News Features

Kicking the bottle

BRIDGET HUBER — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:17:11 GMT

Water supply
As several Maine towns battle the plans of Poland Spring to expand water-pumping operations across the state, a group of water-rights activists will bring the issue to Portland this Saturday.

As several Maine towns battle the plans of Poland Spring (and its parent company Nestle Waters North America) to expand water-pumping operations across the state, a group of water-rights activists will bring the issue to Portland this Saturday with a screening of the award-winning documentary FLOW: For Love of Water, a panel discussion, and a workshop aimed at convincing restaurant owners to take bottled water off their menus.

Nestle's foes cite a litany of reasons to kick the bottle. The long-term impacts of water extraction on aquifers and other bodies of water are not yet known. Bottled water is also vastly more expensive and less stringently regulated than tap water. And then there is waste: According to Food and Water Watch, a Washington DC-based consumer non-profit advocating for clean water and safe food, 1.5 million tons of plastic are made into water bottles each year, using 47 million gallons of oil.

Nestle spokeswoman Jane Lazgin says water is a healthy alternative to sugary or high-calorie bottled drinks, and notes that her company is taking steps to reduce its environmental impact — she highlights the "Eco-Shape" half-liter bottle, introduced in 2007, which uses 30 percent less plastic than its predecessor and is fully recyclable.

But for activist Mary Taylor, the true heart of the matter is corporate control of a essential resource. "It's water for life, not water for profit," she says. Taylor lives in Shapleigh, where Nestle angered many residents by sinking test wells at a state-owned wildlife management area two years ago without public comment. When the company approached Shapleigh's selectmen earlier this year about pumping water from town land, residents petitioned for and passed a six-month moratorium on testing and large-scale pumping, allowing the town to enact an ordinance to spell out the terms of how, when, and if water can be pumped or tested.

Earlier this month, Wells voters followed suit; Denmark residents are gathering signatures to pass their own moratorium. A group of Fryeburg residents has been fighting a Nestle tanker-truck loading center for more than three years. And a group of Rangeley residents has boycotted Nestle water after the Maine Supreme Court's July ruling upholding a 2006 Land Use Regulation Commission decision that lets Nestle develop a pumping station in nearby Dallas Plantation. Local residents say the pumping has caused changes in Rangeley's water table and the company's trucks are straining their roads.

Pingree returns from a Congressional crash course

DEIRDRE FULTON — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:30:04 GMT

Dispatch from DC
Newly elected Democratic House Representative Chellie Pingree split her time between the mundane and the meaningful during her freshman-legislator orientation in Washington DC last week.

We sing, we dance, we steal things

AL DIAMON — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:33:01 GMT

Politics and other mistakes
Last week, I profiled the Democrats running for governor of Maine in 2010. Thousands were taken ill.

Last week, I profiled the Democrats running for governor of Maine in 2010. Thousands were taken ill.

Don't put away the barf bags yet. I missed one.

ADAM COTE ran a surprisingly strong campaign for Congress this year, even though he extolled moderate positions in a who-can-out-liberal-whom primary. The Portland lawyer has never held elected office and lacks a platform for staying in the public eye. Which could be why I forgot him.

MAJOR DRAWBACK Cote was, until recently, a John McCain Republican. Is Sarah Palin available for fundraisers?

Speaking of Republicans, here comes their clown-mobile.

The first GOP candidate out the door is state senator PETER MILLS of Cornville. Mills, a lawyer, may be the smartest guy in the Legislature. (Yeah, well ...) As an unsuccessful 2006 gubernatorial candidate, he exhibited a coma-inducing campaign style, but his moderate stands on fiscal and social issues give him appeal beyond the Republican Party.

MAJOR DRAWBACK They also reduce his appeal in the GOP. It'll take some fancy footwork for him to survive a primary.

KEVIN RAYE of Perry is the new Senate minority leader, a position that probably won't improve his electability, since minority leaders tend to come off as either too partisan or too wimpy. Raye, the owner of a mustard company, ran a credible campaign for the 2nd Congressional District in 2002 and was a key staffer for US Senator Olympia Snowe, but he's unknown in southern Maine.

MAJOR DRAWBACK Like Mills, Raye is a moderate. If they both run, the GOP nomination goes to a right-winger.

Such as House Minority Leader JOSHUA TARDY of Newport. Tardy, an attorney, has political skills (his father was a Democratic legislator) and an engaging campaign style. He can play to conservatives in the primary, but in the general election, he'll have trouble getting in tune with 1st District liberals.

MAJOR DRAWBACK In the last two elections, Tardy led House Republicans to major defeats. The GOP may not let him blow another campaign.

RICK BENNETT of Oxford is a former Senate president and the guy who lost to current governor John Baldacci in the 1994 2nd District race. Not as moderate as Mills nor as conservative as Tardy, he's positioned to be the compromise candidate. He showed political courage this fall in opposing the casino referendum, even though it was popular in his hometown.

MAJOR DRAWBACK Bennett works for Cape Elizabeth millionaire Robert Monks, who's taken to endorsing Democrats.

