetkis of Canaan.

There were many factors that conspired against Kouzounas. Performance is the first one. While LePage's popularity among the grassroots helped keep the same regime in control of the party in recent years, the outgoing chair already presided over a bad 2018 election. Chairs often step down after bad cycles, like the Maine Democratic Party's Ben Grant in 2014.

There was also plenty of discontent on the day of the vote as well. Entering the vote, Kouzounas faced challenges from three candidates — Stetkis, Rep. Heidi Sampson of Alfred and former legislative candidate Guy Lebida of Bowdoin. But Sampson had a problem in a set of party bylaws that bar sitting lawmakers from holding party officer seats.

A legal ruling held that she had to resign from the Legislature to run for the office. She drafted a resignation letter that was read to the audience, but it turned out that she had only filed it with House Republicans and had not passed it along to the House speaker's office. So she stayed in the Legislature and left the chair's race, as did Lebida. Both endorsed Stetkis.

It was a rout by the end. Stetkis won 57 votes to Kouzounas' 25, with one state committee member voting present. Two sources in the room said the dispute over Sampson's run turned more committee members against Kouzounas. They also ousted Vice Chair Shane Reitze, replacing him with Samuel Bridges, a conservative YouTuber from Guilford who recently attempted to organize against a drag show scheduled in Dover-Foxcroft.

What's next for the party? Stetkis hit the outgoing leadership for placing too much of a focus on top-ticket races over the Legislature. However, Stetkis and Bridges are hard-line conservatives from bright-red areas at a time when Republicans have receded badly in suburban places once crucial to their success. These two new leaders have an awful lot to prove on the big stage.

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News and notes

📷 Secretary of State Shenna Bellows looks towards a camera as she speaks to the public during a Facebook Live feed that was part of ranked-choice tabulations at a state office building in Augusta on Nov. 15, 2022. (Morning Sentinel photo by Rich Abrahamson via AP)

💰 The state might owe money to a top Republican's political group.

◉ A lawsuit filed in late 2020 by the political committee run by House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, against Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' office looks to be winding down to a conclusion that amounts to a Faulkingham victory, with a filing last week in federal court showing the sides have reached a settlement agreement in principle.

◉ It is over Faulkingham's failed referendum push to bar noncitizens from voting in local elections. His side contended that the state's ban on out-of-state signature gatherers is unconstitutional and it has won two early decisions, including one from a federal appeals court in July.

◉ Bellows warned lawmakers in 2021 that changes to this law may be forced by the courts. That seems to be happening. She told lawmakers last week that a settlement could also leave the state on the hook for legal fees, amounting to a rare payment to a lawmaker's political fund.

‍💨 Lawmakers try to fix an issue that roiled the cannabis industry last year.

◉ One of the first measures moving forward in the new Legislature is a bill from Sen. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, that would define "cannabis paraphernalia" under Maine law to separate it from similar products that require tobacco licenses for stores to sell. The marijuana committee will work on the bill today.

◉ Last October, the state's cannabis regulator issued guidelines saying stores needed tobacco licenses to sell electronic smoking devices, rolling papers or pre-rolled joints. The state backed down later after outcry from the medical marijuana industry, but Attorney General Aaron Frey advised lawmakers to make a legal fix during the 2023 session.

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What we're reading

📖 Raw fights over gender identity and schools are hitting small Maine towns.

🏬 These Mainers saved 28 affordable apartments on the costly coast.

🚆 Here's what passenger rail service would mean to Bangor.

📰 Following a national trend, the BDN will not print Mondays starting in March.

💦 Most Maine water bottlers still aren't testing for PFAS.

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