Well Done! House Republicans Stand Firm Against Rotten Democ

Democrats Pass Majority BudgetMajority plan includes tax and fee increases to cover the budget shortfall.For Immediate Release
April 15, 2004For more information contact:
Jason Fortin 287-1445AUGUSTA, MAINE - Majority Democrats pushed through a '05 supplemental budget in order to cover a $160 million shortfall. The engrossed budget used numerous revenue raising techniques, which includes more than a dozen tax and fee increases, the use of millions of dollars in one-time revenue, and scale backs of the Medicaid program.“Raising taxes and ignoring long-term financial problems has become the Democrats method for dealing with budget crises,” said Rep. Joe Bruno (R-Raymond), House Republican Leader. “Republicans put forth concrete solutions to the budget shortfall that were dismissed on purely partisan grounds. The real losers in this whole budget process are the people of Maine.”The Democrats' budget passed with a simple majority vote of 69 to 34. Republicans unanimously opposed the budget. ###

Only 103 of the 151 members of the House were present to vote on the budget? I don't know what the overall numbers show, but based on the totals in key votes it seems to me that attendance in the House this year has been much lower than in the past.

George -Thanks to Gov. King, House Speaker Libby Mitchell, Sen. President Mark Lawrence -- and their Democrat successors, the minority party may as well stay home on most votes.skf

Well, I'm proud of our state Republicans, and I hope they continue to stand their ground.

When our elected officials refrain from voting, what is that telling us??? Maybe we should fire them all and elect another "major" party that will act responsibly with our money. I suggest giving the Libertarians an opportunity. ;)

quote:Originally posted by George:
Only 103 of the 151 members of the House were present to vote on the budget? I don't know what the overall numbers show, but based on the totals in key votes it seems to me that attendance in the House this year has been much lower than in the past.

The R's went home crying after 9pm

The rest of Maine can cry when the new taxes take effect.

LTF:Why? They couldn't have done anything other than stand for, or against a tax increase in one of the poorest, highest - taxed, most business-hostile states.Please feel free to give ALL your assets to the government. You can, you know.If the preceding idea does not appeal to you, perhaps YOU should cry. It is exactly what our friends the dems have in store for us in this state.

Was this budget passed on a rollcall vote?
If so, what is the LD number (or whatever they call it)?Does the Senate also have to vote on a budget?

Is it 2/3 of those voting, or 2/3 of the total body for immediate effect?

quote:Originally posted by thejohnchapman:
LTF:Why? They couldn't have done anything other than stand for, or against a tax increase in one of the poorest, highest - taxed, most business-hostile states.Please feel free to give ALL your assets to the government. You can, you know.If the preceding idea does not appeal to you, perhaps YOU should cry. It is exactly what our friends the dems have in store for us in this state.

I was just answering the question posed. George asked why there were only a 100 or so legislators voting -- I answered the question. The R's wanted to adjourn at 9pm and Colwell used a procedural tactic to keep them in. The R's were pissed and a bunch of them left to protest the move.

That being done, now on to the next "challenge" for the Dems. Actually two challenges come immediately to mind:1. How are they going to handle the $1 billon dollar "structural gap" they have created in the FY 05-06 biennium? The bag of tricks is emptying out quickly.2. How are they going to deal with the upcoming train wreck called Dirigo Health?As Joe Bruno pointed out, revenue increased 8.4% over the last year...and the Dems still ran out of money. That's the real story.

quote:Originally posted by Doug Thomas:
The rest of Maine can cry when the new taxes take effect.

There probably won't be too much of an outcry. The increases were carefully engineered to be little itsy bitsies here and there, almost hidden from the average citizen.But when they raise the sales tax there may be more reaction. Oops, I forgot. The Democrats have already implemented an exhaustive poll of Maine's citizenry, and found that everyone thinks an increase in the sales tax would be just fine.

This is not the first key roll call that I noticed a lot of people missing. It seems that this session there are routinely 10 to 20 people missing from every vote.

quote:Originally posted by Jon Reisman:
Is it 2/3 of those voting, or 2/3 of the total body for immediate effect?

2/3 of the entire elected membership.

Interestingly, 69 for is not even half the full body, right? Isn't it 151, meaning 76 to pass if all are there?A budget that less than half the full legislature voted to pass.I see a lot of CYA going on for the upcoming election....it would be interesting to see which of the non-voters are in tough races, etc, and which of the yea votes aren't running again or have no serious competition.

quote:Originally posted by Melvin Udall:
Interestingly, 69 for is not even half the full body, right? Isn't it 151, meaning 76 to pass if all are there?A budget that less than half the full legislature voted to pass.I see a lot of CYA going on for the upcoming election....it would be interesting to see which of the non-voters are in tough races, etc, and which of the yea votes aren't running again or have no serious competition.

It could be that some Democrats who supported the budget went home after it became clear that so many Republicans were absent that they could afford to leave. And 69 (the number of votes in favor of the measure) is equal to the number of non-Democrats in the House now, and one of those non-Democrats is Independent Richard Woodbury of Yarmouth who usually votes with the Democrats.You can view the Roll Call on Passage to be Engrossed here. A few Democrats did vote no, so perhaps if all the Republicans had been present the result would have been different.Sincerely,Kevin Lamoreau

Republicans present (all voted no): 28
Republicans absent: 38.Democrats voting yes: 68
Democrats voting no: 5
Democrats absent: 9Who doing more CYAing?Should we all send a note of thanks to the five Democrats who voted no?

Oh yeah, you can also click here to view the other roll calls on LD 1919 (which is the bill being talked about). One of the House roll calls had only 91 Representatives present and voting, and another one passed with only 59 affirmative votes.[ 04-16-2004: Message edited by: K-Dog ]

The outcome would not have been different under any circumstances because the Speaker just would have held off the vote until he had the votes. My point is that it seems like a lot more legislators are missing roll call votes than has been the case in the past. This is just my impression passed on roll calls reported here and in the papers.

quote:Originally posted by George:
The outcome would not have been different under any circumstances because the Speaker just would have held off the vote until he had the votes. My point is that it seems like a lot more legislators are missing roll call votes than has been the case in the past. This is just my impression passed on roll calls reported here and in the papers.

I get that impression too.
How can "House Republicans Stand Firm" when 38 don't even bother to vote?
Isn't the first responsibility of a legislator to VOTE?