DANA DOW of Waldoboro has served two terms in the state Senate, but didn't run for re-election this year so he could concentrate on his gubernatorial bid. He owns a furniture store. Other than that, I'm drawing a blank.

Council sinks pier deal, floats arts TIF

DEIRDRE FULTON — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:49:50 GMT

City beat
Three pieces of big news came out of Monday's Portland City Council meeting. Make sure you stay in the loop.

Three pieces of big news came out of Monday's Portland City Council meeting. Make sure you stay in the loop:

Anyone worth their weight in municipal ordinances already knows that the city's deal with Olympia Cos., the developer chosen last year to repair and build on the Maine State Pier, is no more. The Community Development Committee, chaired by Cheryl Leeman, recommended last week that the council should kill the deal; the full body (minus councilor James Cohen, who has recused himself from pier-related matters) affirmed that recommendation Monday evening.

The main sticking point is an ongoing disagreement between the city and state over who owns the submerged lands beneath the pier. Although the city knew for months (years, even) that the ownership rights were ill-defined, they have not yet sued to establish their title; city attorney Gary Wood expects to file that lawsuit in January, and that it will take between 12 and 18 months to resolve. Without established ownership, the city can only issue a 30-year lease; but Olympia Cos. wanted a 75-year lease and is uncomfortable with the financial risk that comes with a shorter one.

So, what now? Well, nothing, until the new council is sworn in on December 1. The council could choose to relaunch the process completely, and issue a brand-new request for proposals (see "Saving a Sinking Waterfront," August 31, 2007). Maybe this time around they'd get more than two submissions? Or, the councilors could just go with the entity that submitted the only other proposal in February 2007: Ocean Properties, the development company with ties to former US senator George Mitchell and Governor John Baldacci's brother Bob. Ocean Properties has said it can work with a 30-year lease.

Both new city councilors, John Coyne (District 5) and Dory Waxman (at-large), prefer the Ocean Properties plan. However, due to Waxman's former role as a community organizer for the developer, several observers (including a few fellow councilors) hope she will recuse herself from any vote related to Ocean Properties. Waxman has not returned calls for comment on the pier issue.

A portion of property tax revenues from a downtown zone between Longfellow Square and City Hall will be dedicated to arts and culture in Portland, thanks to the council's establishment of the Arts District Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district.

UMaine feels the economic pinch

DEIRDRE FULTON — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:05:04 GMT

Tuition pressure
The University of Maine system is being asked by the state to describe how it would cut $10.6 million from its budget — the equivalent of 5.3 percent of the state money it gets — on top of the $19.1 million in cuts imposed earlier this year.

PPH almost sold. Now what?

JEFF INGLIS — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:41:23 GMT

Press Releases
The long-floundering Portland Press Herald is about to have a new owner. At least, all signs suggest that the money necessary to seal the deal will come through by the end of the year.

The long-floundering Portland Press Herald is about to have a new owner. At least, all signs suggest that the money necessary to seal the deal will come through by the end of the year. There are financial details to be finalized, and there's a slim chance the money won't materialize, but involved parties tell the Portland Phoenix that pens are very close to the financial paper, and that the financing may include an employee-ownership component.

As many had speculated, the likely new owner will be Maine Media Investments — owned by the governor's brother, Bob Baldacci; former US senator and defense secretary Bill Cohen; his son Kevin, a former Turner Broadcasting executive; housing and real-estate developer Mike Liberty; and Pennsylvania newspaper publisher Richard Connor (who was born in Bangor). Soon, this group will no doubt be making public what they plan to do to recover the paper's dying circulation, plummeting advertising revenue, and rock-bottom newsroom morale.

Connor himself was recently heard to say — while out and about in Portland — that he could see why the paper was struggling, since it was "so thin it blows off the front porch in the morning." That might signal an inclination to expand the news coverage, which has shrunk considerably in recent months, but it's unclear who would do that work: the employees union is "bracing" for significant layoffs after the deal is finalized, according to Portland Newspaper Guild acting administrative officer Kathy Munroe.

The new owners will have to navigate the complicated quagmire of determining what their readers actually want. The biggest dispute among the audience appears to be where a revamped Press Herald would strike a balance between local coverage and national and international news.

Some hints can be found in independent blogs. A poster named MediaDog at AsMaineGoes wants less wire-service copy, saying in an August post, "In this Internet era most wire news is stale by the time the papers reached readers' doorsteps."

At MediaMutt, Phoenix columnist Al Diamon's blog on the Down East magazine Web site, one commenter suggested last week that a more major overhaul is needed: "The newspaper has limited value in terms of keeping readers informed. I don't think I've ever seen a shallower newspaper than the version that is being published today."

Perhaps the best way to gauge the reaction from the Press Herald's audience, though, is to look at the comments on the paper's own Web site — specifically, those talking about the sale itself.

"I'm getting the Friday, Saturday, Sunday [subscription package] deal and the news is the same in all three papers," wrote one person, who said she is canceling her subscription.

Here come the bugs

AL DIAMON — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:51:06 GMT

Politics and other mistakes
I'm not one of those people who assumes that just because somebody casually mentions they're thinking about running for governor of Maine in 2010, that they should be restrained, subjected to electro-shock therapy, and deported to someplace where they can't do any harm.

