Free Republic

As an experienced legislator with a secure seat, State Rep. Joseph Brannigan can afford to be blunt. Thus when asked about the recently passed cigarette tax, the Portland Democrat had as good an explanation for its passage as one is apt to find. "No tax is easy. But it was one that was straightforward, and we had a lot of people encouraging us to pass it," said Brannigan for a story in the Maine Sunday Telegram. "We thought this was something that would be acceptable. It filled the bill for what we needed." What the Legislature needed was a...

Benjamin Snow started smoking as a teenager. Now 49, he thinks about quitting every day, but he doesn't plan to do so anytime soon, even as Maine prepares to increase its excise tax from $1 per pack to $2 to help balance the state budget. Snow, who lives in Portland, smokes a pack a day and says he can afford the extra $7 a week, or $365 a year. But he wonders about the smokers who can't, calling the cigarette tax regressive because smokers tend to have lower incomes than nonsmokers. He also found it hypocritical that some lawmakers...

The owner of a discount store in Oxford has halted the sale of cigarettes to protest the Legislature's approval of a dollar-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax.OXFORD, Maine (AP) -- Manager Mike Sturgis of C and R Redemption said the store's owner, Ron Snow, disapproves of what the state is doing and wanted to take a stand. Sturgis said his boss, who's not a smoker, feels the new tax is unfair because it would discriminate against those who smoke. The doubling of the cigarette tax to two dollars a pack was approved by the Legislature as part of a bill...

Thursday, June 16, 2005 Emery becomes first to challenge Baldacci By MARK PETERS, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. E-mail this story to a friend AUGUSTA — Former U.S. Rep. David Emery announced plans Wednesday to challenge Gov. John Baldacci in 2006, becoming the first Republican candidate to emerge from a crowd of possible contenders. Emery, 56, who represented Maine's 1st Congressional District from 1975 to 1983, told reporters that he will run as a fiscal conservative focused on improving the business climate in Maine. Emery, of St. George, is starting his gubernatorial run more...

Dems propose $125M in cuts AUGUSTA - Majority Democrats on the Legislature's Appropriations Committee repealed a $250 million, budget-balancing loan Tuesday, replacing it with $125 million in spending cuts and a $1 hike in the state cigarette tax. At $2 per pack in taxes, Maine would have the third highest cigarette tax in the country, according to Dan Riley, an Augusta-based lobbyist for the tobacco industry. The increase would effectively drive up the over-the-counter price for a pack of premium cigarettes like Marlboro from $4.19 to $5.19. "We have selected some new revenue to bring us to the $250...

When the American Cancer Society last year paid to air television ads warning of the dangers of secondhand smoke, it didn’t disclose the expenditure because, it contended, the ads weren’t supporting a proposed smoking ban working its way through the Legislature. The state’s Public Disclosure Commission disagreed and the society eventually reported the money it spent on the ads. But that wasn’t enough for the commission, which Thursday approved a $3,500 fine against the society for missing deadlines to report the money it spent on the ads and other so-called “grass-roots lobbying” intended to generate support for smoking ban proposals....

Court strikes down portions of Maine anti-tobacco lawMay 30, 2005 PORTLAND, Maine -- A federal judge has struck down portions of a Maine law designed to prevent youths from smoking. U.S. District Judge D. Brock Hornby said that while Maine's statute is laudable and well-intentioned, it runs afoul of federal interstate commerce laws by impeding delivery services. Maine's 2003 law requires procedures to verify that those who purchase tobacco by mail are old enough to do so. It was designed in part to prevent youths from ordering cigarettes online and also to assist the state in collecting taxes that would...

Saturday, May 28, 2005 Baldacci's 'favorability' at 29 percent By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press ©Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.   E-mail this story to a friend   GOVERNOR'S APPROVAL RATING One year ago: 54 percent Last fall: 61 percent This month: 43 percent A telephone survey that tracks what Mainers think of their political leaders has given Gov. John Baldacci a favorability rating of 29 percent, half that of Maine's two U.S. senators and lower than that of President Bush. Eighteen months before Baldacci seeks a second term,...

AUGUSTA - By the end of the year, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 Mainers will receive a letter from Maine Revenue Services billing them for sales and cigarette taxes for smokes they bought on the Internet from companies across the country. "We are gearing up to send letters to everyone we have identified from sales records by the end of the year," Errol Dearborn, director of compliance at Maine Revenue Services said last week. "We won't know for sure how many letters we will be sending until we get all of the sales records." With Maine's tax on cigarettes at...

Workers, politicians rally in Kittery KITTERY - Workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard will not quietly let their shipyard be closed. Hundreds of defiant employees rallied Monday at the gates of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, three days after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced plans to close the historic base. The shipworkers waved signs, led chants and cheered politicians who vowed to challenge the Pentagon's decision. "There isn't a single worker in this shipyard who's giving up the fight," said Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine. "And there isn't a single member of this delegation who's giving the fight." Allen was joined on...

