Kevin Raye - A Clear and Present Danger to Maine GOP?

It's over. Kevin Raye is in.

From you description, Thras, my senator, Democrat Nancy Sullivan, will be supporting him!

Even if what you write is true, Thras, Governor-Elect LePage is not Senator Raye. There are probably others in the new transition team or the new majority leadership with whom LePage will differ, too. However, Raye is only one person, amongst many.

In addition, I'm curious. It seems this is the first time that these details have been so prominently explored on AMG. If this is how you see Raye, why haven't you posted this previously? How many terms has he served in the Legislature, total?

Why don't we move ahead on the premise that the governor elect will LIVE ?
There is enough doom and gloom just in the Democrat party today. ( please note that I said Democrat; not democratic.)

A Republican legislator has told me that Raye shies away from confronting the MEA. Cutler started his whole campaign with an attack on the MEA. I hope Gov. LePage can stiffen his spine on this issue. The MEA is one of the state's biggest problems and any inclination to give way to its power is simply unacceptable.

Maybe there is a use for Peter Mills, after all: playing administration liaison to the Senate President.

He seems to be emulating the Schumer Friday & camera's style trick pretty well.

Kevin Raye is a solid choice and will do a fine job. As a small business owner he will compliment Gov LePage's efforts to turn this economy around.

He almost lives in Canada? Are you kidding me? That stands as the lamest attempt at reasoning I've heard in a long time. How many other Mainers almost live in Canada? Wow.

skf

Hey! Maybe he can see Russia from his house, too!
[/sarcasm]

Agreed, Scott. I also agree that as a small businessman, Raye is a great choice for Senate President.

I worked the polls for Jon Courtney on Tuesday and went to his celebration on Tuesday evening. Jon Courtney is a far better speaker and presenter than Raye. It would be great to see him get this position.

Doug Thomas would support our platform. Several others would also.

-edited-

Too late. It is indeed a done deal. They have voted.

Kevin Raye will be Senate President, Jon Courtney will be Majority Leader, & Deb Plowman will be Assistant Majority Leader.

The vote is over, so now we are going to have to keep an eye on how Kevin Raye reacts to proposed cuts in government spending, just as we would if another took the position. I hope he won't fight LePage as he moves Maine toward fiscal responsibility.

Thas; You owe Senator Raye an apology for your bold faced lie claiming he has a yacht. I know Kevin and know for a fact he has no such yacht.
.So, by your absurd thinking, all the other elected officials that live along the Canadian border in the Northeastern, Northern and Northwestern counties of Maine don’t deserve to serve because of their proximity to Canada.
These erroneous assertions alone undermine the credibly of your post.
We await your apology!

That will be the battle within the GOP now.

So much for 3 days of Kumbaya. =o)

The conservatives vs. the moderates.

No matter how good it gets, it could always be a little bit better.

You know what? I don't care if he does have a yacht. If he does - then, good for him! Unless someone's alleging he stole it, who cares? It's his money, to spend how he likes.

Is the GOP going to start imposing Nanny Rules on its members, now that they're in power?

Is this the new required garb for Maine Republicans?

"Now That I'm Elected, I Promise
Never to Wear a Shirt and Tie, Ever Again!"

I hope the Maine GOP can come together, accept that some are on the right and some are near the center, and realize that we all have our opinions. The GOP senators were given an opportunity to vote, selected Kevin, and we'll move forward. Party members that went out, gathered signatures, campaigned and won are the people that have my confidence in making a leadership decision.

Let's pull on the oar together. The Maine GOP is in better shape than ever in recent times and will get stronger if we decide to stick together as a political force.

Does anyone know if Woodbury is going to caucus with the Rs?

I agree with Bob. I'm not sure Jesus Christ was available for our highest offices, and even if he was, suppose he liked the Yankees?

I'm seeing more than ever that seeking perfection in our candidates and officials is noble, but folly. We should hope and work for the perfect, but unite behind the very good. Until such time as they commit a mortal transgression, at which time they should be given a one way ticket away from the fold.