I'm not one of those people who assumes that just because somebody casually mentions they're thinking about running for governor of Maine in 2010, that they should be restrained, subjected to electro-shock therapy, and deported to someplace where they can't do any harm.

North Korea, maybe. Or Miami.

Just kidding about the second one. Even I'm not that cruel.

As incumbent Democratic Governor John Baldacci gets fitted for webbed feet, a large yellow bill, waterproof wings, and a crutch, I welcome his potential replacements, who are beginning to emerge from the primordial slime of politics at the larval level.

With the Blaine House race wide open in '10, the candidates will be as numerous as ticks on a moose. Over the next two years, these proto-pols will be exploring their metamorphosed forms, testing their new wings, and making tentative blood-sucking noises through their proboscises.

So slap on the DEET, because here comes a rundown (in more than one sense of the word) of some of the likely — and unlikely — contenders, starting with the Democrats.

Outgoing Attorney General STEVEN ROWE of Portland (disclaimer: my wife is an assistant attorney general) is smart, experienced (in addition to his eight years as AG, he's a former speaker of the Maine House and a retired US Army captain), a competent manager, and severely charisma-impaired. He's likeable — if you can stay awake.

MAJOR DRAWBACK In 2007, his wife, Amanda Rowe, was a leading advocate for the Portland School Committee's controversial decision to allow some middle-school students to obtain birth control without parental consent. Expect the religious right to focus on that issue to the exclusion of all others. Rowe will have to be alert to keep the wackos from defining his candidacy as being about letting kids having sex.

JOHN RICHARDSON of Brunswick is also a lawyer, a former House speaker, and a person who tends to cause attention deficits whenever he opens his mouth. He currently serves as Baldacci's economic development commissioner, which may not be such a great platform for campaigning, at a time when development has pretty much ground to a halt. Richardson devoted a lot of his legal career to representing unions and can count on strong support from organized labor.

MAJOR DRAWBACK During the 2006 gubernatorial race, Richardson held a loopy press conference attacking Republican nominee Chandler Woodcock for a bunch of stuff that made no sense. Once he declares his candidacy, expect that video to show up on YouTube.

He’s not like us

SHAY STEWART-BOULEY — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:46:44 GMT

Diverse city
While I’m still celebrating the election results — and don’t plan to stop until just before Thanksgiving — there is one sobering thing.

While I’m still celebrating the election results — and don’t plan to stop until just before Thanksgiving — there is one sobering thing: Despite the knockout punch in terms of electoral votes, with a projected 365 for Barack Obama to 173 for John McCain, the popular vote was something like 53 percent for Obama and 46 percent for McCain. Given the work of the GOP over the past eight years, that’s a lot closer than it should have been.

Journalists and pundits have already spent a lot of time discussing those who voted for McCain not because they thought he was a better candidate but because Obama is “not like us.” So I’m not going to talk about those voters.

At least, not the white ones.

I’ve noticed a growing murmur of discontent among a small but vocal segment of the African-American population: people who aren’t all that jazzed about the idea of President Obama because he’s not “the best” the nation could have produced for a black president.

I’m sure a lot of these naysayers actually did vote for Obama because the alternative was just too horrifying, but they don’t seem all that excited by the historic win that puts a non-white face into the pantheon of American presidents for the first time. That’s because, for them, Obama lacks a pedigree. He didn’t come from some established black family. He isn’t “special” enough. He is too “common” and so, by the way, is his wife.

Wow. Just, wow.

It’s not as if we haven’t heard and seen this kind of thing before, but it’s usually the battle between different types of rich white folks: the old money vs. the new money. “Old money” are those people who were born into wealth, and are typically several generations removed from the last time their relatives had to worry about how to pay the bills. “New money” are those who made their riches more recently, often through innovative ideas or hard work, or their children, who are the first generation to be raised around all that money.

Old money folks have tended to look down on new money folks, considering them crass, crude, and less important.

That’s funny, because that means that people who were born to privilege through no effort of their own often feel superior to people who actually came from lesser circumstances and became wealthy by being talented, dedicated, and relentless. Seems to me the new money people are the ones who are more special.

Maine task force to seek offshore power

DEIRDRE FULTON — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:36:38 GMT

Energy in the drink
A new Ocean Energy Task Force, created by Governor John Baldacci last week, is charged in part with investigating the realities of drilling for oil and gas off the coast of Maine.

Two many Americas

MIKE MILIARD — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:55:16 GMT

Could an Obama administration mean an end to the red-state/blue-state divide?
It's worth reminding ourselves that when the Republicans are out of power, they go apeshit.

In North Carolina, a man electrified his John McCain campaign sign so it delivered a nasty shock to the nine-year-old neighbor trying to steal it. In California, a man hanged a Saran Palin effigy — stylish black pumps swaying softly in the breeze. In Pennsylvania, at a Palin rally, a corpulent man gleefully toted a stuffed monkey, a Barack Obama sticker wrapped around its head like a turban.

