Preserving The American Political Philosophy

Much to my surprise, when I recently clicked on my long standing link to LD1, it pointed to completly different content. The content which this link formerly opened is now called "original paper record. I have adjusted my list of links to incorporate the Original Paper Text, The Ammendment , and what is now called Public Law.You can locate them in the right side bar . Without further ado, I am posting the letter I just sent to Representative McDonald in an attempt to establish a time line for the changes in the bill. Dear Representative McDonald, I recently received an email from you saying that you will keep in touch. I was told by Representative McKane that you were on the committee for LD1- which goes by the title- An Act to Stimulate Capital for Innovative Businesses in Maine. You may or not know that I write about the legislation that is passed by our legislature and so I have a list of links on my blog that I reference on a regular basis. The link for LD1 has been there ...

Tweet This !! http://goo.gl/NzVrEe Note. This post was written as my introductory past for Portland, Maine edition of examiner.com. I applied and was accepted by Mr. Rick Brown with the words" You would make an excellent examiner". However when I went to post this article, I encountered a software glitch that prevented me from doing so. The examiner was changing its software and so at first I took it to be that I was encountering a general problem. However the glitch that I encountered was not listed in the common issues. After a week of waiting for a response to my support ticket, and receiving no communications from normal channels, I contacted Rick Brown, who promised to look into it. After another week of waiting for further response form Rick Brown, I wrote and indicated that at that point I was inclined to believe that the software glitch was there by intent. Over a week has passed since then and I have received no further communication from Rick Brown. I no long...

Maine Web News- The Candidates Discuss MPERS Lepage promises to honor promises to state employees pension funds and suggests changing the system for future employees. Lepage says he will have to talk to the legislature, but does not explain why- which is because contractual terms of agreement have been embedded into the Maine State constitution since 1997. For a candidate who is running on a platform that includes respecting the constitution, I find this failure to mention the constitutional mandate which clearly impacts the unfunded liability problem disappointing. Both Kevin Scott and Moody articulate the solution better than LePage, who suggest the same ideas, but not as forcefully. All agree that the problem must be "isolated" to quote Kevin Scott, meaning that future employees must be hired on a different set of terms. Moody addresses the issue of risky investment choices made by the managers of the MPERS fund more forcefully than the others and he brings up a c...

It has come to my attention, through that grapevine known as "the internet", that under discussion in the Maine state legislature is the creation  of a legal business entity that is a hybrid between the non-profit and "low profit" organizations. I have not yet been able to locate any specifics about the bill as it would stand in Maine. In North Carolina, it includes small manufacturers, but the usual definition of an LC3 is just a manipulation of the non-profit category so that investors can make a profit. Here is a defintion from The Non-Profit Law Blog "The low-profit, limited liability company, or L3C, is a hybrid of a nonprofit and for-profit organization. More specifically, it is a new type of limited liability company (LLC) designed to attract private investments and philanthropic capital in ventures designed to provide a social benefit. Unlike a standard LLC, the L3C has an explicit primary charitable mission and only a secondary profit concern. But unli...

TWEET THIS  http://goo.gl/otcDDo Introduction: Below is a post formerly published on the former Augusta Insider. It concerns relatively recent Maine Legislation . The summary in the legislation states "This bill is modeled on statutes in Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan, Montana and Utah. It authorizes the establishment of the Maine Fund of Funds within the Small Enterprise Growth Board for the purpose of increasing the availability of venture capital to the Maine economy. " The legislation does not provide the specific statutes of the states that are used as a model for this investment scheme. I looked up the constitutions of Iowa and Arkansas to see what their statutes say about the creation of corporations. Iowa's constitution is very strict about prohibiting the creation of corporations by special acts of legislation, while Arkansas's allows for more latitude than the Maine State constitution. There are several states that use the same language prohibiting the form...

Tweet This:  http://goo.gl/79QPct In a recent debate between gubernatorial candidates Elliot Cutler and Paul LePage, Cutler states that he would transfer the licensing and responsibilities of the LURC (regulating land use) to The Department of Environmental Protection. However in l egislation passed around 2009 - - The Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Economic and Community Development were merged into a single agency called " The Office Of Innovation " which is part of the unconstitutional expansion into state capitalism which has been radically advanced in Maine over the last fifteen years - with out any notice from Maine’s main stream media. - Or for that matter from any of our current candidates for the office of Governor. Cutler speaks as though the Maine Department of Environmental Protection is still an independent agency-, which it is not - and LePage does not call him out on it. Are the candidates unaware of the legislation combi...

