Matt Gagnon to leave GOP

"I can say this with certainty: If Donald Trump is the nominee, I will not vote for him. He stands for a dangerous government-centric authoritarianism, he shows remarkable contempt for the Bill of Rights, he does not respect private property, he does not value liberty, he has been on every side of every issue throughout his life, expressing shockingly liberal positions on countless issues, has financially and rhetorically supported the most implacable political adversaries of the right, including Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, his leadership style is autocratic, and worst of all, it has become increasingly clear that he doesn't have one damn clue about what is going on internationally, or how to confront it. He has used and taken advantage of our collective anger, frustration, bitterness and disappointment with a political class that has failed us miserably, and cynically exploited it. His campaign is one desperate plea for attention after another, his responses to substantive criticisms of his proposals are either vapid, hollow platitudes without substance, or vain, ego-centric self congratulation for being so great and so successful, without actually backing it up with any substance at all. I get it. He reflects our frustration. He says he hates the same people we do. He uses insults to make us all feel satisfaction that somebody is "taking on" the people we think are running the country into the ground. But that is part of the insideous nature of him and his candidacy. He is, if nothing else, a clever and experienced self-marketing machine. He knows what buttons to push, what feelings to reflect and what sentiments to say he shares. He knows how to manipulate people better than any modern candidate for president, and that is what upsets me most about this. He is successfully using the good intentions and burning feelings of a huge number of wonderful people, turning members of the conservative movement -- leaders and activists --against each other. And why? To aid in the acquisition of centralized executive power for himself. And so far, we have let ourselves be manipulated. We have fallen for it and given this cartoon character everything he wants. Attention and power. In reality, he is an empty suit, and there is nothing going on under that ridiculous comb over of his. He is not now and never has been a conservative. He is using and manipulating good people into considering him a savior, and in so doing completely abandoning their movement and everything it stands for. Buckley would be ashamed of us for even entertaining Donald Trump as a candidate. These are not the words of an establishment moderate. I am and always have been an extraordinarily hard right ideologue, with what our friends on the left have called extremist libertarian views. I have never been a member of "the establishment" and one of the biggest reasons I have moved into the think tank world is to serve as an ideological guardian of our movement, throwing rocks from outside the establishment. It is BECAUSE of those reasons that I can never support Donald Trump for president. If he represents the party I belong to, I may be forced to unenroll from that party in order to disassociate myself from his brand of Know-Nothing Crypto-fascist liberal populism. I will never vote for Hillary Clinton, but you do not earn my vote simply by not being her. Reflecting frustration on immigration isn't enough to make me ignore who you really are as a leader, as a person, or what you believe and have believed on all the other issues. I will not be complicit in the internal destruction of the conservative movement by supporting Donald Trump. In my mind, the choice between Clinton and Trump would be the choice between two different types of equally destructive candidate, both adherents to authoritarian liberalism. Where one is better on one issue, they are far worse on another. Neither represent a conservative vision of this country. I will not give my blessing to either of them." Matt Gagnon FB 12/16/2015

Maine Heritage offers little resistance.

Heritage review of LePage budget.

The Heritage report doesn't bother to mention that the Income Tax Sales Tax Reduction Credit represents a massive new welfare program, and in their examples of "effect" they use a cohabiting couple as really making out under this tax scheme.

Fund DHS!

Bruce votes to fund Amnesty.


Processing Amnesty requires funding.

LePage: Annual $100 Million Bond Debt for Roads

BDN

Repeat after me: "Republicans have always been for bond debt."

Maine GOP Senators resisting higher taxes and spending

The Resistance begins.

Mason, in a statement, said, “Senate Republicans’ priorities this session are the same as those we campaigned on in 2014: ensuring Maine’s hardworking families are paying less in taxes and energy costs, and no longer seeing their hard-earned money being wasted by a bloated government.”
He added, “We are supportive of lowering, and eventually eliminating, the income tax, but the best way to achieve that goal is to reduce the size of government and encourage the growth of business.”

LePage: You Must Vote For More Spending and Taxes

BDN

LePage demands spending be hiked.

Some resistance to LePage's call for more IRS enforcers

Can the GOP rally to stop this LePage budget and get back to cutting spending?

LePage Evolution

LePage knows the rhetoric pretty well as seen in this interview.

One almost forgets he is proposing raising taxes long before allegedly lowering them sometime, years from now, and he proposed the biggest spending budget in state history.

It's not complex: LePage proposes raising taxes and record spending

Last month, the proposed LePage budget came in at a whopping $6.3 billion.  This month, according to this article, the budget comes in at an outrageous $6.57 billion!  No explanation is given as to how the numbers changed.

BDN

‘It’s complex’: LePage kicks off tour to sell $6.57 billion budget to Maine people

Poliquin votes against repealing Obamacare

Story here.

It was a symbolic vote, as the bill easily passed; if one wants to see the good side, Bruce is willing to go against the Party, and he sites the 60,000 families that love their Obamacare subsidies (does he have polling data that these people vote for him?  Unlikely.)  Short sighted though; the "best" (that is, worst) of Obamacare is yet to come.

In fairness to Bruce, many liberty/super patriot/Constitutionalists openly supported Kevin Raye backed, Blaine Richardson--of lets invade Syria fame.  Perhaps he is looking for another constituency?  Or the Insurance companies own him.

Wait, DHHS Spending up $40 million in LePage Budget.

How long before we learn its actually raised more than $40 million?

BDN

The state share of the department’s budget totals about $3.2 billion for two years beginning on July 1, representing about $40 million more than the current biennium.

LePage Budget: Raise Spending, Get More People to Collect Service Taxes; increase spending for DHHS

BDN 1/9/2015


"The proposal also includes $112 million in new spending by the Department of Health and Human Services for elderly and disabled care programs, nursing homes, mental health services and an extension of heightened Medicaid reimbursements to primary care providers."

Election 2016: Punish Republican Towns

Press Herald 1/16/2015

The same goes for neighboring Durham, which also would be on the losing end of tax overhaul. Meanwhile, the nearby communities of Freeport, Cumberland, New Gloucester – even tiny North Yarmouth – are among the 150 municipalities that could either break even or greatly benefit, according to a preliminary analysis by the Maine Municipal Association.

Brilliant strategy for Republicans: Punish those who voted for us!