Weekly Radio Address: Jackson calls for leadership, not do-nothing Washington style politics

Weekly Radio Address: Senator Jackson

Another week in Maine, another winter snow storm. We make the best out of any situation. That is the Maine way.

Good morning. I’m State Senator Troy Jackson from Allagash. 

I’m encouraged by all the snow we’ve been getting to boost our rural economy. There’s no doubt it helps our snowmobile industry and our ski areas, and later today I will have the pleasure of being part of the Can-Am Sled Dog Race in Fort Kent.

Activities like these remind me that Maine is where people should be coming for their winter vacation, not Florida.

With a state that has so much to offer, I wish we’d be getting headlines for that but instead, lately, we hear more about the negative side of things.

It is true Maine faces serious challenges.

While the rest of New England has found a path out of the economic downturn, Maine’s economy was the only one that shrank in 2011. There are still more than 50,000 Mainers officially out of work and even more who are working but not earning enough to make ends meet. These are serious problems that require serious solutions.

Instead, some have accused Democrats of wanting to tax our way out of our problems. This is most certainly not the case.

My fellow Democrats and I believe we need a balanced approach to address our fiscal problems.  While it is true that we cannot tax our way out of our problems, it is equally true that we can’t cut our way to prosperity.

Yet, the budget priorities put forth by Governor LePage do both.

Last year, the Governor and his legislative allies rammed through the Legislature an unfunded $400 million tax cut that mostly benefits the wealthy. Now that bill is due. And what is the Governor’s solution? The largest tax increase in our history.

The Governor wants to shift more than $420 million of the state’s tab onto the property tax owners of Maine and middle-class families.

This will cost my district nearly $10 million in lost revenue. My hometown of Allagash will lose nearly 20,000 dollars, and the good people of Fort Kent are out more than half a million dollars.

This will force us to cut essential town services, raise property taxes, in some cases as much as 30 percent, or do both.

It gets worse if you own a home in Maine.

While raising taxes for homeowners, the Governor’s budget also eliminates property tax relief programs for anyone under the age of 65.

If a budget is a reflection of priorities and choices, what can we conclude about the Governor’s priorities and choices?

Proposing a massive tax hike to pay for a tax cut that largely benefits the wealthiest among us is simply unfair.

Shifting the costs to our towns is irresponsible and inefficient.

And cutting funding for our schools is short-sighted and unwise.

There will always be different opinions about the best way to balance a budget, but I think most of us can agree that a massive tax shift on to our middle class, our small businesses, and our communities is wrong.

And even when we disagree, we need to keep talking and working together. We need strong leadership. We don’t need a governor who throws temper tantrums whenever he doesn’t get his way.

Just yesterday, the governor threatened to veto every bill until the legislature bends to his will. This do-nothing Washington style politics has no place in Maine.

That’s not how we run a government, and that’s not how we run our state. We roll up our sleeves and work together, because our problems are too big for one party to solve alone.

In his recent State of the State address, Governor LePage cited President John F. Kennedy’s caution about taxes. I hope that in the months ahead the Governor will not forget another Kennedy quote: “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.”

Thank you for listening. This is Assistant Majority Leader Senator Troy Jackson of Allagash. Have a great weekend.

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