So much for bipartisanship.

Usually – even in years when the General Fund budget is mired down in controversy or teetering on the brink of a shutdown – the transportation budget sails through the Legislature with relative ease. This year, Democrats on the appropriations committee seem determined to completely undo that unanimity by throwing a wrench into the works out of left field. You see, last session, Republicans thought they had scored a few significant (OK, not exactly significant, but anything is something) wins: an increase in the tax exemption on pensioners and an increase in funding to the highway fund.

Now, Democrats want to completely undo both of those relatively minor compromises, and they seem to have not bothered to give Gov. Janet Mills the courtesy of a heads-up. That, and it’s not even clear yet – although it may be by the time you read this – what they want to spend the money on instead. One thing we know is that, even in the face of hundreds of millions of dollars they don’t need, they absolutely refuse to give tax relief to Mainers in any way, shape or form.

They won’t even give it to elderly pensioners. They won’t even allow a modest tax cut previously supported by Gov. Mills and approved in a bipartisan deal, thereby breaking their word. They even did it in the dead of night, without offering any clue as to what they wanted to spend the money on.

If all of this sounds exceedingly suspicious to you, you’re being entirely reasonable.

What on earth are legislative Democrats thinking?

They’re starting a completely unnecessary conflict – not just with legislative Republicans, but with their own governor – over a completely unnecessary debate. If Democrats want to spend more money, they could easily just do so. There’s no reason they need to hold off on a minor tax cut and a funding increase in transportation. The state is, after all, awash in money; if they really wanted to do so, they could just spend it without causing any conflicts.

Bizarrely, they seem set on this fight, for the sake of … what, exactly? Well, nobody knows – not even Gov. Mills, apparently. One would think that two of the few areas of bipartisan agreement left in Augusta today would be tax relief for elderly pensioners and highway funding, but a few Democrats in Augusta seem not to think so. To be absolutely clear, both of these are hugely critical areas of prime importance to the state. Maine is one of the oldest states in the country; supporting our pensioners ought to be a top priority. Indeed, far from unwinding an increase in the pension tax exemption, they should have gone much further, much faster. Again, the state doesn’t even need the money right now.

Similarly, when it comes to the roads, the amount of increase in the budget that the Republicans managed to wrangle last session is merely a drop in the bucket of what the state actually needs. Let me tell you, after driving up to Fort Kent from Presque Isle this weekend, it’s easy for me to see that the state of Maine could easily double or triple the funding increase in roads the Republicans got through and it still wouldn’t be nearly enough.

The curious thing about all of this is not just that Democrats are willing to completely nix two bipartisan deals for no good reason, but they are seemingly doing so without informing Gov. Mills or obtaining her prior approval. Usually, if one side is going to try and nix a bipartisan deal – whether previously agreed to or not – they at least agree to it amongst themselves first. Indeed, this sort of chaos is rather reminiscent of the current rift between Republicans in Washington, D.C. While the House Republicans appear to be basically leaderless and rudderless and the Senate Republicans are undergoing a period of transition, D.C. Democrats continue to be a well-oiled machine.

Here in Maine, if the Democrats get in entirely unnecessary internal conflict, it will serve no purpose and do them damage in an election year. The question is, if the Democrats do this kind of self-inflicted harm, will the Republicans be organized enough to take advantage? In the past, they’ve failed to take advantage of these sorts of opportunities. Hopefully, they’ve learned from those mistakes.

Jim Fossel, a conservative activist from Gardiner, worked for Sen. Susan Collins. He can be contacted at:
jwfossel@gmail.com
Twitter: @jimfossel

Copy the Story Link