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| 📷 Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, presides over Gov. Janet Mills' inauguration on Jan. 4, 2023, in Augusta. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett) |
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🔵 It is harder for these narrowly divided bills in the Senate.
◉ Senate President Troy Jackson of Allagash and Democrats could bail out Talbot Ross on some bills mostly favored by Republicans that have gotten through the House in the last few days, given the large 22-13 majority in the upper chamber. That phenomenon is not without exceptions, however.
◉ We told you about two bills in Wednesday's newsletter that snuck through the House. One, led by Rep. Joe Perry, D-Bangor, but mostly supported by Republicans, would prohibit municipal flavored tobacco bans that have passed in six cities and towns in Maine. It was shot down in the Senate, though.
◉ Assistant Senate Minority Leader Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, was able to keep a child care deregulation bill afloat in final votes on Wednesday. She rallied five Democrats to cross party lines and pass it earlier this week, then it got through the House. The measure now goes to Mills' desk.
◉ Jackson is more of an economic progressive than a social one, representing a rural district with a history of backing from gun-rights groups. Talbot Ross is trying to get gun control bills through the Legislature but failed earlier this week there on a 72-hour waiting period bill that stalled in the Senate on Wednesday. That vote will show us how the chambers differ, if at all.
😬 Maine's congressman says he screwed up on a swing vote.
◉ U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine's 2nd District, is a top centrist in his chamber, often breaking with his party. But he did not mean to do so on one of those votes earlier this week, he told members of the chamber.
◉ A statement that Golden read into the record said he mistakenly entered a yes vote on a Republican bill aimed at giving Congress more authority over certain rules developed by the executive branch. He meant to vote no alongside everyone else in his party.
◉ House Republicans' campaign arm seized on the vote in a continued push to erode Golden's reputation as a moderate, with a spokesperson for the National Republican Campaign Committee saying the congressman would "rather hand over the reins to [President] Joe Biden to push extreme policies than work across the aisle." |
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What we're reading
☀️ Maine's messy solar fight invokes former Gov. Paul LePage's legacy.
💸 We have a guide to the July electric rate hikes facing Mainers.
🧑⚖️ A former lawmaker got 72 hours in jail and is leaving the Democratic Party.
❌ The sexual harassment case against a former Maine judge was dismissed.
🥊 A former official in Allagash was charged with assaulting a selectman. |
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