Maine Governor John Baldacci paid a visit to Professor Chris Potholm's Maine Politics class Tuesday prior to unveiling his administration's new tax relief proposal. Baldacci spoke to students about his experiences in Maine politics before fielding questions.
Baldacci described his early interest in politics as ranging back to his childhood days and said that he now considers his profession as being more along the lines of "public service, not a career." Highlighting his time spent working at his mother's restaurant in Bangor, he explained that his familiarity with small business has served him well in balancing Maine's $1.2 billion budget shortfall.
Baldacci weighed in on issues ranging from medical marijuana, for which he expressed his strong opposition, to his Dirigo Health initiative, the nation's first enacted system of universal health care. Though passed as a bipartisan effort, Dirigo Health has suffered some recent criticism from Republicans for its lukewarm participation numbers and from hospital owners for its cap on hospital spending for medical expansion projects expensive enough to require state approval.
Baldacci was confident that a multifaceted, statewide advertising campaign would attract small businesses to buy into the plan and felt that the current numbers should be viewed as a prelude to future success.
"Numbers are up. Today 53 small businesses and around 2,000 individuals [and their dependents] have signed up for DirigoChoice," he said. The plan aims to provide health care for a large chunk of Maine's uninsured populations, now exceeding 130,000.
Baldacci then directed his attention to his tax plan, which he labeled "unprecedented, historic, and enormous." The plan relies heavily on more state aid for local schools, a cap on property taxes, and spending limits to cut property taxes over the course of a ten-year period. Central to Baldacci's plan is that no property owner will be forced to pay more than 6 percent of his or her yearly income in property taxes.
Baldacci's plan comes just one month after Maine voters turned down the Polesky Tax Cap referendum, which would have capped property taxes at one percent of assessed valuation. Democrats in the legislature praised Baldacci and his administration for their aggressive drafting of the proposal, while the general consensus from Republicans was that more time was needed to study the plan. Property tax relief is expected to be a major issue in the upcoming legislative session.
Professor Potholm's class has studied local and national politics all semester, focusing in part on the Presidential election and Maine's two ballot referendums voted on November 2. After hearing from a number of campaign managers, including Potholm himself, Michael Lettieri '05 welcomed Baldacci's perspective.
"It was very interesting to see his approach to these initiatives," said Lettieri. "He spoke of the tax plan in such a grandiose way. It was interesting to hear the rhetoric that comes from a politician as opposed to the strategy that comes from the campaign manager."