Smoking Ban Alerts  The following states have strong bills that include 100% smokefree workplaces and/or restaurants and/or bars; OR repeals preemption: Alabama: SB413 (restaurants and bars)—Favorable 2nd reading in committee Colorado: SB207 (restaurants and bars)—Amended and passed House Committee Connecticut: HB5067 (bingo) District of Columbia: B16-0187 (workplaces, restaurants, and bars), B16-0193 (workplaces, restaurants, and bars) Georgia: HB426 (workplaces, restaurants, and bars)—Died Illinois: HB672 (repeals preemption)—Passed Senate Health Committee; SB254 (repeals preemption)—Passed House Local Government Committee Maine: LD886 (workplaces) Minnesota: SF404 (workplaces, restaurants, and bars;  HF412 (workplaces, restaurants, and bars) Michigan: SB394/HB4624 (restaurants), SB395/HB4625 (workplaces) New York: S4375 (casinos) North Carolina:...

Firing Smokers - Reading Beyond the Headlines Trend: You smoke? You're fired!May 11, 2005 By Stephanie Armour More companies are taking action against employees who smoke off-duty, and, in an extreme trend that some call troubling, some are now firing or banning the hiring of workers who light up even on their own time.The outright bans raise new questions about how far companies can go in regulating workers' behavior when they are off the clock. The crackdown is coming in part as a way to curb soaring health care costs, but critics say companies are violating workers' privacy rights....

The can't-win politics of taxing and spending have led to some awful decisions in Augusta these last four months, not to mention plenty of partisan turmoil. Today, however, lawmakers can begin the process of bringing back fiscal sanity. Squeezed by a voter referendum demanding more money for local schools, a pledge by the governor not to raise broad-based taxes and a desire to maintain core social programs, majority Democrats plan to borrow to pay the state's ongoing bills. About half of the $450 million in borrowing would go toward paying for things that should be covered in the regular...

The National Conference on Tobacco and Health, held in downtown Chicago last week (May 4th through the 6th), produced a historic and very unusual experience for many Chicagoans.  The Sheraton Chicago and Hyatt Regency Chicago hotels, which hosted this convention, became entirely non-smoking for three days with no warning.  The only exceptions were their smoking guest rooms.   The purpose of this National Conference was "...To help improve and sustain the effectiveness and reach of tobacco control programs and activities in the United States."  For a registration fee of $575 per attendee, approximately 3200 people from all parts of our...

State health officials and several lawmakers are pushing to close loopholes that allow smoking in clubs and workplaces. The proposed legislation pleases many bar owners, who say they've lost customers to private clubs since Maine took the smoke out of taverns in 2004. It also suits groups such as the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society, who claim many Mainers are exposed to secondhand smoke at work despite groundbreaking legislation passed by the Legislature 20 years ago. "Even here in Maine, workplace smoking remains an issue," said Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health. "Our...

WHEELING - The Friday, May 27 enactment date of the Wheeling-Ohio County Indoor Air Regulation is now in jeopardy as the regulation was struck down in a Wednesday court hearing. Ohio County Circuit Court Judge Ronald Wilson ruled that the makeup of the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health was unconstitutional because board members did not take oaths of office when they began new terms as board members, meaning the actions they have taken are void. "An oath needs to be taken for every term of office," said Paul Harris, the attorney representing the Ohio County Tavern and Restaurant Association. The...

ALBANY, N.Y. - Smoking rights' groups, tavern owners and libertarian political parties in nine states are calling for a boycott of donations to major charities, saying their support of smoking bans is a threat to small businesses and civil rights. "No more," says Audrey Silk, founder of NYC Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, which is leading what appears to be the first-ever boycott of the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association and American Heart Association."We will stop contributing to Big Nanny," she said. "Why do we want to donate to groups that are out to ruin our businesses and demean...

GREENSBORO, N.C.,   The following is a statement by Ron Milstein, Senior Vice President, Legal and External Affairs, Lorillard Tobacco Company, regarding today's hearing on a motion for summary judgment in Lorillard's suit against the American Legacy Foundation: "Our position all along has been that this case is not about money, or about shutting down an effective youth smoking prevention program. This is simply about American Legacy's breach of contract under the Master Settlement Agreement which led to its creation. They misused money which was to be used explicitly to reduce youth smoking and to educate the public about the health...

"Homosexuality will become the twenty first century flash point of a deeper conflict over how seriously we Christians take the Bible and Christian tradition." Larry Austin Maine's Twenty-first Century Goliath: THE RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA Part III... Equality Maine (The Maine Gay Political Alliance) loudly proclaims on their website their success in having LD1196, the current homosexual special rights bill so recently passed by our legislature and proudly signed into law by our pro homosexual, to hell with you heterosexual Mainers governor, passed into law. No less do they loudly proclaim the "trans-inclusive language" in the new law as a major...

What have Governor John E. Baldacci and State Senator David R. Hastings the third (R) done to and brought to Maine?Special Christian-News-In-Maine.com report.Caution, we are going to have some very graphic information and links in the bleow special report, this is not for children and it is not for those who have eaten within the last ten hours. This is the tip of the iceberg of what Baldacci and his ilk are bringing to Maine. Not long ago the radical homosexuals in the state, with the aid of their pro-homosexual partners in the main stream media and body politic, attacked...