[Local-Maine-Schools] (Skip Greenlaw) YEAS/NAYS/UNDECIDEDon repeal
Paul Murphy
paul at exploreacadia.com
Sun Mar 30 16:43:12 EDT 2008
Actually "the issue" that my remarks addressed was a question about Ted's
position on repeal and nothing more. So, yes it is precisely the issue.
We on MDI have nothing to apologize for regarding our efforts to repeal and
or affect the consolidation law. In the end, if 1932 survives as is, it
will help more people in more places than any other effort I am aware of in
this matter, including the noble but doomed repeal effort. This is not a
knock on the folks who have worked so hard and long on repeal. It is just my
(and only my) take on its prospects. I support repeal. I signed the petition
and every conversation I have with legislators includes my desire for
repeal. But for your information, 38 votes will not get repeal passed. Not
even close.
Recognizing that repeal is unlikely we have tried to reach an accommodation
with the law that will allow any community, not just those on MDI, to
maintain autonomy. You say, "One of the strengths of our culture is that
the citizens of Maine small towns take an active role in the school and
municipal entities of our communities". I agree. It is what we have fought
so long and so hard for. The Damon amendment in 1932 preserves that
strength.
I hope I am dead wrong about repeal. I hope it finds life somewhere,
somehow. Unlike some, I don't see support of LD 1932 and support of repeal
as mutually exclusive. Neither do I see the utility of ad hominem attacks on
the efforts of others who are trying to make the best of a bad situation.
From: skipgreenlaw [mailto:skipg at hypernet.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 3:54 PM
To: Paul Murphy; 'Susan Whitby'; Dick Atlee; 'Local Maine Schools List'
Subject: Re: [Local-Maine-Schools] (Skip Greenlaw) YEAS/NAYS/UNDECIDEDon
repeal
Good afternoon Paul and others,
Your explanation of Rep. Kaufmann's position on the state's financial
dilemma vis a vis education and consolidation
is not the issue.
The overriding issue is who is going to provide vision and political
leadership for the future of the State of Maine.
The second issue is why are our legislators not representing the views of
their constituents.
It is easy for you to say "that consolidation in many areas is wise".
Afterall, consolidation will not affect the Mount Desert Island schools in
any way. You will not have to make any changes to your school structure.
Consolidation will not save you any money nor will it cost you any money.
When you thought that your school structure was threatened, you negotiated
some changes to the legislation which you thought were to your advantage.
When that did not work, you hired a lawyer to draft an amendment to the law
to maintain the status quo. It remains to be seen whether the amendment
will ameriolate the potential dislocation and increased costs of other
schools or if Maine people are willing to accept these changes. Neither you
nor I can make any determination about what is good for any school unit
except our own. One of the strengths of our culture is that the citizens
of Maine small towns take an active role in the school and municipal
entities of our communities. That concept is clearly being threatened by
school consolida-
tion all over Maine, but not on Mount Desert Island. It is an admirable
quality to fight for what you believe in, but not at everyone else's
expense.
For your information, members of our coalition have identified 38 members of
the House who have committed themselves to vote for repeal this session.
There are 17 other members, whom we believe will vote for consolida-
tion, but with whom we have not yet had a personal contact. There are 19
House members who have said that they will not vote for repeal. Those
numbers only reflect 1/2 of the House membership; so obviously we have a
ways to go. Many legislators have told me that were it not for the pressure
which the petition created on the legislture they might have done nothing,
which means that LD 1932 might not have been enacted. The 500+ citizens who
collected signatures thank you for calling the repeal effort "a futile
battle". We are trying to do what our elected representatives
should have done if they had represented us faithfully.
While I am talking about representation, let share with you a conversation I
had earlier today with Rep. Jim Schatz about an amendment he offered last
Thursday to the budget bill. The amendment would have shifted $6 million of
the subsidy reduction from minimum receivers, who took a huge reduction in
special ed fundin, to other communities, who despite reductions in subsidy,
will be receiving more in subsidy in 08-09 than they did in 07-08. The
amendment lost by 7 votes 66 in favor, 73 opposed. Jim told me that
democratic leadership sent a note to all Democrats asking them to vote
against all amendments except two sponsored by Appropriation Committee
members. How did our Hancock County representatives vote? Reps. Schatz of
Blue Hill, Rosen of Bucksport, Crosthwaite of Ellsworth, and Eaton of
Sullivan all voted in favor. Reps. Pingree (House Majority Leader) and
Koffmann voted against the amendment. The effective message which
democratic leadership sent to democrats in the House was when it comes to
the budget bill all non-Appropriations Committee legislators loose their
right to vote. We thank Reps Schatz and Eaton (as well as Republican Reps.