The interminable months of this election just past were marked by some strange and ugly behavior. It seemed at times to be the concentrated distillation of the past eight wildly partisan years — years in which the so-called red-state/blue-state dichotomy has become ingrained in America's fabric.

So, now that we're getting a new president, what happens?

That a number of rightward-leaning folks — Colin Powell, Christophers Buckley and Hitchens — endorsed Obama was encouraging. They believed something legions of rabid rightists do not: that the only way forward for this country is to elect a man of decency and competence with an inclusive vision for the country. Still, no one's naïve enough to suggest that the entire nation will dissolve into a big melty goop of purply bipartisanship the second Obama takes office.

But 10 days on from that momentous election, with the map seemingly redrawn (even vermillion Indiana turned blue) it's worth asking whether or not we might expect some changes in our national character.

McCain, in the gloaming of his candidacy, presided over one of the most disgracefully divisive campaigns in US history. The language and insinuation employed by his ticket and its supporters should be abhorrent to anyone who cares about the promises of liberal democracy: "the real America" . . . "traitor" . . . "the other folks."

Meanwhile, Obama — worldly, biracial, unbeholden to baby-boomer hang-ups, born in a blue state but with red-state roots — showed throughout the campaign that he means to offer something better. A cease-fire (or at least an abatement) in the culture wars. A sense of unity and common purpose. A general appeal to our better natures.

But what can we realistically hope for? Can "the first truly 21st-century figure in American politics," to borrow Washington Post op-ed writer E.J. Dionne's words, actually bridge these deep national divisions? Will the end of the Bush years signal the simultaneous end of interstate rifts? Or will the antipathies between the government and its malcontentsonly calcify further?

Short answers, in order: we'll see; no; and potentially, but hopefully not.

Divide and be conquered

BY STEVEN STARK — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:57:04 GMT

The GOP relied on talk radio to carry its water, but votes are worth more than ratings
Things do indeed look bad for their Grand Old Party. Actually, it's even worse than they think.

What with their decisive loss in the presidential election and the party's distinct minority status in the House and Senate, the Republicans could be forgiven for being pessimistic. Things do indeed look bad for their Grand Old Party.

Actually, it's even worse than they think.

Since the dawn of the 20th century, guess how many times the incumbent party has failed to succeed itself in the White House after one term. Once in 11 tries — in 1976 when Reagan took out Jimmy Carter. Statistically at least, the odds are not good for a Republican in 2012.

On top of that, counting last Tuesday, the Republicans have now failed to win the popular vote in four of the past five presidential elections. And in the fifth, they barely got by John Kerry. So despite appearances (owing to Washington's high neocon profile), it's actually been 20 years since the GOP was a dominant force in presidential politics.

There are plenty of theories circulating about how the GOP got itself into this mess, but one prime suspect clearly isn't getting its due — conservative talk radio.

The partisans will howl in protest, but while certainly not the only culprit, the relentless stream of invective from the right side of the dial has undeniably been a major contributor to the GOP's demise. It's no coincidence that the Republican eclipse began just when conservative talk radio found its audience.

Rush Limbaugh's show was syndicated in 1988. It's been a steady climb toward the top of the ratings for him and his imitators ever since, but pretty much downhill for the party they all support. Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and the others are enormously successful media performers and they may have single-handedly rescued AM radio from financial oblivion over the past two decades.

But while wildly popular with their devotees, these partisan bloviators are enormously unpopular with the electorate as a whole. Limbaugh, for example, has about a two-to-one unfavorable rating nationally, according to a Rasmussen Poll.

What's more, these figures are all rabble-rousers — high intensity, "hot" performers whose appeal is based on energizing their base. That's all well and good for radio — it works, after all. But it's becoming increasingly apparent that it's a terrible way to structure the energy of a mainstream political movement that seeks to win more than 50 percent of the national vote.

Falling down

LANCE TAPLEY — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:04:58 GMT

Mistreatment of Maine prison guards lands heavily on inmates
Critics of the state Department of Corrections say the hostage-taking last June at the Maine State Prison dramatically illustrates that the concrete, high-tech lockup in Warren is showing cracks from stress on the prison guards.

"Three years and counting: The Portland Phoenix's prison scoops keep piling up," by Portland Phoenix staff

Critics of the state Department of Corrections say the hostage-taking last June at the Maine State Prison dramatically illustrates that the concrete, high-tech lockup in Warren is showing cracks from stress on the prison guards. The crisis ended when a prisoner surrendered after holding a knife over the prison librarian and an inmate for seven hours.

Zachary Matthews, the staff person for the guards’ union, Local 2968 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), told the Portland Press Herald that to prevent prison violence, “Nothing replaces boots on the ground and staffing levels that are adequate or better.”

More bluntly, former union president Ira Scherr says: “There’s not enough staff to run the prison. They’re all overworked and tired.”

A hostage-taking is a failure of prison security, but Corrections has not said publicly it was the guards’ fault, and the department has not released information on what its internal investigation has found. Commissioner Martin Magnusson’s first reaction was to praise prison staff for its “exceptional job” in handling the situation without anyone getting killed. In July testimony before the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee, he suggested violent incidents at Warren were inevitable because prisoners will always fabricate weapons.