"Voting with xyz 95% of the time" is meaningless if the other 5% of one's votes are for totalitarianism.

We all need to be discerning on what matters in this context, and not fall for the Jim Jeffords style rhetoric.

Litmus test? Maybe not. Faith-fullness to core principles? Most assuredly.

Kevin Raye is the President of the Senate. I seconded his nomination because Kevin has proven himself to be a first rate leader, and I believe Republicans need to work as a team now more than ever. Kevin is a far better man than he's getting credit for here.

This does not mean I will compromise any of my values or principles, it does mean we are going to work together and get those things done to get Maine back on track that we promised during the campaign.

Please hold our feet to the fire, but please ask some questions before you start shooting.

Good grief! The election is three days old and we're starting to eat our own already. Maybe we should give them a chance at governance before we line them up in front of the firing squad!

Kevin is a good person.
That said, can someone give me something to go on here? I know all the negatives to his being chosen. What has he done to advance the cause of conservatism? I mean, is a lion, like some of our folks are?
I am seriously asking, not knowing him all that well.
I'm also wondering why it was all done so fast, and if this was the "good old boys" club in action.
Again, just asking.

The "Canadian yacht owner" allusions were an attempt to lighten up an otherwise dreary post - and I knew the Canadian thing might appeal to Dan Billings. My apologies to Bullseye.

This guy will not be able to carry the fight to the enemy. He's a Welfare State aristo, and as undynamic as they come on TV and in person. Let's hope we can do better in the House when the new Speaker is chosen.

Kevin Raye is an honest and decent man of great integrity. Whether you agree with everything he stands for or not you should know that he has been very strong and as effective as possible, under the circumstances, in defending private property rights and standing up against MRS abuse of his constituents.

"Kevin Raye will be Senate President, Jon Courtney will be Majority Leader, & Deb Plowman will be Assistant Majority Leader."

Interesting. All three are in their fourth consecutive term in the Senate (and fourth Senate term overall, FYI) and will be termed out in 2012. See the list of Senators by Term Limit (which has not been updated since the election, but which has the Senators who were not termed out but chose not to run for reelection this year in with those who were termed out this year, contrary to past practice (I vividly remember that in 2000, "Not running for reelection in 2000" appeared on that list below non-term limited retiring Senators during the campaign season, and I'm fairly certain that at least the grouping by what would be Senators' term limit if they reached it was kept through 2006 and I think the different handling of voluntary retirees was new to this election cycle, but I'm not 100% sure on that)).

[Originally posted on the evening of November 5. Edited on November 6 to strike out extraneous information. I'll repost it on the next page with a very brief summation of what I struck out on this post.]

Sorry, Thras, but you get the "Raspberry" award for your "humor" skills, on that post.

Kevin has been an excellent Senator and leader. Principled and pragmatic. In most of his district, he was the largest vote getter, out polled in only a few towns by Sheriff Smith or Rep. Tilton.

I think his small business experience combined with his work for Olympia has produced one fine manager and policy entrepreneur. I look forward to seeing the Committeee Chair assignments.

And the most unintelligible paragraph of the year award goes to:

Interesting. All three are in their fourth consecutive term in the Senate (and fourth Senate term overall, FYI) and will be termed out in 2012. See the list of Senators by Term Limit (which has not been updated since the election, but which has the Senators who were not termed out but chose not to run for reelection this year in with those who were termed out this year, contrary to past practice (I vividly remember that in 2000, "Not running for reelection in 2000" appeared on that list below non-term limited retiring Senators during the campaign season, and I'm fairly certain that at least the grouping by what would be Senators' term limit if they reached it was kept through 2006 and I think the different handling of voluntary retirees was new to this election cycle, but I'm not 100% sure on that)).

although I'm not 100% sure on that.

/sarcasm

it could also win run-on sentence of the year.

Thras; Thanks for your apology, but what about Kevin?