Newly elected District 20 Senator Chris Johnson wasted no time wading into the thick of things. Within hours of being sworn in as Maine’s newest legislator last Thursday; Johnson cast the deciding vote derailing a hard-fought bi-partisan supplemental budget compromise that addressed a shortfall in MaineCare funding.
Breaking down events last week, another Maine newspaper blithely noted that had Dana Dow been elected in the Feb. 14 special election, he almost certainly would have voted with the majority in approving the measure, a confident assertion in light of the fact he had already voted for it as a member of the House.
Now it’s back to the drawing board and recriminations are flying fast and furious.
In as strong a public rebuke as we have ever seen one local legislator level against another, Rep. Jon McKane castigates Johnson for his vote in our pages this week.
What we find most interesting is how both sides point to the vote as evidence that the other guy isn’t looking out for the little guy. Republicans cry foul pointing out that the state will run out of money for the entire system in April.
Johnson and the other Democrats in opposition argue the potential savings would be made at the expense of the people who could least afford it.
There’s right in both sides, of course, and although there is some grim entertainment value watching both sides wrestle for the moral high ground, it is not amusing. It brings to mind the old saying about the wisdom of arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Johnson may be an inexperienced legislator, but he is a thoughtful man and we have no doubt he knew full well what he was doing. In fact, Johnson’s vote brings to mind his immediate predecessor, David Trahan, who never feared casting an unpopular vote when he believed his cause was just.
However, the fact is this budget compromise was the best deal on the table that both sides could agree on in the time they had to agree. The fact that it cut a little too deeply for Democratic tastes is a tribute to the Republican led House and Senate who were following up on the promises they made on the campaign trail.
We do think our new Senator could have been a little more circumspect than to take to the lectern and lecture his new colleagues about how they are not working for the people of Maine.
Some of those legislators he was lecturing were the same ones that put their blood, sweat and tears into coming up with something that could be blessed by the Governor’s pen. Not to mention the fact that every legislator in the room ran for office for the same reason he did… to serve the people of Maine.
From afar, it’s hard not to sympathize with the legislators who worked hard to reach a compromise all sides said was acceptable, but not ideal, but if Senator Johnson truly feels he was acting in the best interests of his constituents, we encourage him to stick to his guns, even at the risk of the voters turning on him in November.
For the benefit of all of his constituents though, among whom we count ourselves, we urge him to be a little more circumspect. Arriving late to the party and lecturing those who have already been at it for quite a while before rejecting their work is hardly a promising start.