I have served in the Maine Legislature since 2002. In my experience this has been one of the most challenging sessions, because despite the Legislature’s best efforts, the governor continued to block progress by putting politics ahead of good policy. At more than 80 vetoes, Governor LePage vetoed more bills than any governor in Maine’s history.
During my time in the legislature, and especially during this year serving as a member of the Senate’s leadership team, I have made Maine workers and small businesses my focus. I am proud that we passed a number of common sense measures designed to extend the ladder of success to all workers, but am disappointed that most of these measures were vetoed by the governor.
For example, in May I wrote about my bill directing the State of Maine to buy American-made products at every realistic opportunity. With American manufacturing still fighting to come back, one of the greatest things we can do to help is make sure that when government money is spent, it goes back into that sector and our economy. That means it will be going toward keeping good jobs with good benefits that people can be proud of.
Many legislators agreed, and the bill passed overwhelmingly by a 31-4 vote in the Senate and a 136-6 vote in the House. But when the governor vetoed it, nearly every Republican Senator flipped their votes to sustain the veto.
Another major focus of mine is improving the conditions for Maine loggers. As a logger myself, this issue is personal. The legislature recently passed two bills, both of which were vetoed by the governor, to address these challenges. One would have authorized the Department of Labor to strengthen its rules around the hiring of foreign laborers to improve consistency with federal law and address issues of fraud. The other would have prohibited benefits from the Maine Tree Growth Tax Law to businesses employing foreign loggers.
Quite simply, I believe if you don’t employ Maine workers you shouldn’t benefit from programs that Maine taxpayers pay for. There are many highly-skilled and well-qualified loggers in our state that are being shut out of good jobs thanks to abuse of the bonded labor program.
But the governor disagreed and vetoed both these measures, even though one of them originated from his own department. He made it clear that he’d rather send cheap wood to Canadian mills than support Maine loggers and Maine businesses.
Finally, something that did become law is an important measure I sponsored that could lead to the creation of new jobs in the Ashland area. The law directs the Department of Transportation to examine ways to safely allow increased truck capacities from the Realty Road to the old Levesque Mill site in Ashland. The idle mill site has new owners and this change would make it easier for them to do business. The bill also takes a similar action in Masardis that could allow the Fraser Mill to expand its operations as well. Ashland and Masardis are logging towns that have seen this type of trucking before and understand the benefits. I am pleased that my legislative colleagues as well as the Department supported this important bill.
In truth, actions like the one taken for Ashland are closer to the norm in Augusta. The vast majority of bills receive unanimous bipartisan consensus either in favor or in opposition, and most of the issues we work on do not have a partisan dimension. But it is unfortunate that the governor took such a hard line against improving conditions for Maine’s working men and women. He unnecessarily blocked progress, and killed measures that should never fall prey to partisan politics.
Maine workers need to be a focal point, not a talking point. They are a focal point for me, and they always will be. I remain hopeful that if we keep working hard together, we will be able to make more progress.
Troy Jackson represents Aroostook County in the Maine Senate, and was recently elected Senate Majority Leader by his colleagues. He lives with his family in Allagash.
