June 1, 2019

Mills Nominates Former Chair of Maine Democratic Committee to Lead Maine PUC

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills is nominating a former lawmaker and chair of the Maine Democratic Committee to chair the state's Public Utilities Commission.

Phil Bartlett, 42, is a Portland lawyer who also served as the Senate co-chair of the Legislature's Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee.

In a press release, Mills praised Bartlett for expertise in economics and utility regulation and commitment to the state of Maine. Bartlett will take the seat of outgoing PUC chairman Mark Vannoy.

https://www.mainepublic.org/post/mills-nominates-former-chair-maine-democratic-committee-lead-maine-puc
(no more at link)

June 1, 2019

Collins: Opponents Resorting To 'Distortion And Outright Lies' To Unseat Her

Maine Sen. Susan Collins says she is dismayed by the early start and extreme negativity of the campaign against her, even though she has not decided whether to seek re-election.

"Campaigns start earlier and earlier and the amount of distortion and outright lies is just extraordinary," she says.

Collins says Democrats have raised millions of dollars in their effort to unseat her, and she also expects to face a primary challenge from a candidate on the right. She says both groups are already distorting her record, but she says any attempt to use the abortion issue against her will fail.

"I'm being targeted by national and some state Democrats as their number one target, despite the fact that there is no one in the United States Senate that works more often across the aisle than I do," she says.

Read more: https://www.mainepublic.org/post/collins-opponents-resorting-distortion-and-outright-lies-unseat-her

June 1, 2019

Maine Lawmakers Send One Of The Country's Toughest Internet Privacy Proposals To The Governor's Desk

Maine could soon have the toughest internet privacy law in the country.

This week the Legislature sent a bill to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that would prohibit internet service providers such as Spectrum, Verizon and AT&T from selling their customers' data without consent. The fight over the bill has been intense — and expensive. One provider even attempted to enlist its employees to urge lawmakers not to pass it.

The bill stands out from other state privacy bills because internet service providers, known as ISPs, would have to ask their customers permission to use and sell their private data. Other state laws require customers to opt-out.

"I think that when you send an email or conduct an online search that should be private,” says Democratic state Sen. Shenna Bellows, of Manchester. “It's your information, not your internet service provider's information.”

Read more: https://www.mainepublic.org/post/maine-lawmakers-send-one-countrys-toughest-internet-privacy-proposals-governor-s-desk

June 1, 2019

Program that pays farmers to provide food for hungry Mainers threatened

AUBURN — To preserve a hunger relief program that buys more than $1 million worth of fresh produce from Maine farms each year, state lawmakers are weighing whether to include funding for it for another two years.

Without the allocation, Good Shepherd Food Bank’s program would have to be reduced drastically, Kristen Miale, the charity’s president, told legislators recently.

Miale said Tuesday at the charity’s Auburn warehouse the Mainers Feeding Mainers program is nearly “a perfect project” because it uses state cash to provide food to hungry residents, while bolstering 75 family farms throughout the state.

One of the participating farmers, Eugene Ripley of Ripley Farm in Dover-Foxcroft, called the program “one of the brightest spots in the local agricultural economy” and pleaded for its survival.

Read more: https://www.sunjournal.com/2019/05/28/program-that-pays-farmers-to-provide-food-for-hungry-mainers-threatened/
(Lewiston Sun Journal)

June 1, 2019

New law to make Maine first state with paid sick time that covers more than getting sick

AUGUSTA — Most of Maine’s workforce is guaranteed access to paid sick time under a bill Gov. Janet Mills signed into law Tuesday.

The law provides workers with companies that have 10 or more employees an hour of sick time for every 40 hours they work, up to a maximum of 40 hours of time off a year. The paid time could be used for an illness or family emergency.

“Like most Mainers, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had to take a day off from work to take care of a sick child, family member or had some type of emergency calling them away from work,” Mills said during ceremonial signing of the bill at the State House. “It’s not something people want to do, they value their jobs and in Maine people have a good work ethic and we are proud of that.”

When a worker becomes ill they should be able to take time off without suffering a loss of income, Mills said.

Read more: https://www.pressherald.com/2019/05/28/maine-workforce-gets-paid-sick-days/

June 1, 2019

O'Rourke nearly triples Iowa staff as focus grows on first 2020 voters

by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has nearly tripled his Iowa staff as the former El Paso congressman puts a growing emphasis on the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

His campaign announced Friday morning that it now has 44 staffers in Iowa, including 37 organizers tasked with spreading out across the state to build support for the candidate. That's up from 16 Iowa staffers in late April.

