Why Maine is a one-party state
Well, because the Dems and GOPers offer the same solutions. These days, the issue is how to help “poor” people in Maine keep warm this winter. What solutions do Maine GOP “leaders” offer?
PPH:
Senate Minority Leader Carol Weston, R-Montville, and House Minority Leader Josh Tardy, R-Newport, proposed Monday that the governor call a special session on Aug. 20 to address heating-fuel assistance.
Currently, the statewide average cash price for No. 2 heating oil is $4.42 per gallon, compared to $2.69 per gallon at the beginning of October 2007.
“People are worried. I get calls, I know everyone else is getting calls,” Weston said Wednesday. “I think we should give them some confidence that we’re not just going to ignore this.”
Tardy said in a written statement that “waiting for Congress to act will not fill anybody’s heating oil tanks. It’s time for the governor to call a special session so we can use our own funds to take care of our fellow Mainers this winter.”
Congress hasn’t passed a new budget for low-income fuel funding, and it’s expected that the program will proceed under a continuing resolution, according to Jo-Ann Choate, energy and housing services manager for the Maine State Housing Authority, which administers the program for the state.
Essentially, the program would continue to be funded at the same base level as last year. Maine and the state’s Indian tribes received a combined $25.5 million last year from the federal government. The state’s portion was $24 million. Some states supplement that fund, and Maine has done so in the past.
If the state gets that amount again, the money would pay for oil for about 51,000 Maine households, with an average benefit of $415. Choate said her agency has seen a “huge increase” since the beginning of June in people asking for assistance, though she didn’t have specific numbers. If an extra $10 million were added to the program and the average benefit maintained, an additional 24,000 households could be aided.
In other words, politicians should use taxpayers’ money to bribe taxpayers into thinking the government has helped them avert a potential crisis.
I have a better idea. How about abolishing the personal income tax, the property tax, the annual vehicle registration fee, and multitudes of other schemes of extortion levied by the gangsters in Augusta against individuals and businesses that are largely to blame for poor economic conditions in this state?