In Trying To Contextualize Vetoes, Gov. Janet Mills Acknowledges Progressive Angst
Her spokesperson had called an end to the press conference, but Gov. Janet Mills had one last point to make.
“By the way, we’ve now taken action on 1,734 bills printed just this year,” said Mills, adding that 635 of those bills were enacted, including 491 that she had signed into law.
“As of today I will have vetoed 21 bills to date, less than 3%,” she added before stepping away from the lectern and into her office.
At a glance, the governor’s remarks may have seemed like a non-sequitur. After all, she had just spent roughly 30 minutes explaining her veto of a bill that would have asked voters to buy out the assets of Maine’s two largest utilities and install a consumer-owned outfit run by an elected board.
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Mills may have only vetoed 21 bills this session, but she has been taking friendly fire from progressives and a few Democratic lawmakers for rejecting several high-profile bills advanced by environmentalists, labor unions and criminal justice reformers. While the angst over the fate of those proposals might seem typical of the melodrama that can pervade the State House, some activists worry about missed opportunities with full Democratic control in Augusta and potential electoral consequences by dampening turnout among the Democratic base when Mills seeks reelection next year.
Read more: https://www.mainepublic.org/politics/2021-07-16/pulse-newsletter-in-trying-to-contextualize-vetoes-gov-janet-mills-acknowledges-progressive-angst
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