“There are probably 300 inmates right now with a weapon in their hand,” he said. This statement did not disturb committee members, who expressed no interest in investigating the cause of the prison violence. Committee members are mostly former or current members of law enforcement, and they usually defer to the Corrections bureaucracy.

But guards and former guards paint a picture of overworked, not-well-paid, often-inexperienced — and, in some cases, teenaged — correctional officers who become so stressed that they not only create an insecure institution, they also sometimes take out their frustrations on prisoners. For three years, the Phoenix has published stories about prison guards’ abuse of inmates. But it’s not just the prisoners who are abused.

Hard, long hours
Scholars who study prison guards and their interactions with prisoners lay the blame for disorderly, violent institutions on a host of factors, including overcrowding, a lack of inmate educational and vocational programs, and the presence of harsh Supermax solitary-confinement units — all conditions within Maine’s prison system. A major cause is poor prison management, especially prison leadership’s fostering of an “us versus them” guard culture (on this subject, see “Time for a Clean Sweep?” by Lance Tapley, July 25).

Scattered after-thoughts

DEIRDRE FULTON — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:52:39 GMT

Post-Election
With the Phoenix going to press on Tuesday evening (before most election results came in), I struggled to come up with ways to be relevant on the morning after.

With the Phoenix going to press on Tuesday evening (before most election results came in), I struggled to come up with ways to be relevant on the morning after.

Kind of like those CAMPAIGN SIGNS that litter Franklin Arterial and the rest of Portland’s major roadways. Ever wonder what happens to them post-election? I did too.

Not surprisingly, few candidates were jumping at the chance to talk with me on November 3 about something as mundane their post-election sign-disposal plans. “Try me at 1 am, Wednesday morning — I’m sure I’ll have something quotable to say, and probably mostly coherent,” Senate District 8 candidate Eric Lusk suggested.

Others were thinking practically about future campaigns: “Into the basement with them,” House District 118 candidate Jon Hinck said.

“I’ll take my signs down on Wednesday,” House District 114 candidate Peter Stuckey told me. “I’ll put the cardboard out in next week’s recycling bin. I’ll save the wooden stakes and metal wires, and the big hand-painted signs for the next time someone I know and support needs them. That’s how I got all my stakes and sign boards this time. Hopefully I’ll need them again myself in two years.”

Smart move. After all, when Cyrus Hagge ran for Portland city council in 2006, he resurrected decade-old campaign signs from a pile in his garage. Reuse!

As for national election signs, perhaps some local establishment should follow in the footsteps of a South Carolina barbecue joint, which is offering one free appetizer in return for one recycled campaign sign from November 5 through 12.

For those of us who can’t let go, however — whose many waking moments have been consumed by political fever for weeks, months on end — there will be ample opportunity for rehashing, and reliving these exciting days.

Check out the VIDEO YOUR VOTE collaboration between YouTube and PBS (YouTube.com/videoyourvote), in which voters videotaped their ballot-casting experiences and uploaded them to the Internet. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer selected 50 high schools to participate in the video exercise, and Cheverus High School was one of them.

“In the first presidential election since YouTube’s inception, this program aims to gather massive amounts of polling place video ... serving as an online library for Election Day footage,” a press release reads.

The more posterity the better, this being a history-making election and all.

By the way, despite how perfect things might feel (for some) during these post-election days, we’re still not fodder for study by the SOCIETY OF UTOPIAN STUDIES, which had its 33rd annual meeting at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland last week.

So now what?

SARA FAITH ALTERMAN — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:00:16 GMT

The time for obsessive-compulsive election monitoring has come to an end. Cupcakes, anyone?
I have an election hangover.

I have an election hangover.

No, not because I was drunk with the power of voting on Tuesday, or even because I celebrated historic political victory with fistfuls of booze. Rather, I've consumed way too much election coverage for way too long and, now that it's all over, my head feels fuzzy and my stomach is churning, as I rack my reeling brain and ponder how I can possibly occupy myself with equally obsessive fervor from now on.

I liken this post-election mourning process to the same anticlimax that rocked Red Sox Nation in 2004, a few weeks after our beloved idiots shattered the curse that haunted this city for 86 years. Boston's collective inner monologue went a little something like this: "We won! We won! Holy shit, we won! I've been waiting my whole stupid life for this moment, and it finally happened! Woooo, Red Sox, woooooooo!!! WOOOOOOOOOHELLYEAHSUCKAS! . . . So . . . now what?"

Hell yeah, suckas, "so,now what?" is right.

Many of my friends and colleagues have, like myself, restructured the last year and a half of their lives around keeping up-to-the-minute on political coverage. We trolled the Internet like rabid news-junkie hyenas, searching for plump and juicy info nuggets, monitoring blogs and stats and statements. RSS feeds served us a constant stream of political morsels. Daily Kos and fivethirtyeight.com held us at rapt attention. And the TV coverage, oh, the TV coverage, ensured that, whenever we had a spare 15 minutes of couch time or were too zonked on weekend mornings to drag our asses to an overpriced brunch, we could mesmerize our gluttonous selves with more election coverage, more candidate tidbits, more Sarah Palin gaffes, more, more, more!

