More than once, readers have written in, or people have stopped me, to complain about their fellow Americans’ ignorance of the basic functions of government. Incandescent with anger, they’ll complain that, while their neighbors don’t know the name of their local member of Congress, they can absolutely tell you what happened on the latest episode […]

Vaccines critical to public health I still wince when children get vaccines, and I am no fan of Big Pharma. But after a long pediatric career, I feel that we must vote “No on 1.” The wording of the March referendum is confusing and misleading, as was the petition drive to get it on the […]

In my first State of the State address as Governor this week, I told the people of Maine, you watching in homes, businesses and shops across the state, that our economy is on a solid footing and it is growing. Revenues are up, our gross domestic product is up, housing starts, construction, auto sales are […]

For a small state, Maine grants notable powers to its governor. Unlike New Hampshire and Vermont, which have two-year terms, Maine ratified a constitutional amendment for a four-year term in 1957. Also unlike New Hampshire, Maine abolished its Executive Council in 1977, making the governor the effective CEO of a Cabinet-style government where department heads […]

At least five of the Democratic presidential candidates, including Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, worry a Democratic president would face a hostile Supreme Court and want to add more justices to the Court. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has used his GOP caucus to block judicial nominations by President Obama and open the floodgates for […]

Sometimes you hear of people praising institutions as if they were people. Often it is the people or the person who deserve the praise. Rarely is it the person who is the institution. On Tuesday night we lost one of those institutions with the passing of Nancie Boudreau. Nancie was the iconic owner and teacher […]

Let’s face it, I’m an old guy, so I have had little reason to become familiar with the actual services of Planned Parenthood. As a political observer, however, I do know that Planned Parenthood has long served as a bogeyman for anti-abortion zealots in the U.S., many of whom are white Christian evangelicals. Indeed, Trump’s […]