The organizers are holding a "Statewide Weekend of Action" this weekend, canvassing in regions throughout the state. O'Rourke himself is set to arrive later next week for a trip during which he will open an office in Cedar Rapids, his campaign's first Iowa outpost beyond its Des Moines headquarters.

O'Rourke's ramped-up activity in Iowa makes clearer than ever how important he views the state to his 2020 prospects. By his campaign's count, he has held more events and visited more counties in Iowa than any other 2020 candidate. His four-day swing next week will be his fifth trip to the state since launching his campaign in mid-March, while he has visited two other critical early voting states, New Hampshire and South Carolina, three times and twice, respectively.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/31/orourke-nearly-triples-iowa-staff-focus-grows-first-2020-voters/

June 1, 2019

O'Rourke nearly triples Iowa staff as focus grows on first 2020 voters

by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has nearly tripled his Iowa staff as the former El Paso congressman puts a growing emphasis on the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

His campaign announced Friday morning that it now has 44 staffers in Iowa, including 37 organizers tasked with spreading out across the state to build support for the candidate. That's up from 16 Iowa staffers in late April.

The organizers are holding a "Statewide Weekend of Action" this weekend, canvassing in regions throughout the state. O'Rourke himself is set to arrive later next week for a trip during which he will open an office in Cedar Rapids, his campaign's first Iowa outpost beyond its Des Moines headquarters.

O'Rourke's ramped-up activity in Iowa makes clearer than ever how important he views the state to his 2020 prospects. By his campaign's count, he has held more events and visited more counties in Iowa than any other 2020 candidate. His four-day swing next week will be his fifth trip to the state since launching his campaign in mid-March, while he has visited two other critical early voting states, New Hampshire and South Carolina, three times and twice, respectively.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/05/31/orourke-nearly-triples-iowa-staff-focus-grows-first-2020-voters/

June 1, 2019

With a workforce shortage in Maine, here's what some recruiters want employers to know

Even though his players tease him for it, the coach of the University of Maine football team often likes to stress that it’s “a major Division I college program” during interviews and in team meetings.

That’s because the coach, Nick Charlton, wants to build pride and camaraderie among his players, many of whom were recruited to play for the Black Bears despite growing up in warmer southern states and having difficulty with the cold climate.

“You’ve got to sell what your product is,” Charlton said Thursday evening. “To be honest, Maine is a little more isolated than some other places, so we’re going to be with each other all the time. That’s a big selling point. It’s the relationships. It’s the people. It sounds corny, but it’s true.”

Those were among the lessons that emerged during an informal panel discussion on the subject of recruitment which was held at Sea Dog Brewing Co. in Bangor. Beside Charlton were three other people from different backgrounds who also have faced the challenges of recruiting people to fill Maine jobs from inside and outside the state.

Read more: https://bangordailynews.com/2019/05/30/news/bangor/with-maines-workforce-shrinking-heres-what-some-recruiters-want-employers-to-know/

June 1, 2019

Maine Democratic Party breaks with DCCC, says primaries can be healthy

Taking a stand for what they called a “healthy democracy,” the Maine Democratic Party State Committee voted last week to oppose a new Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) rule that blacklists consultants who work for candidates running against incumbent Democrats.

The new policy, announced in March, has drawn widespread criticism.

“In any healthy democracy, there is room for disagreement,” said Maine Democratic Party chair Kathleen Mara in a statement after the vote. “We look forward to starting this constructive dialogue with the DCCC and coming up with ways to make the Democratic Party better and more inclusive.”

National progressives like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), who ousted Democratic incumbents in the 2018 midterms, have said the new rule is “divisive,” describing it as another institutional barrier that makes it harder for women and people of color to run for office.

Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/maine-democratic-party-breaks-with-dccc-says-primaries-can-be-healthy/

June 1, 2019

Collins claims it's 'inappropriate' to discuss impeachment, but was happy to with Clinton

This week on the Beacon podcast, Taryn Ben and Mike discuss Sen. Susan Collins’ strange claim that a U.S. senator shouldn’t discuss publicly whether the president has committed crimes. In 1998, she said Congress had ‘a constitutional obligation to conduct an inquiry’ into Clinton. They also cite a new report from the Congressional Research Service showing how wrong she was about the Trump tax cuts.

Also: An interview with Oamshri Amarasingham, policy director for the ACLU of Maine, on the newly-passed internet privacy bill.

And Kenney Miller, executive director of the Health Equity Alliance, joins to discuss the importance of funding the safe syringe law in the budget.

Plus: Updates on the state budget negotiations, final approval of the paid sick days law and some book, podcast and TV recommendations that will give you some hope.

Read more: https://mainebeacon.com/collins-claims-its-inappropriate-to-discuss-impeachment-but-was-happy-to-with-clinton/