The irony of former Gov. Paul LePage’s outrage that a member of his family was swept up in an ICE raid would be laughable, were it not for the similar tragic consequences hundreds of Maine families ar...

I love the Hearts of Pine. Been to my share of games. Have spent hundreds of bucks on gear. I’m on a first name basis with one of the owners. And I appreciated the statement they made last month calli...

All that said, the city of Portland should not carve out an exception to our working waterfront zone in order to allow them to build a $50 million dollar

In case you forgot, with all the attention over the past month on Graham Platner’s implosion in the US Senate race and Troy Jackson’s rise to challenge Sen. Susan Collins, there is a race for governor...

When confronted with a human tragedy like the one we are now seeing under ICE, I rarely like talking about the economic consequences. Does the financial impact really matter in the face of almost 75,0...

Maine has now joined the ranks of states with a resident murdered by ICE. A man who was here legally (as if that should matter). A father working two jobs to feed his family. Likely terrified that ICE...

One of my failings during the early months of this past gubernatorial election was my inability to understand why Nirav Shah was leading in all the polls. Yes, he had strong name ID, but so did many o...

Tuesday is Primary Day and you really should vote like your life depends on it. Not like “Trump is on the ballot” life depending on it, but primary Day doesn’t get the attention it should from voters....

Last week I wrote about why I would not be ranking Nirav Shah on my ballot in the Democratic primary for governor. The long and short of that column is that he told a group of powerful landlords that ...

Up until a few weeks ago, I’d really been puzzled about what to do about Nirav Shah in the Democratic race for governor. I have never met him, but had seen all his ads, commented on his debates, and a...

How did it all go so wrong for Gov. Janet Mills in her quest to unseat Sen. Susan Collins? In case you missed it, last October, the current two term governor and former four-term attorney general (oth...

I’ll be honest, I was a little skeptical when I first heard about the effort to achieve universal health care in Maine through a statewide citizen

Look, I don’t want to berate political figures on their way out the door, but it turns out Rep. Jared Golden wasn’t just placating his right flank to win re-election over the past six years. It now ap...

Maine’s legislature passed a supplemental budget this past week and Gov. Janet Mills signed it. There is a lot to like in the budget, but let me take a minute to point out perhaps the most significant...

On March 18, a Maine Superior Court judge summarily rejected the latest attempt by landlords to gut Portland’s rent control law and stifle the power of tenant unions. In fact, in her sweeping decision, Justice Darcie McElwee solidified rent control’s power to keep rents affordable in Maine’s largest city in a way many of us

On March 18, a Maine Superior Court judge summarily rejected the latest attempt by landlords to gut Portland’s rent control law and stifle the power

Maine, thankfully, has mostly resisted this wave. Our legislators have defeated numerous efforts by GOP anti-trans legislators to persecute trans

Since Pres. Donald Trump took office, the federal government and many states have rapidly escalated attacks on the trans community seeking to erode rights, block access to health care, and exclude the...

Every time Sen. Susan Collins has made a consequential choice Susan Collins in regard to Iran, she has chosen to put us on a path to war. Back in 2015, Collins had a choice to ratify a painstakingly-n...

Based on recent polling, it doesn’t look good for Gov. Janet Mills. Two new polls show her down by somewhere between seven and 38 points in her race for the Democratic nomination to unseat Sen. Susan ...

My personal favorite bug-a-boo, of course, is around housing. If you dare to regulate the housing market to prevent landlords from gouging tenants and to stop

I have often said to the business community, “Hey, business community, you have to stop crying wolf all the time.” Seriously, when someone proposes raising the minimum wage 10 cents or $10, they screa...

That explained, my first official “Badass Award” goes to Shenna Bellows for how she has used the Secretary of State’s office to oppose Trump. She hasn’t just

Gov. Janet Mills has officially given her final State of the State address. I wrote last week that I had hoped she would dedicate her entire speech to ICE kidnapping hundreds of our residents and the ...

On Tuesday night, Gov. Janet Mills will be giving her final State of the State address. These are usually speeches with hearty pomp and circumstance, lots of boasting about accomplishments, and always...

Last week, my editor and I talked about what to write for this week’s column – and decided on a piece about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday was observed on Monday. I wrote this piece, ...

YouTube video by WMTW-TV

I am by nature an optimistic person about what we can accomplish through politics – and I believe that the arc of the moral universe ultimately bends toward justice. These days, maintaining that optim...

I don’t agree with uber right-wing former GOP state Rep. Larry Lockman about much. But sometimes, unlikely things happen. Like recently, when Lockman — who has a long history of homophobic, misogynist...

Gov. Janet Mills has a popularity problem. And not just with some Republicans who have, shall we say, disliked her for years. No, this problem is with her base. Here’s the story: In June, Gov. Janet M...

If ever there was a night in Maine politics affirming this state’s progressive values, Tuesday was it. On the biggest votes of the night, from voter suppression to gun safety to raising wages to elect...

Man, November is coming up soon, and with it my favorite day of the year – Election Day. So, as my personal public service, I offer you this quick voter guide to the biggest issues on the ballot this ...

This past winter, the Rental Housing Alliance — a landlord group led by corporate landlord Brit Vitalius (whose name you might know because his group led the failed fights against rent control in Port...

This summer, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Pres. Donald Trump told Republicans to “vote the exact opposite of Senator Susan Collins.” I couldn't agree with him more. Because if ...

Twenty years ago, I met Bill Diamond, who died recently, when he took the seat next to mine in the Maine Senate. I was in my second term. He had served in the Senate for four years back in the 1980s. ...

To state the obvious, one of the biggest problems in politics today is the influence of wealthy donors. Republicans are certainly the leaders in drinking from this spigot and working at the behest of ...