NEWS CENTER Maine political analysts BJ McCollister, Garrett Mason, and Gia Drew weigh in on the top issues of the week.
Political Brew: Augusta spending fight, Mills on 72-hour law, and Biden Israel shift
PORTLAND, Maine — It was another busy week in politics. Our analysts discussed the dramatic end to the legislative session with a spending fight, Gov. Mills’ response to fallout from the new 72-hour law, and President Biden taking a tougher stance on Israel.
Augusta spending fight
Things are finally wrapping up in Augusta, but not without some drama. Governor Mills slamming the Democratic-led Appropriations Committee for ignoring her advice on a number of spending bills, claiming they pushed the budget to a breaking point. Those on the committee and Democratic leaders say they did nothing out of the ordinary to fund critical programs.
ZACH: “BJ, what gives here?”
BJ: “Well, look, I think the Appropriations Committee funded a lot of very good initiatives, including ways to expand affordable housing, to help survivors of sexual assault. And this is not abnormal what they’ve done. They do it every…every budget for the other part of this is to claim that the budget is going to be out of whack when there’s over $900 million in rainy day funds and other savings just doesn’t add up.”
ZACH: “Garrett, some Republicans on the committee are even saying this is fairly standard, right?”
GARRETT: Yeah, it is fairly standard to spend the excess revenues. But what you have going on is you have a completely irresponsible Democrat-led legislature for the past four years who has pushed all of this funding into the out years. So it’s not this year that I think the governor is really talking about. It’s the following years where we’re starting programs that were passed over in this time. And so it’s the future that the governor is worried about. And it’s and the FBR analyst talked about this in the Appropriations Committee as well, that, you know, the future is not looking bright because of overspending. I mean, you know, when I first took office, when I was in the legislature in 2010, the budget was a little under $6 billion. And now we’re approaching $11 billion…in 14 years is a lot of spending going on. And I think the governor is right. She was right to call it out.”
ZACH: “Gia, And budget there is still the argument here that there are critical pieces and critical programs. B.J. mentioned a few.”
GIA: “Absolutely. I think this is why lawmakers went this extra step. There are there are bills and policies that were that the Democrats are trying to get through that really do try to, you know, you know, respond to the needs of Mainers. And I don’t think they’re overspending that that money that is sitting there needs to be spent. And I think they’re spending it in a way that is really helpful for Mainers.”
BJ: ” And one more thing I would add to I mean, look since Democrats have controlled Augusta since 2018, every single year there has been a budget surplus. So this argument that Democrats are irresponsible with their dollars has not held out.”
ZACH: ” If that’s the case, why is Governor Mills making a big deal about it?”
BJ: “I don’t think it makes a lot of sense. If I were to guess, it’s because she sees this legislature tying her hands on her next budget proposal because they are spending the future dollars.”
Mills on 72-hour law
In an interview with Governor Janet Mills earlier this week, NEWS CENTER Maine’s Chris Costa asked about the fallout from her allowing a 72-hour waiting period bill for gun sales to become law without her signature. One popular sporting goods store, the Kittery Trading Post, threatened to leave the state. Here was her response:
GOV. MILLS: “I talked with those businesses before I made my decision. I talked to people all over the state of Maine, people on both sides of the issue. And I think there are valid points to be made. People of goodwill on both sides of that issue. We’ll see how that works out. In the meantime, we are seeing real strong effectiveness, significant benefits from the extreme risk protection order law that’s in effect and has just been strengthened.”
ZACH: “Garrett, Is that a fair response?”
GARRETT: “Yeah, I wish the governor would have vetoed it. I think she was very up in the air on the whole thing. But listen, the 72-hour waiting period bill, I think is an absolute failure of the process. You know, this bill was introduced as a response to the Lewiston shooting. But the fact of the matter is, if you’re going to put bills in response to horrible events, they should be if enacted, have been able to do something about the situation that we faced. This bill does none of that. Robert Card had had those weapons well beyond 72 hours. He had a months ahead of time. This would have done nothing but the Lewiston shooting. This is not. This is taking a crisis and turning it into an opportunity for people who oppose gun rights. When you sat on the floor and you heard all the arguments, it quickly changed from Lewiston shooting to suicide prevention. This was not an honestly put-forward bill. This bill was actually introduced in the first session and failed. And it’s in my opinion, it was it’s going to cause a mass at places like Kittery Trading Post and especially those gun shops across the border who can just simply hop over and do business over there.”
ZACH: “Gia, Even the governor didn’t make mention of the Lewiston shooting in her rationale for just allowing it to become law, but did mention the suicide angle.”
GIA: ” Absolutely, I think most Mainers wanted some type of really substantial gun reform. And I think the 72-hour window really is going to save people’s lives in addition to suicide. Just…other people who are going through emotional moments, having that little pause will definitely save people’s lives. I really wish the governor would have signed this bill rather than this sort of trying to thread the needle of not signing it. I think it sends a really complicated message.”
BJ: “This bill will save lives full stop. And that’s why we heard from advocates who are representing people in domestic violence situations. That’s why we heard from advocates who work in suicide prevention. And whether or not this had something to do with Lewiston or not is not the point. The fact is the Maine legislature and the governor, by letting this go into law without her signature, by letting it go into the law, saved Mainers’ lives. And that matters.”
Biden Israel shift
President Joe Biden is appearing to take a bit of a tougher stance on Israel, saying he will stop sending bombs if the country goes ahead with a planned ground offensive in Rafah. The warning by the president isn’t being welcomed by everyone. Democratic Representative Jared Golden posted on X.
GOLDEN: “The president’s actions signal weakness to Hamas, to our allies and adversaries abroad and at home. Congress appropriated funds for arms and ammunition for Israel and they should be promptly delivered.”
ZACH: “BJ, do you agree?”
BJ: “Well, I think it’s good that the president is finally taking another look at this and starting to make changes. I think he needs to go even further. Look, at the end of the day. Every day we’re learning about something new, about this conflict. But what becomes abundantly clear every day is that there are horrible acts that are happening and our involvement is troubling from a moral ground.”
ZACH: “Garrett, do you agree with Congressman Golden?”
GARRETT: “Absolutely. I think the congressman is 100% correct. And let’s go back to October 7th and let’s go talk about how this started. This started with Hamas preparing a invasion of Israel and killing a killing, raping a thousand people in Israel. And this was the response they get. Hamas is the elected government of the Palestinian people, the elected government. This did not happen out of nowhere. This happened as a response to an action. Now, the other thing I find absolutely curious about this is Donald Trump was impeached for not sending money to Ukraine that eventually got there anyways on time and standard, but he still got impeached for it. Here you have the president of the United States from another party saying that he won’t deliver arms, that Congress has passed and he’s not being impeached for it. I find that fascinating.”
ZACH: “Gia, on a bigger scale here, some are looking at this as the president caving to pressure from those protests on college campuses for reelection.”
GIA: “I wouldn’t say it’s caving. I think the president is really listening to what the country is telling him. And I think, you know, I wish he had moved sooner, but he was also in a complicated place where, like you mentioned before, there are really powerful actors in the Middle East and I think making some changes. But he has to do that with Israel. So other countries like Iran don’t jump right back in.”