The Tea Party Movement in Maine is often described in terms of its “radical fringe” which is depicted as a gun-toting crowd. Although I support the right to bear arms, I have never held a gun and yet, based on the general Tea Party Platform, which primarily targets welfare reform as the means by which the size of government should be reduced, I find myself in small company in suggesting a different set of government agencies that deserve to be examined in consideration of reducing the size of government. I have written frequently about state capitalism in Maine and its unconstitutional foundation. The Maine Arts Commission works in conjunction with state capitalism and is a more highly visible player within “the creative economy” The Maine Arts Commission recently sent a survey, which included its long and short-term vision for arts and culture in Maine. I selected the “other” category in order to describe my interest in arts and culture as a private economy arts related business. In...

As some who might read this may know, the journalist and author, Colin Woodard , is a relative of mine. Colin wrote an article, Brewing Up A Storm, on the Republican Party's new platform for the September 2010 Downeast Magazine. I posed the following comment in repsonse. Defining Terms If the term centrist is supposed to mean a point in between the small size of government favored by our founding fathers and those who believe in a larger government providing certain entitlements for the people, then it raises the question why the term ”centrist” applies to the entrenched political system in this state, which has collectively advanced state capitalism over the past fifteen years, including this year’s recent passage of LD1, which unconstitutionally charters a mutual funds investment corporation .LD1 was sponsored by none other than Peter Mills, who is calling those who want to return to the state and federal constitution “far right extremist”. In the creation of investment corpora...

The Email from The Maine Arts Commission says it all: The Maine Arts Commission Presents Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative There are only 70 seats left for this free event, sign up today. Michael M. Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will visit Portland, ME, on July 1 as part of “Arts in Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative,” an arts management symposium. Kaiser will provide counsel and encouragement to nonprofit arts organizations in need. Kaiser will be at the Portland Museum of Art between 9:15 and 11:30 am on July 1 for this invaluable symposium where he will provide counsel and encouragement to nonprofit arts organizations in need. During this free symposium Kaiser will address the key challenges facing nonprofit arts organizations through such areas as fundraising, building more effective boards of trustees, budgeting and marketing. Tickets for this event are free and must be reserved online at http://artcrisis.eventbrite.com. Sea...

The following was sent via my local Chamber of Commerce. This is the best debate on the tax issue that I have come across . Proposition 1 facing voters in the June 8 Gubernatorial primary proposes to rescind a major tax revision passed by the Legislature last year dropping the maximum state income tax from 8 1/2% to 6 1/2% but expanding the state's sales tax to make up the lost revenue. A "YES” vote agrees with Prop 1 - that is, cancels these revisions. A "NO” vote says keep them. The Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce's newly formed Public Policy committee has asked our Local legislators Senator David Trahan (R-Waldoboro) and Representative Bruce MacDonald (D-Boothbay) to explain how these tax revisions will impact on a) economic development, b) small business, c) residents and d) state revenues. Plus list three other critical considerations. Their answers are below. (Public Policy committee members are Chair Lori Bailey, Wayne Sheridan, Lindy Bragg, Bill Bai...

Below is copied from the Maine Department of Innovation News Letter which I recently recieved. Notes from the Director of Office of Innovation A few weeks ago, Thomas Friedman wrote an article for the New York Times that talked about the importance of a more entrepreneur-friendly environment. He called upon President Obama to make 2010 the year of innovation, the year of Start-Up America. Similarly, Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation called upon policymakers to promote entrepreneurship to spur job creation and speed recovery. Study after study points out the importance of entrepreneurship to fostering economic growth, as the "carrier of innovation." Yet here in Maine, suggest that we should assist entrepreneurs and you get blank stares. Solutions such as tax reductions, regulatory reform and greater access to capital, while all helpful, are not sufficient to create the entrepreneurial climate that we need. Entrepreneurs in the high-growth...

Letter submittted to the Boothbay Register May 2, 2010- I am glad to say that this letter is published in the issue coming out on May 05, 2010. This article was also published on The Augusta Insider. When The Augusta Insider "merged" with Pine Tree Politics all articles examinining state capitalism in Maine were no longer available. A Call For a People's Veto. Dear Editor, I recently submitted a letter, which was also sent to Senator Trahan , who did not respond. This letter concerned the use of taxpayer funding by the Small Enterprise Growth Fund and the proposed LD1 and LD1666 . LD 1666 was rejected by the appropriations committee but subsumed into LD1 and then passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate and signed into law by Governor Baldacci. The Maine Chamber of Commerce describes LD1 as “An Act To Stimulate Capital Investment for Innovative Businesses in Maine” . LD1 is marketed by the Small Enterprise Growth Fund with the following words “This program c...