Rosen and Crosthwaite) for representating their constituents and not
democratic leadership These are the amounts of subsidy reductions for 08-09
for the towns which Rep Koffman represents. Bar Harbor receives $181,142
less than last year, Southwest Harbor- $109,315 less, and Mount Desert
$69,600 less, but Cranberry Isles receives $45,240 more. The subsidy
reductions in Rep. Pingree's district are as follows. Deer Isle-Stonington
will receive $308,580 less, Tremont $65,012 less, Swan's Island $20,279
less, North Haven $40,526 less, and Vinalhaven $13,618 less. Brooklin will
receive $25,048 more than last year and Isle au Haut will receive $14,612
more than last year. Whose interests are Reps. Pingree and Koffmann
representing? Answer-- not their constituents!!!!!!!!! P.S. I have
repeatedly asked Rep. Pingree for a written explanation from the Department
of Education about the methodology the department used to calculate these
reductions. No written ex-
planantion yet. How can any legislator vote for the reductions if they have
no knowledge about whether all communities were treated fairly?
The 2004 referendum vote to pay 55% of the aggregrate cost of education was
a tragic mistake by Maine voters.
While Gov. Baldacci spoke against the referendum, he subsequently has not
taken a leadership role to tell Maine
people that we could not afford 55%. Maine people expect and respect
honesty from its public officials. If the gov-
norer had chosen the high road and asked us to find ways to cut back on
educational expenditures, I suspect that many of us would have rolled up our
collective sleeves and gone to work. Instead he chose the low road and
forced the legislature to vote for an ill-conceived school consoldiation law
which was going to save millions. Nine months later we have learned that
there are no cost savings and the potential for large tax increases for
local property tax
payers. The governor did not even have the decency to involve the education
leaders before he made the proposal and look at the mess we find ourselves
in now.
I hope that before the election in November we ask all our candidates the
obvious question. If fact, it is so obvious
that no one thinks to ask it. Will you promise to listen to your
constituents' concerns and vote for the best interests
of the constituents who elect you?
Sincerely,
Skip
From: Paul Murphy <mailto:paul at exploreacadia.com>
To: 'Susan <mailto:skwhitbymdi at yahoo.com> Whitby' ; atlee at umd.edu ; 'Local
Maine Schools List' <mailto:local-maine-schools at mainetalk.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 11:37 AM
Subject: Re: [Local-Maine-Schools] (Skip Greenlaw) YEAS/NAYS/UNDECIDEDon
repeal
I know that Ted has wrestled with the role that education will play in
addressing the unsustainable condition of the State's finances and I think
it is safe to say that he feels there is a role for education to play. He
may even feel that consolidation in many areas is wise (by the way I
wouldn't argue with that position). There are a number of reasons that very
few legislators don't support repeal (I do). As one who has spent
considerable time at the legislature over the last year working both against
the consolidation law and to make changes to the law that would make it more
palatable, my perception is that most feel: 1.) that something must be done
and soon (I'm not arguing in favor of that perception, just that it
permeates the legislature, even among those who do not love this law); and
2.) that there is no hope whatsoever of repeal. (I would argue in favor of
this position). The repeal effort is and has been a noble endeavor but for
any who have spent any time talking to legislators about this, it is
abundantly clear that repeal will not come from them. It is a futile battle.
To Ted's credit, while he may not have been as vocal a champion of the
changes in LD 1932 that are so vital to the prospects of MDI's, Trenton's
and Lamoine's (as well as many other areas around the state) educational
survival, as Hannah and Dennis, he has worked behind the scenes to try to
build consensus among legislators , particularly those on the other side of
the aisle from him and he has voted in every circumstance for the changes
that are so vital to his constituency. In the many conversations I've had
with Ted about the consolidation matter I have found him entirely
sympathetic to the matters of local control and the survival of the union
form of governance, especially here on MDI, since there is such a high
degree of cooperation within the Union.
It may be that his position has evolved since your conversation with him
but, again, I see that as to his credit rather than his detriment.
From: local-maine-schools-bounces at mainetalk.org
[mailto:local-maine-schools-bounces at mainetalk.org] On Behalf Of Susan Whitby
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 10:08 AM
To: atlee at umd.edu; Local Maine Schools List
Subject: Re: [Local-Maine-Schools] (Skip Greenlaw) YEAS/NAYS/UNDECIDED on
repeal
I called Ted back in early November to ask him why he didn't support the
repeal of the school consolidation law. He felt that it was an unpleasant,
but necessary step so the State could reduce the amount it spends on
schools, since this is an ever-increasing percentage of the yearly budget,
despite dwindling enrollments. He talked about huge school organizational
changes that have happened historically Maine, and how they are always
painful and unpopular.
