A large and warm audience filled the Community Room at the Newcastle Fire Station to greet and hear William J. Schneider, Maine’s Attorney General, when he spoke at the Aug. 10 meeting of the Lincoln County Republican Committee (LCRC).
Schneider provided background on the role of his office, the status of some high-profile cases his office is involved with and some personal background.
The Attorney General’s office, Schneider said, has a wide range of responsibilities, from one end of the spectrum to the other, including murder, tax enforcement, drug trafficking and white-collar crimes, to name just a few. His office also initiates and weighs in on legislation. The office includes 12 divisions and more than 100 attorneys.
The theme of his remarks was “what does it mean to live in a Republic with a constitution as a bedrock.” He described four cases that his office is involved with to illustrate.
The first case he described was based on the rule that everyone has one vote and that each vote is equal. Back in June, a federal panel ruled that Maine’s congressional districts were not apportioned fairly based on the 2010 census. The Attorney General agreed. The court set out a procedure to be followed.
The Maine Legislature has until Sept. 30 to come up with a plan. Otherwise, the Maine State Judicial Court will become involved and come up with a plan by Nov. 15. Should they fail, the federal court will step in with a plan by Jan. 1, as that is the earliest filing date for the 2012 election. The legislature is currently working on its plan.
The next case he described deals with the candidate’s ability to finance campaigns. In July, a federal judge ruled that a Maine law that ties the amount of public funding a candidate receives to how much a privately funded rival spends is unconstitutional. Schneider said that his office concurred.
The court based its decision on a recent Supreme Court ruling that such a requirement violates the first amendment and prohibits robust and wide-open political debate.
Schenider said it will be up to the Maine Legislature to decide on how to make the Maine clean election laws constitutional.
The third example provided by Schneider was how an elected official can communicate government views and policies. This, he said, was at the heart of the recent removal of the mural from the Labor Department. Federal Judge John Woodcock said that the removal of the mural represented government speech and as such “government speech may say what it wishes regardless of the viewpoint.”
The State, said Schneider, had argued that from day one. He said that the prior government put up the mural as a statement. The current government took it down. If you don’t like the message, said Schneider, then you have to change the government.
Schneider’s fourth example has to do with whether elected officials can tell businesses how to communicate their message. Maine law, he says, limits the drug industry’s ability to buy information about the prescribing practices of individual doctors. In June, the Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Vermont, finding that it encroached on the companies’ freedom of speech.
Following his prepared remarks, Schneider answered questions from the floor. Asked if he found any surprises when he took over the office, he said that indeed he had a happy surprise. He found out that he was one of three people that run Baxter State Park. The other two are Chandler Woodcock, Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the state forester. The choice of members was spelled out in Governor Baxter’s bequest.
Not surprisingly, Schneider was asked about the status of the suit brought by the state of Florida, in which Maine has joined, claiming that the co-called individual mandate of last year’s healthcare reform act (a.k.a. as Obamacare) is unconstitutional under the Commerce clause.
Federal District Court Judge Vincent decided with the plaintiffs that the mandate was in fact unconstitutional and, because it was not severable from the rest of the bill, he ruled that the whole bill was unconstitutional.
Schneider said the law is some 2300 pages long and includes provisions that relate to healthcare and those that don’t relate to healthcare and the judge said he simply couldn’t go through each and every provision. If they can force you to buy healthcare, said Schneider, then they can force you to buy anything. The limits of the Commerce clause would be gone.
According to Schneider, the DOJ has appealed the decision to the 11th Circuit Court where a panel of three judges has heard arguments but has not made a ruling as yet.
(Note: Shortly after the Attorney General made his remarks the three-judge panel ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a two to one decision. However, they just called the individual mandate unconstitutional , not the whole bill.)
Ultimately, he said, the Supreme Court is expected to make the final ruling. With all the turmoil, he added, people need some certainty.
Prior to Maine joining in the suit, the idea had been floated around by some in opposition that Maine’s participation would be costly, perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars. Schneider said, to the contrary, that his office has chipped in just $10,000 to see the case through a Supreme Court review and that came from the settlement of a lawsuit, so that no taxpayer monies have been spent.
Schneider went on to praise passage of Maine’s healthcare reform law, LD1333. He said it was a revolutionary bill that revamps the health insurance industry in Maine and will lead to more competition and lower costs.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Schneider served with distinction in the U. S. Army, serving as a team leader in Special Forces. He retired after a service-related injury.
He then joined an engineering company as a project manager on Defense Department physical security programs. In applying for the job, he noted that his Green Beret experience taught him how to get inside a secure area. Later, Schneider attended the University of Maine Law School, graduating with honors in 1993.
He then served as an Assistant Maine Attorney General and prosecutor on the Maine Drug Task Force, bringing cases against drug traffickers in Maine Superior courts. After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, he was recruited to serve as the federal Anti-terrorism Coordinator in the United States.
In addition to hearing the Attorney General, the LCRC heard an update on legislative activities from Representatives Jon McKane (District 51), Deb Sanderson (District 52), Les Fossel (District 53), and Dana Dow (District 50). In addition, Geoffrey Rushlau, District Attorney, brought to the committee his concern about a growing problem locally with a drug referred to as ‘bath salts.” It can cause psychotic behavior and even death, he said.
Jim Carlton, LCRC Chairman, spoke about David Trahan’s planned resignation from the State Senate as he becomes the Executive Director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) and the procedure that will take place to fill his seat. The first step will be for the Governor to call a special election. The Republican candidate for that election will be selected by a caucus made up of four representatives from each town in Senate District 20. These include the town chairman, town finance chair and two alternatives. These would be the same individuals elected in the February 2010 county caucus unless changes have been made since. Any such changes would have to be documented to the state GOP and to Carlton. The caucus will be called by the state GOP since three counties are involved.
Two candidates for the senate seat spoke. They were Representative Dana Dow and Representative Les Fossel. Dow is a former state senator. Carlton noted that there may be other candidates as well. He also said that while the state constitution is clear on replacing a State senator, it says nothing about replacing a House Representative. In all likelihood a decision on replacing a House Representative should one become vacant might hinge on when the opening occurs.
It was also noted that Earl Inman would be representing the LCRC at a state GOP platform meeting on Aug. 23 and that Representative Fossel will be attending the same meeting as the House representative.
For more information about the Lincoln County Republican Committee and Town Committees, visit the LCRC website, www.lincolncountyrepublicans.org, or email republican@tidewater.net.
(Submitted article)