Did you watch Gov. Janet Mills’ “State of the State” address to the Legislature last week?
If so, I hope you’ve now recovered from the psychological torture.
And if not, don’t worry, Maine First Project is going to give you a no-nonsense review of both Mill’s SoS and the hapless GOP response.
In fact, if you’re like me, the most painful part of the evening was listening to the GOP rebuttal to the Governor’s radical agenda for Maine.
The Queen of the Kennebec’s utter contempt for Republicans was striking and stunning. To be fair, some of that disdain is well deserved, given the GOP’s inability to craft a coherent message that inspires voters. Compound that with most Republican politicians’ deathly fear of the Fake News media, and you have a recipe for political impotence that invites mockery.
This is, after all, politics. It ain’t beanbag, it’s combat.
I served my last term in the House during Mills’ first two years in office. So of course I wasn’t too surprised by her arrogance and condescension toward the Republican minority. She’s always been nasty and vindictive, but last week she took her malice to a new level.
Wagging her gnarled fingers at the GOP side of the aisle, she boasted about firing healthcare workers who refused the COVID vax jab. As you know, many of those unvaxxed healthcare professionals had already acquired natural immunity — which we know is more robust and durable than whatever weak immunity is conferred by the jab.
But no matter.
To a standing ovation from Democrat lawmakers, Mills bragged about terminating naturally-immune hospital employees. Then, to deal with the staffing shortages those firings triggered, the Swamp Queen gave the green light to allow infected healthcare workers (who had been vaxxed!) to return to work early from quarantine.
Jackboot Janet’s taunting of Republican legislators in the chamber was grotesque. She sounded like a sore winner, having crushed her adversaries, but now wanting to rub it in with her war dance in the end zone.
Mills acknowledged in her speech that Maine has a serious workforce shortage, not just in the healthcare industry, but across the board. She claimed she inherited the problem from her predecessor, but we know better, don’t we?
Maine’s reputation as a welfare state was well established decades ago. Mills bemoaned the problem of “help wanted” signs everywhere the eye can see — but true to her woke roots, offered nothing in the way of concrete proposals to remedy the problem.
You and I know both know why she offered no details…
She has a plan, but it’s so unpopular she dare not speak its name.
The grand plan is called “Third World Immigration.”
During her first year in office, Mills rolled out the red carpet for more than 500 foreign-born border-crashers who arrived in Portland during the summer of 2019. These illegal immigrants were moved to the front of the line for affordable housing, ahead of life-long Mainers who had languished on waitlists for years.
Mills and her Fake News media groupies touted these “new Mainers” as the answer to Maine’s workforce shortage, to the applause of the cheap-labor lobby at the state Chamber of Commerce. The non-citizen newcomers were quickly dispersed across the state at taxpayer expense.
A much bigger contingent of illegals has arrived in York and Cumberland Counties over the past six months. Numbering over 1,000, with hundreds of minor children, most are being housed in local hotels. Many are enrolling their children in Maine schools – again, with you footing the bill for both the housing and schooling.
These folks will be the “workforce of the future,” and before you know it they will be voters. They will provide cheap labor for the Chamber’s favorite donors, and help remedy Maine’s shameful “whiteness” that Leftist legislators have been railing against for years.
But as hard as it was to sit through Mills’ recitation of her radical, big-government agenda for the Pine Tree State — the most painful part of the entire State of the State spectacle was listening to the Republican response.
Put in sporting terms, Mills was on offense, but Republicans opted for a “prevent defense,” despite trailing on the scoreboard. It’s a strategy Bill Belichick would typically employ only while owning an overwhelming lead.
Instead of taking a cue from the legendary football coach, Maine’s Republican party offered a very polite reply, careful not to say anything mean – or of any substance.
The fact is, they didn’t have a word to say about Mills’ “universal pre-K” proposal. Mills wants to empower the same people who have wrecked K-12 public education to indoctrinate and dumb-down Maine toddlers.
The indoctrination of your children and grandchildren is working so well for the folks who run the Nanny State Nonprofit Industrial Complex, they want to get the propaganda rolling even earlier.
And when the Biden bucks run out, those school districts that take the bait from Mills will be on the hook to pay for the pre-K brainwashing.
I could go on about the failure of the GOP to push back in any meaningful way against the Swamp Queen, but you get my point.
Final question: Do Republicans think they’re going to win by running out the clock on the Democrats this election year?
Do they really believe voters will come out in force to support a party that isn’t supporting them?
It looks to me like the strategy from the top to the bottom of the GOP ticket in Maine is to count on voter disgust with price inflation as the GOP path to victory. Don’t tackle any controversial issues, just count on high prices and Biden’s horrible poll numbers to drag down all the Dems (even though Traitor Joe isn’t on the ballot).
Voters need the GOP to prove they will fight for families. Voters want to know Republicans will protect their children and grandchildren. Voters are begging the Elephants to put Mainers ahead of non-citizens.
Paul LePage spoke in fighting terms — and voters rewarded him with eight years in the Blaine House.
Now, GOP “leadership” and Maine’s Republican consultant class are too terrified of throwing an interception to even bother trying to make the game-winning pass.
What is worse – woke authoritarians who are destroying Maine, but believe in what they’re doing, or a feckless “opposition” that knows better, but are too scared to take a stand for what is right?
I know where Maine First Project stands.
What say you?
Sincerely,
Hon. Lawrence Lockman
Maine House of Representatives, 2012-2020
Co-founder & President
Maine First Project
P.S.
Morgan worked with the 45th President of the United States to fight back against the illegal invasion of the United States – and he’s still active in the fight today!
And you will be able to hear Mark Morgan live and in-person for FREE, Monday, April 25th in Ellsworth and Augusta.
More details coming soon!