Recently in Spending Category

They are at it again.

Our friends at the Maine Arts Commission are looking for artists to complete three art projects, one at the new Brewer Elementary/Middle School (a brand new school needs brand new art projects already?) one at  Aubert Hall at the University of Maine in Orono, and a third one at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.

These three projects will cost taxpayers a total of $122,000 at a time when the state is facing about a $380 million shortfall.

We've highlighted some of the state's expensive "art" projects before, including a feature in the 2009 Maine Piglet Book of the out-of-state artist's dog paintings that reside in some choice rest-stops along I-95.

As the article mentions, Maine law designates one percent of consturction funds as "art funds," but this writer, for one, thinks there should be a "no new spending" provision on that law during budget shortfalls like the one the state is currently facing.

When you are facing a budget crunch in your household, do you immediately run out and buy "Mona Lisa" for the living room? I don't think so...

In a refreshing bit of news out of Augusta this morning, a deputy commissioner for the Maine Department of Transportation stated the need to "prioritize like we never have before" when it comes to spending.

Why does government wait for tough times to prioritize how they spend taxpayer dollars?

Senate President and Gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell (D), as well as Blaine House hopeful Senator Peter Mills (R) are upset because there isn't enough taxpayer dollars to fund their personal campaigns for the state's top job.

The two candidates, among others, are running "clean", with clean elections funds that are drawn from taxpayer dollars. Each candidate will get $400,000 for the primary and $600,000 for the general election initially and could receive up to double that amount in matching funds.

So Sen. Mitchell and Sen. Mills want to use your money to run their campaigns, but that's not enough. Now, with word that the clean elections money is underfunded (doesn't Sen. Mitchell have to take some responsibility for that as President of the Senate?) these two entrenched Augusta politicians are asking for special permission  to raise money to go along with the millions of taxpayer dollars they will undoubtedly receive to run their campaigns.

Two long-time Augusta insiders with lots of connections to fund-raise who have chosen to take public money (lots of it) to campaign with are now whining because they might not get every dime they need. Now they want favors from their August friends to allow them to have it both ways.

What's "clean" about that?

With budget gaps at every turn, the UMaine Chancellor was tasked with finding areas within the system to save millions, $43 million in the next couple years in fact. Today chancellor Richard Pattenaude and the UMaine trustees offered their solution, a plan title "The University of Maine system and the future of Maine".

In this plan they outling various ways to save money, including enrolling more online students, a three-year degree program, and some other cost saving measures. Also included in the text is the idea that tution will not rise more than 6 percent between now and 2013.

The most disturbing thing in the report, is an initiative that would "invest" $5.3 million to "Create strategic investment fund" as you can see in the picture below, pulled from the report.

There is very little additional detail about what would be done with this $5.3 million to create long-term system savings.

I have a suggestion for the Chancellor...Before adding millions of dollars in vague "investment" plans to the UMaine system's expenditures, and then raising tution on poor college students, why doesn't he take a look at cutting his own salary of over  $300,000 a year?

 

The 2009 Maine Piglet Book hit with a bang last Thursday. The Bangor Daily News story ran above the fold and the KJ and Portland Press Herald stories were featured along with the Morning Sentinal piece, while the books release was also featured on several local TV news broadcasts, including My Fox Maine and WGME-Portland (below) and WABI-Bangor (CBS).





Opponents of the Yes on 4 (TABOR) campaign have tried to discredit the book, and defend government spending. They say the $102,000 for 3 dog paintings in a Kennebunk rest stop are "privately funded" - but what they are not saying is that "privately funded" to them means toll money gathered from commuters.

The spokesperson for the opponents of the piglet book is Crystal Canney, who is also the communications director for the anti-TABOR group "Citizens for Maine's Future", who do not want government spending limited. Interestingly enough, it's easy to see why Canney is so opposed to controlling government spending. Canney has been paid, and paid well, by tax dollars in the past few years while working for the Baldacci administration, as you can see from this data found on MaineOpenGov.org:


Yes on 4 (TABOR) supporters point to the Piglet Book as a great example of why TABOR is needed in Maine more than ever - to reign in wasteful government spending.