Ready to serve another term
By Rep. Mike Willette
I am pleased to announce that I will seek reelection to the Maine House of Representatives for the 126th Legislature. It has been my great honor to represent the people of Presque Isle during my last two legislative terms. My hope is to return to Augusta next year to continue the important work of moving Maine back to a position of economic strength and prosperity. Without a strong economy, all else fails.
The past two years have flown by, but in those two years we have made remarkable progress. Let me recap some of the most notable achievements of the 125th Maine Legislative season:
In 2011, the Legislature passed a balanced two-year budget with a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate. That budget will end on June 30, 2013, when a new budget will take effect. The current budget includes the largest tax cut in the state’s history, $150 million. Beginning with the 2013 calendar tax year, the average-income Maine household will see income taxes drop by about $280. These tax cuts actually gave the wealthy a smaller share of the cut than they would get in terms of their contributions, and dropped 70,000 low-income Mainers from the rolls completely.
We passed a bill to gradually lower the top income tax rate from 7.95 percent to 4 percent by applying revenue surpluses to tax reductions after all of our bills get paid. States that are growing economically and creating jobs are those that maintain reasonable taxation and allow its citizens to keep more of their money to use as they see fit.
The budget also took action to save the state’s public pension system. We inherited a system with such an enormous debt load that it threatened to squeeze out such other critical government functions. We were able to cut that debt by $1.7 billion by reducing the maximum cost of living adjustments from 4 percent to 3 and by raising the retirement age from 62 to 65. Without reform, the state’s contributions to pay off the unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) were expected to jump from $340 million this year to more than $600 million in 2018 (in future dollars). Instead, the 2018 payment is now estimated at $421 million. Maine taxpayers will save more than $3.1 billion by 2028 when the debt must be retired. Meanwhile, state employees and teachers can feel confident that their pensions will be there when they need them. In addition, there are no furlough days in that budget. These were tough, yet responsible decisions to make.
Utilizing the overwhelming responses from a district-wide survey that was sent out early on in the 125th legislature, we moved to bring Maine’s generous welfare system in line with national norms. This was the number one priority that the voters in District 5 said we should deal with, welfare reform. The primary change was to TANF — Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. By capping eligibility at five years, the limit set by President Clinton in the 1990s, we returned Maine to the American mainstream. Our most vulnerable residents, such as the elderly, will continue to receive the help they need. But Maine’s reputation as a “welfare magnet” must change, because we simply don’t have the money anymore to pay much more generous benefits than other states.
LD 1, the 125th Legislature’s first bill, launched an initiative to bring rationality to our vast system of regulations. A select committee of legislators held public hearings throughout the state to hear the complaints of business owners, farmers, fishermen, entrepreneurs and others. Many argued that overbearing and counter-productive regulations were hurting business and holding down job creation. LD 1 made numerous changes to make Maine more business-friendly, while protecting the environment. The final bill passed the Legislature with overwhelming support.
There’s much more, of course, we passed legislation that would re-write our state’s antiquated mining laws, bringing them into the 21 century. This will open the door for a potential mining operation at Bald Mountain, bringing with it as many as 300 direct jobs and 300 indirect jobs, jobs sorely need in Aroostook County.
We began rooting out the fraud and waste that had become entrenched at the Maine Turnpike Authority and to a significant extent at the Maine State Housing Authority and the Maine Green Energy Alliance. It has been said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Changing direction from the status quo was necessary in Augusta. A culture that created an unhealthy environment where wrongdoing went unexamined and unpunished was destined to meets its end.
I want to return to Augusta to voice the values we hold dear in Presque Isle and Aroostook County. Those values are, recognizing that success is the reward for the hard work you do, and doing for yourself, not relying on the fruits of other’s labor to better yourself. We believe in Presque Isle, that a hand up is far more productive than a hand out, and for far too long the State of Maine has made it more fruitful to rely on others than relying on one’s self. With that said, one other value that we espouse is taking care of those who need care the most. We are a community of hard workers, but we are also very generous individuals who are there to offer that hand up when the opportunity arises.
I want to return to Augusta to continue to fight for our veterans. I go out of my way to make sure we do all we can for those who sacrifice the most for our country. We also need a strong voice to protect the local control of our schools. I drew a lot of heat when I voted against the governor’s educations bills this year, heat that I was glad to take. The education reforms may have worked well downstate, but in our rural areas, these ideas simply do not fit.
I also want to return to Augusta to work on the out-of-control medical costs we experience in the state, and more so in the County. One of my favorite pieces of legislation I sponsored was the Community Paramedicine Pilot Program which will be implemented here in Maine.
With the help of Perry Jackson of Presque Isle, we passed a piece of legislation that has been touted as possibly being one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed to date to reduce health care costs in our state. We have a lot of work left in driving down health care costs, and I want to get back to Augusta to continue that work.
The one thing I have learned in my four years as your representative is that you most certainly cannot make all people happy. The decisions I have made these last four years have not been easy. I do not believe they should have been. There is no rule that says decisions must be comfortable and easy. A refusal to make them is doing a disservice to our fellow citizens and most of all our children. I have never sought to avoid tough choices in the past, nor will I in the future. That would be dishonest to those I have promised to do my best to represent.
It has been a great privilege to serve my neighbors, and be their voice in Augusta. I hope to visit with many of you over the coming months as the next campaign gets under way. In the meantime, if you wish to contact me to ask a question or voice a concern my phone is always on, 227-5989 and my inbox is always available, Mikeblackbear@gmail.com.
Mike Willette is State Representative for District 5, Presque Isle.
