u/jediporcupine

When I returned to the Maine Senate in 2017, I didn’t know what to expect, especially from my fellow Aroostook County senator, Troy Jackson. What I learned about Troy makes me confident that he should be Maine’s next governor.

Troy can be blunt, wears his heart on his sleeve and cusses every so often. More importantly, I saw that he never compromises on his values, even when it would be easier or to his own personal gain. Serving with Troy, I came to admire his grit, his sincerity, and his commitment to those values.

I witnessed Troy’s courage on display when it came to advocating on behalf of Maine people. His single-minded focus on improving lives never wavered. I watched Troy take on the special interests, like the pharmaceutical companies, and deliver for people who were counting on him, like saving the Maine Veterans Home in Caribou.

Troy was raised in the sometimes cruel, always beautiful land we call The County. He watched his family and neighbors work incredibly hard while their big landowner got rich and discarded workers when they were used up. Troy hurts over the outrageous costs of health care, the elusive dream of affordable housing and — most of all — the fleeting mirage of the American dream.

As governor, I believe Troy would aggravate monied interests and never turn his back on his dreams. I hope that Maine Democrats will support this good man for governor, just like me, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and many others.

Michael Carpenter

Houlton

“If there’s one song that brings together every guest at a Passover Seder, it’s “Dayenu.” You only have to know one word to sing the rousing chorus — “Dayenu” means “it would have been enough” in Hebrew — so even if you trip over the quick Hebrew of the verses, you can compensate by getting extra loud during your next “Dayenu” chorus.

On Thursday night, in a back room of the American Legion Post in Bath, Graham Platner did just that, pounding the table as he belted out “dayenus” at a Seder unlike any other. The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate was there as the co-host of a Seder organized by Lincolnville resident Steven Koltai, a campaign supporter who is the Maine chair of J Street, a progressive pro-Israel organization that advocates for an end to the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and a member of Adas Yoshuron Synagogue in Rockland. About 50 people, mostly Jewish Platner supporters, had traveled from towns across Maine on the second night of Passover to sit together around large tables under fluorescent lights and eat matzah, say blessings and tell the Exodus story of the Jews’ journey to freedom from enslavement in Egypt.”

PORTLAND (WGME) – In the 2025 state audit released last week, auditors found 74 deficiencies across both state and federally funded programs.

In several cases, the auditor couldn’t determine whether taxpayer dollars were used properly.

Maine Republicans called those issues out this week.

“Eight years of total Democrat control,” Republican Senate Leader Trey Stewart said. “They won't even let bills in to be heard so that the public can provide comment about them that fix these problems.”

But years of audits completed before Governor Janet Mills took office show many of the same issues under Republican Governor Paul LePage's administration.

Across fiscal years 2016, 2017 and the 2025 audit, auditors found weak oversight of federally funded programs kept showing up.

Maine DHHS responded to this year's audit saying a process will be created to ensure performance reports are complete. It's basically the same response given for those issues in 2017.

Another recurring issue is how Maine verifies income and eligibility for several federal programs, issues that stretch back nearly a decade.

Auditors point to the same root causes year after year: poor documentation, weak oversight and staffing shortages.

CBS13 tried interviewing LePage Thursday to ask what he did as governor to stop deficiencies from recurring.

We were provided with a statement reading, "Everyone knows Governor LePage pushed aggressive welfare reform to protect the needy and taxpayers - and the Democrats fought him tooth and nail on every bit of it."

The current audit found no evidence of fraud, and neither did any previous ones.

PORTLAND (WGME) -- Maine Representative Chellie Pingree, who called for Attorney General Pam Bondi's resignation just last month, says her firing is long overdue, calling her the most corrupt Attorney General in American history.

Pingree also says she has questions for Bondi regarding the Epstein files.

"The House Oversight Committee was set to depose Bondi on April 14 over the DOJ's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and her shambolic handling of the Epstein files,” Pingree said. “Getting fired doesn’t get her off the hook."