http://waldo.villagesoup.com/government/story.cfm?storyID=65306
Barbara Merrill: Common sense and baked beans
APPLETON (Dec 22): In "Setting the Maine Course: We Can Get There from Here," Rep. Barbara Merrill bets her political future on the belief that — even in the contentious and confusing years of the early 21st century — Maine people remain "radically pragmatic."
"I believe our state government is flabby, overweight and darn near immobile," writes Merrill, a Democrat from Appleton who won election to the Maine House of Representatives in 2004. "On this I find myself in greater agreement with Maine Republicans than many of the leaders in my own party. But my goal isn't to transform state government into a 90-pound weakling which can be relied upon to turn its back on irresponsible corporate behavior.
"Quite the contrary ... we need a strong government that is financially sound to protect our most vulnerable citizens, to protect our environment, to protect everyone's civil rights, and to set standards and measure performance so we can have the best schools in the nation ... We need a state government which is too lean and dynamic to over-regulate business, the citizens or interfere with local governments."
With that opening salvo, and several good recipes for beans, Merrill sketches a course for Maine that is, by turns, deeply conservative and fundamentally liberal. It's a fascinating, unconventional look at The Way Life Could Be. And it's rooted in her long experience as a lawyer and lobbyist who has represented both businesses and nonprofits.
I hope she doesn't run against Mills in '06, we can't afford to split the anti-Baldassi vote.
Fido, is State Sen. Peter Mills the odds-on favorite to get the GOP nomination ? There are two others running, including former Congressman Dave Emery and State Sen. Chandler Woodcock. If Mills does get the nod, to make matters more confusing, a "Veterans Party" candidate named Bob Mills could cause us problems in the general.