Now, the election is over, and I think we're all at a bit of a loss.

Whenever an entire nation collectively gears up for anything, à la China for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, or Germany for the 2005 release of the latest David Hasselhoff album, it's easy for its residents to get swept up in the frenzy. This election captivated Americans and the international community, not only because of its historic implications but, perhaps, because of the wealth of information that's at our fingertips at any given second. Our latent OCD gets rattled by the instantaneous accessibility of election information, thanks to laptops, Blackberries, Twitter. Four years is a long time for technology to develop, after all, and each presidential election sees spankin' new information-gathering and -transmitting tools.

Three years and counting

PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:54:25 GMT

The Portland Phoenix' s prison scoops keep piling up
For the past three years, Portland Phoenix contributing writer Lance Tapley has been the only reporter in Maine to pay attention to the appalling conditions suffered by inmates in the Maine State Prison

"Falling down: Mistreatment of Maine prison guards lands heavily on inmates," by Lance Tapley

For the past three years, Portland Phoenix contributing writer Lance Tapley has been the only reporter in Maine to pay attention to the appalling conditions suffered by inmates in the Maine State Prison, and particularly those in its solitary-confinement Supermax unit, who are often left untreated for mental illnesses and subjected to torture.

Below we summarize some highlights of the series, which has won state, regional, and national honors.

"TORTURE IN MAINE'S PRISON" | NOVEMBER 11, 2005 | The story that started it all — complete with a video of prison guards dragging an inmate from his cell, naked and screaming, down a hall and immobilizing him in a "restraint chair."

"REFORMING THE SUPERMAX" | NOVEMBER 18, 2005 | Activists and officials agree: punishment doesn't work, when it comes to reducing recidivism. Teaching, training, counseling — those are what work to improve prisoners' behavior both in prison and after their release. Corrections Commissioner Martin Magnusson promises to do better.

"PRESSURE RISING" | MARCH 24, 2006 | Magnusson pledges to legislators that reform is his "top priority," as objections rise from lawmakers, inmates, guards, and activist organizations that little action has been taken.

"DEATH IN THE SUPERMAX" | OCTOBER 13, 2006 | Ryan Rideout, a severely mentally ill inmate, kills himself in his Supermax cell; prison officials claim they did not consider him a suicide risk, despite three highly publicized suicide attempts during a three-week period in 2004.

"BALDACCI'S 'POLITICAL PRISONER' | NOVEMBER 24, 2006 | In retaliation for his outspoken complaints about prison conditions, Democratic Governor John Baldacci and his administration order Supermax inmate Deane Brown shipped to a Supermax in Maryland, whose prison system is run by a former Maine associate corrections commissioner, to keep him away from the Maine media.

"LOCKDOWN: WHAT DO PRISON OFFICIALS HAVE TO HIDE?" | DECEMBER 15, 2006 | Deane Brown's situation is further detailed, including accounts of harassment and intimidation by prison officials. Further investigation is hampered by new prison restrictions on inmate interviews with the press, including a demand that prison officials be allowed to monitor interviews and confiscate reporters' notes.

"SLUGGISH RESPONSE TO SUICIDE" | JANUARY 5, 2007 | Inmates who witnessed Rideout's suicide reveal that the guard who discovered him hanging in his cell mocked him, saying "You can do better than that," and delayed sounding an alarm.

Maine House candidates

DEIRDRE FULTON — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:01:23 GMT

Who wants to go to Augusta?
As with the candidates for Maine Senate, we compiled some biographical information on each candidate and then asked each person what they would take action on right up front, if they were elected.

Joan Cohen

House District 113
JOAN COHEN (D)
WWW.JOANCOHEN.ORG| A Democrat who has never before held public office, Cohen is a former attorney who has worked with the Maine Chamber of Commerce and the Maine Medical Association. She has been involved in Portland schools, serving as president of the Lyseth Elementary School PTA and with the Portland Educational Partnership.
TOP PRIORITY “Growing Maine’s economy, including facilitating the development of alternative energy sources. To succeed in the 21st century, Maine must develop and invest in a comprehensive plan to achieve sustainable prosperity, including business innovation, job creation, and environmental stewardship. Maine must become a leader in creating innovative strategies to reducing oil consumption and fostering ‘green industries’ that not only reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but also stimulate economic growth, new jobs, and a cleaner, healthier environment. ... I support the Brookings Institution's study Charting Maine’s Future that lays out a plan to fund and invest in these goals.”

JEFFREY MARTIN (R)
WWW.JEFFMARTIN2008.COM| A Republican who owns a property-management company, Martin has pledged not to raise taxes on Mainers and Maine businesses; he also wants to improve the school-funding formula to get more money for Portland.
TOP PRIORITY “We are facing a $500 million structural deficit. The best way to create jobs and position our economy to take advantage of the recovery is to reduce spending and not raise taxes. Our government has increased [spending] 43 percent over a time when our incomes have increased 18 percent. ... It’s time to take a hard look at the programs we have and prioritize what we spend on, and fund it well. For programs that don’t work, we need to cut them.”

