With the official deadline for all candidates to file their petitions – 5:00PM Monday, March 15 – fast approaching, it’s worthwhile to take a look at Maine ballot access laws and rules.

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I need to find Levar Burton’s phone number.  I have a great piece to be featured on Reading Rainbow.

I’ve never really enjoyed works of fiction.  It probably stems back to the fact that my father used to read David McCullough’s Truman to me as a child.  Over Christmas break I did enjoy Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, but it’s nowhere as entertaining as the recent news surrounding Jason Levesque’s scuffle with the Auburn Public Library.

Levesque is a telemarketer (I’ll save the Do Not Call puns for a future piece) from Auburn seeking the Republican Nomination to challenge Mike Michaud for Congress in Maine’s Second Congressional District.  On Janaury 29, Levesque planned a campaign Meet and Greet event at the Auburn Public Library–with a cover charge.  According to the Library’s meeting room reservation policy (PDF):

Meetings must be free of charge, and not held with the intention of generating

revenue.  Closed meetings must pay full rental fee and comply with all other

regulations.

The Library cancelled the event when it learned of Levesque’s plan to charge an admission fee–clearly in violation of the library’s reservation policies (not to mention that Levesque never actually signed the room reservation agreement).

But rather than simply quash the plan to charge a fee and hold the event at the library, Jason Levesque positioned himself to be the next Dan Brown–he made a story up!

Turning to Facebook, Levesque wrote:

The reason for the move was due to a very Liberal board member who after seeing me on TV Thursday decided to have the Library cancel my event

Not quite.  According to Robert on As Maine Goes:

After seeing the meeting posted on facebook, a former board member, who is a Republican, called someone to voice his concern about the fundraiser that violated the library’s rule.

Levesque was called and asked to come in, he said he would be down shortly. He never showed. Another call between the library and Levesque took place. I can’t remember who placed that call. Levesque supposedly got very abusive, and was told to contact the library’s board president. He was provided with a contact number. I don’t know if he ever called.

Whether or not Robert’s post on AMG is accurate is irrelevant–for a guy who slams the relatively moderate Michaud for being too partisan, trying to spin a violation of rules (an unsigned contract) into something about ideology is utterly ridiculous.

One must wonder if Congressman Levesque would attempt to portray all rules inconvenient to him as ultra-partisan.  Ethics rules?  Lobbying?  Election law?  Damn liberals!

I’ll offer my apologies in advance to Mr. Levesque before quoting Holden Caulfield, the immortal character in the late J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, as I never like hurting the feelings of telemarketers:

All morons hate it when you call them a moron.

Moron.

Health care reform continues to progress at a glacial rate.  With the election of Scott Brown the Democrats no longer have the votes to push reform through.  The highly contested public option has been out of the spotlight for some time.  It’s future looks bleak, or promising depending on your point of view.  “No one in Congress will say it’s dead, but smart people can’t figure out how it stays alive,” says Politico.  Reps. Chellie Pingree (ME-1) and Jared Polis (CO-2) are attempting to resurrect the public option.  District 1 challenger Dean Scontras could not disagree more. (more…)

Senator Snowe and Senator Collins split their votes over the proposed bipartisan debt commission, sponsored by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH). Senator Collins, a co-sponsor, supported the bill and spoke in favor of it on the floor. Senator Snowe voted against the proposal, which failed 53-46, having not garnered 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

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Maine Republicans and Democrats alike reacted to the surprising results of the U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts, where state Senator Scott Brown upset Attorney General Martha Coakley to win the seat once held by Ted Kennedy.

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Despite White House hopes after last night’s election in Massachusetts, neither Olympia Snowe nor Susan Collins are likely to change their positions on the healthcare legislation pending in Congress, according to our sources.

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Congressman Mike Michaud (D-ME02) has commented on President Obama’s Afghanistan policy decision to up troop levels.  Michaud supported the goals of defeating al Qaeda, the timeline set for withdrawal, and a stronger focus on training Afghan forces.  Michaud expressed concern over mounting taxpayer costs and the effectiveness of prolonged combat in the region.  Read Rep. Michaud’s full statement after the cut. (more…)

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME01) spoke on the floor yesterday regarding President Barack Obama’s decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. She’s not a fan of sending more troops to the beleaguered central Asian nation.

Full video after the jump.

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Video of Senator Susan Collins’ (R-ME) floor speech before last night’s vote on healthcare reform legislation.

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Senator Olympia Snowe, in a move lost last week in the hubbub over healthcare, announced that she would join Republican efforts to terminate the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP, aka the bailout). Both Snowe and Collins voted for the program when it was introduced by the Bush Administration, but split on extending it: Collins voted against, while Snowe voted for. Now it seems Snowe has turned on TARP, as she is supporting legislation sponsored by Senator John Thune  (R-SD) designed to kill the program. As POLITICO points out, Thune has fought to kill TARP before, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) blocked a vote on the issue. Gaining the support of one of the Senate’s most prominent moderates will surely help his cause this time around.

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