I tried to present him with some of the extremely negative impacts that the
law was going to have on some schools. He seemed not to have a great deal
of sympathy for MDI's plight, and felt that local school decision-making
powers were not in the best interest of the communities as a whole, but was
concerned about schools like Trenton and Lamoine, due to the fact that
raising teacher salaries there were going to have a devastating effect on
the school budgets there. He did suggest that perhaps school mergers were
an unpleasant, but cost-effective solution to some of these situations down
the road.
Dick Atlee <atlee at umd.edu> wrote:
This is Skip Greenlaw's census of House sentiment on repeal (I've
reformatted it into a single column for email). I'm personally curious
as to why people like Ted Koffman are against it. Does anyone have any
thoughts on this they could share with the list?
Admittedly, a huge amount of work has gone into this on the part of
RPC's, but even if the law were repealed, if an RPC felt the results of
their work was better than what they had before, they could continue on
track -- as I recall, whatever help the DoE was going to provide for
this process has been pretty well expended by now, anyway. For existing
SAD's, repeal wouldn't seem to make any difference one way or the other.
But it makes a huge difference for the communities who are suffering
under the potential effects of the law, in many cases even with the new
mods that will probably survive a veto.
So what I'm wondering is whether anyone can provide a non-DoE rationale
for why the law shouldn't simply be repealed. Is there any reason that
we all shouldn't be lobbying our reps to make a repeal bill veto-proof?
Dick
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: YEAS/NAYS/UNDECIDED
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:37:12 -0400
From: skipgreenlaw
To: skipgreenlaw
Good morning everyone,
Here is a list of the legislators who have indicated how they will vote
on repeal of the school consolidation law. YEA means they will vote to
repeal; NAY means that they will _not_ vote to repeal; UNDECIDED means
just that or in some cases may mean they don't want to tell us. This
list is comprised of members of the House of Representatives.
After their name R= Republican, D=Democrat, U= unenrolled
YEAS (26)
Peter Edgecomb, R-Caribou
Jacqueline Lundeen, D-Mars Hill
Richard Cleary, D-Houlton
Henry Joy, R-Crystal
Hebert Clark, D-Millinocket
Jeffrey Gifford, R-Lincoln
Benjamin Pratt, D-Eddington
Christian Greeley, R-Levant
Peter Johnson, R-Greenville
Howard McFadden, R-Dennysville
Robert Eaton, D-Sullivan
James Schatz, D-Blue Hill
Robert Crosthwaite, R-Ellsworth
Lance Weddell, D-Frankfort
Michael Thibodeau, R-Winterport
Wendy Pieh, D-Bremen
Kenneth Fletcher, R-Winslow
W. Bruce MacDonald, D-Boothbay
Philip Curtis, R-Madison
Tom Savielo, U-Wilton
John Patrick, D-Rumford
Roberta Muse, R-Fryeburg
Gary Moore, R-Standish
Susan Austin, R-Gray
Sarah Lewin, R-Eliot
Windol Weaver, R-York
NAYS (18)
Troy Dale Jackson, D-Allagash
Jeremy Fischer, D- Presque Isle
Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor
Emily Cain, D-Orono
Joshua Tardy, R-Newport
Thedore Koffman, D-Bar Harbor
Jayne Crosby Giles, R-Belfast
Christopher Rector, R-Thomaston
Elizabeth Miller, D-Somerville
Charles Priest, D-Brunswick
Elaine Maksa, D-Lewiston
Janet Mills, D-Farmington
Sawin Millett, R-Waterford
David Webster, D-Freeport
Mark Bryant, D-Windam
John Brautigam, D-Falmouth
Boyd Marley, D-Portland
Anne Haskell, D-Portland
UNDECIDED (13)
Charles Fisher, D-Brewer
Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven
Kimberly Silsby, D-Augusta
Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick
Marilyn Canavan, D-Waterville
Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls
Raymond Pineau, D-Jay
James Hamper, R-Oxford
Cynthia Dill, D-Cape Elizabeth
David Farrington, D-Gorham
John Tuttle, D-Sanford
Dawn Hill, D-York
Alan Casavant, D-Biddeford
I'll add another list for senators another time.
We all need to continue to call our legislators to ask them to vote to
repeal the school consolidation. Please share those conservations with
me so I can keep a tally. Let me know if you think it would be
helpful for any of us to talk with your legislator. Also, with regard
to the names listed above, it would be a kind gesture on your part to
call and thank any of the legislators who are voting YEA. Call the
legislators who are voting NAY and see if you can get them to change
their minds. In the case of the undecideds, perhaps you can provide
them some information which will help them decide to vote.
More later.
Thanks, Skip
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