House District 114
DAVID FERNALD (R)
FERNALD4PORTLAND.COM | Fernald, a Bowdoin graduate and former high-tech businessman, is a Republican who advocates for tax incentives to lure companies (and jobs) to Maine. He supports offshore drilling for oil, and reforming Maine’s health-insurance regulations to bring down costs and encourage more insurers to do business here.
TOP PRIORITY Job creation.

PETER STUCKEY (D)
Stuckey, a Democrat, is a longtime community organizer and service-provider who worked at the East End Children’s Center and then at the People’s Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) for a combined 36 years. He places progressive social-service issues at the center of his campaign.
TOP PRIORITY “Make sure our safety net is in place and sufficient to make sure all Maine citizens can stay warm, fed, and healthy this winter. We must make sure that federal, state, and local efforts are accessible and well-coordinated to ensure we make the best use of all available resources and that no one falls through a crack.”

House District 115
DONNA BENDICKSEN (R)
Bendicksen, a former healthcare worker, cites the erosion of personal liberties as one of her primary concerns. She’s a political activist who organized for independent presidential candidate Ron Paul; she believes there is a lack of transparency and long-term planning in Augusta.
TOP PRIORITY “A law requiring all future bills submitted to the Legislature to show where in the Constitution the authority is found to create the new law being proposed, along with a clear long-term forecast of the economic outcome such a law would create.”

Steve Lovejoy

MICHAEL HILTZ (G)
HILTZ2008.ORG | Hiltz is a Green Independent, a former Marine, and a registered nurse. He supports universal single-payer healthcare, wants to turn Maine into the “Silicon Valley” of green technology, and has collected endorsements from several big-left organizations such as the Maine AFL-CIO and the League of Young Voters.
TOP PRIORITY “A universal single-payer healthcare plan so that we can phase out Dirigo.”

STEVE LOVEJOY (D)
STEVELOVEJOY.COM | Democrat Lovejoy is a business professor at the University of Maine in Augusta with a background in finance and economic development. The Portland native stresses the connection between education and job creation.
TOP PRIORITY “Try and improve the school funding formula to account for Portland’s status as a service center.”

House District 116
KEN CAPRON (R)
Capron, a/k/a the “contrarian” who runs the WatchDog Maine Web site, is a Republican who wants to minimize government spending, lower taxes, and put more research dollars into hovercraft as green transportation.
TOP PRIORITY “I would propose to work on and enact an energy plan for Maine that would accomplish more than just energy savings. [Its] goal should not leave us in the same state of economic dependency on big oil, big gas, or even big wood. Thus we would be forced to focus on free energy sources such as wind and solar. And since we are short on jobs and businesses, we should bring into Maine some companies which build wind and solar solutions and thus create more jobs and improve the economy.”

Running for Maine Senate

DEIRDRE FULTON — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:59:35 GMT

Five candidates in two districts
For this year’s candidate profiles, we assembled some basic information on each person seeking election, and then asked them to explain what their top priority would be.

For this year’s candidate profiles, we assembled some basic information on each person seeking election, and then asked them to explain what their top priority would be, if elected — what would be the thrust of their first major piece of legislation or policy initiative.

Justin Alfond

Senate District 8
JUSTIN ALFOND (D)
ALFONDFORSENATE.COM | Alfond, a Maine native and a well-connected Democrat, is a real-estate developer, the founder and former executive director of the Maine League of Young Voters, and is on the Opportunity Maine board.
TOP PRIORITY “I would require entities receiving tax incentives to provide both written and oral analysis in front of either the Business Research and Economic Development (BRED) or the Appropriations Committee to illustrate the returns to Maine taxpayers. Entities would provide information on: how many jobs have they created, what is the full economic impact in their community and state, what benefits are provided to workers and how did the tax incentives leverage more dollars to the state. This policy would repeat itself every two years and over time would illustrate incentive programs that should continue or discontinue.”

BILL LINNELL (G)
VOTELINNELL.COM | “Captain Bill,” a Green Independent, claims that his election would create a “swing vote” in the Maine Senate, if that body were evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. The former Cape Elizabeth town councilor is also a lobsterman, and an activist (he helped lead the charge to shut down Maine Yankee a decade ago).
TOP PRIORITY “Address energy and the economy by introducing my Liberty Energy Plan. Inspired by the Liberty Ships built in World War II, this would be a major step towards energy independence, put 30,000 people to work, better insulate houses, and jump-start the economy.”

ERIC LUSK (R)
LUSKFORMESENATE.COM | Lusk is a relatively progressive Republican (he has to be, given the liberal composition of this district) who supports both rail transportation and tax breaks for businesses as an economic strategy. He opposes enacting single-payer healthcare on a state-by-state basis.
TOP PRIORITY “The quickest path to lower expenses and higher tax receipts is through how Maine regulates healthcare. Why not let me buy it in New Hampshire? If not me, why not the people who qualify for Dirigo? I've done the math for those folks and the state would save $70 million (almost the entire dollar figure Dirigo wants from the new beer/soda/wine/health claims) and the Dirigo members themselves would save money also (a 23-year-old from Montfort pays $320 a month through Dirigo — with no subsidy he'd pay $180 in New Hampshire). Premiums would go down, disposable incomes would rise, people would pay more in Maine personal income taxes, sales tax receipts would go up. Win, win, win.”

Senate District 9
JOE BRANNIGAN (D)
This 77-year-old Democrat and director of Shalom House (serving people with mental illnesses) has served in the Legislature for a total of 24 years. He opposes social-service cuts during difficult budget times and supports broadening the state sales tax.
TOP PRIORITY “My highest priority would be to balance the budget without doing serious harm to people who are very vulnerable — people with disabilities, people who are on the short end of things.”

Endorsements, or lack thereof

PHOENIX EDITORIAL STAFF — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:28:21 GMT

The Phoenix ’s picks for this election
The Phoenix makes no endorsement for the United States Senate. Neither Republican Susan Collins, the incumbent, nor Democratic challenger Tom Allen would agree to talk with this paper.

The past eight years have been disastrous for America: the failed (or — if you are an optimist — failing) wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the parallel rise in regional influence of Iran; the unconstitutional domestic spying and other violations of civil liberties; the appointment of radical right-wingers to the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court; the growing gap between the rich and the affluent and the rest of nation; the reckless economic policies that have lead to the current economic meltdown; and an epidemic of Congressional corruption among the Republicans and their corporate lobbying cronies.

It is impossible to emphasize the importance of redirecting America’s sorry course. The nation has lost its way.

For these reasons — and for others that are also vitally important — the Phoenix endorses Barack Obama for President and Joe Biden for Vice President.

The idea of John McCain and Sarah Palin in those jobs is simply too frightening to contemplate. The McCain and Palin candidacies are rooted in a Republican vision of America that is narrow, intolerant, and divisive. They promise to lead America deeper into a bankrupt past.

The challenges facing the next President will be the greatest in recent memory: to restore the nation’s international standing while simultaneously rebuilding a shell-shocked economy. So great is the job ahead that it is difficult not to imagine that a President Obama at times might falter. But his energy, eloquence, intelligence, and steady temperament make him the candidate best equipped to face the future.

No endorsement for US Senate
The Phoenix makes no endorsement for the United States Senate. Neither Republican Susan Collins, the incumbent, nor Democratic challenger Tom Allen would agree to talk with this paper.

Collins, according to her campaign, was “too busy.” But at least the Collins people were polite.

The Allen campaign played a rather bizarre and sleazy game. Allen press aide Carol Andrews said her candidate would only meet with the Phoenix if the paper promised not to meet with Herb Hoffman, a leftish independent “declared write-in” candidate whom the Allen people see as a thorn in their side. After the Phoenix told the Allen campaign it was none of their business whom the paper spoke with, we invited them to set a date for a talk. The Phoenix never heard from Allen again. It is indeed dispiriting when veteran public officials such as Collins and Allen are either too timid or too arrogant to speak with the press.

Educational election

DEIRDRE FULTON — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:03:03 GMT

Only a few step up to serve Portland’s schools
An overview of those stepping up to serve Portland's schools

Portland City Council

DEIRDRE FULTON — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:06:59 GMT

A look at who’s running for City Hall
As with the other races, we asked each candidate what their first major effort would be, once elected.

Ed Suslovic

City Council At-Large

TINA SMITH
VOTETINASMITHFORCHANGE.COM | Smith is a Green Independent and community activist who formerly worked at the League of Young Voters, and now helps organize multi-genre creative events at the Empire Dine and Dance restaurant and club. She prioritizes Portland’s creative economy and wants to foster the city’s arts scene with some type of formal infrastructure.
TOP PRIORITY “The first policy/piece of legislation I will be working to enact is reinstating voting rights to all legal non-citizen residents of Portland. If the voters decide to elect a Charter Commission, I will be pushing to get this into the new city charter. If we do not decide to elect a Charter Commission I will work at creating a city ordinance which will ensure all residents of Portland have a voice within the decision-making process.”

ED SUSLOVIC
Sitting councilor and mayor Suslovic gained a name for himself as Portland’s “swing vote” during the Maine State Pier process, in which he cast the deciding vote for Olympia. Suslovic says he’ll make “no promises” about potential cuts to the city budget in these difficult economic times, and stresses the concept of “sustainability” as it relates not just to energy and the environment, but also to the economy and Portland’s schools.
TOP PRIORITY “Weave the sustainability principle into the council’s decision-making on virtually every topic that comes before us.”

DORY WAXMAN
DORYWAXMAN.ORG | Waxman is a community organizer and former school board member who also served as Democratic City Committee chairman from 2002 to 2004. Waxman, who formerly worked as a “liaison” between Ocean Properties and the community, has made the Maine State Pier process a central point of her campaign — she disapproves of the contract with Olympia and thinks the city should stop and renegotiate with the company.
TOP PRIORITY “Responsible economic development — sustainable economic development, so that we can not keep raising property taxes.”

City Council District 4
CHERYL LEEMAN
The Republican incumbent has served 24 years on the City Council, and, perhaps surprisingly, wants another three-year term. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she has no opposition.