AUGUSTA – Over the past 50 years, Maine legislatures and governors have added millions of dollars in tax breaks for businesses without ever doing the detailed analysis to find out which are effective and which are wasteful. But now that may be changing. Continue Reading →
Money
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University system cuts while reserve fund grows to $177m
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Four years ago, when the University of Maine System was cutting programs to save money, officials were criticized for not, instead, making up the shortfall by taking money from System reserves. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Money, Stories, Maine legislature, state budget, University of Maine System
“Best Investigative Reporting on US Guns You Might Have Missed” includes Center’s gun subsidies story
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The Investigative Fund, a project of the Nation Institute, has included the Center’s story on gun subsidies, “States have subsidized makers of assault rifles to tune of $19 million,” on their list of six stories that constitute the “Best Investigative Reporting on US Guns You Might Have Missed.” We’re proud to join our investigative reporting colleagues at Mother Jones, The Tampa Bay Times, The Chicago Reporter and City Limits on the Nation Institute’s list. You can see the entire list here. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Center News, Money, Public Safety
Millett on business tax breaks: Expects legislators to question whether “such programs should remain intact”
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Last week, the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting published a story headlined, “Risky business tax breaks cost state $100 million per year.” At the time of publication, we had not yet received a response from the state chief budget officer, Sawin Millett, the commissioner of administration and finance. A response has since been sent to us, via email. Here is our question and his answer:
MCPIR question: Given the 2006 OPEGA study of 46 economic development programs (including related ”tax expenditure” data) rated some of those programs as “high risk,” why is the Governor continuing those programs?
Millett: Quite simply, three Committees of the Legislature reviewed the OPEGA report over the 2007-2008 biennium and took no action to modify or eliminate those programs – with the single exception you have referenced – thus those programs have remained in statute. It is my personal expectation, however, that there will likely be specific proposals advanced, and considerable discussion had, during the current Session as to whether all such programs should remain intact, going forward. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Money, Reporter's Notebook
Risky business tax breaks cost state $100 million per year
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While the state is considering cutting aid to schools and communities, it is also spending more than $100 million a year on tax breaks for businesses that an audit has criticized as risky investments. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Money, Stories, tax break, tax breaks
Ethics getting statehouse attention, prompted by ‘F’ in national study
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If you’re paid to regulate widgets for the state of Maine, then you shouldn’t be able to take a new job working for widget makers. That’s what Ann Luther, board member of the League of Women Voters of Maine, told legislators on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee Wednesday in a hearing on a bill that would stop the so-called “revolving door.” The bill would make it unlawful for executive branch officials to leave their state job and go directly to work for an industry they regulated. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Ethics, Money, Maine legislature, transparency, Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee
Court approves foreclosure, sale of ex-Rep. Martin’s bar and restaurant
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A taxpayer-funded agency is about to foreclose on a restaurant and bar owned by former state Rep. John Martin and a partner – unless they come up with $232,000 by the end of March. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Ethics, Money, Stories, Aroostook, bankruptcy
States have subsidized makers of assault rifles to tune of $19 million
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Taxpayers across the country are subsidizing the manufacturers of assault rifles used in multiple mass killings, including the massacre of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. last month. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Money, Public Safety, Stories, assault weapons, mass shootings, Newtown, tax breaks
Finally, a study that looks at whether campaign cash actually influences policy
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Clayton Peoples, a lab fellow at Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, specializes in campaign finance and corruption, a subject that most investigative reporters love. He’s done important work looking at actual data linking campaign contributors’ influence over legislation — the kind of influence that many people intuitively believe exists, but an influence that has also suffered from a lack of empirical, fact-based documentation. Take a look at Peoples’ latest blog post, “What Can $6 Billion Buy?” where he concludes: “It is not especially surprising that an analysis of all the bills over an extended period reveals consistent contributor influence. As a lawmaker interviewed by Schram in his 1995 book Speaking Freely put it, “(People) will often look for…the grand-slam example of influence of these interests. Continue Reading →
Filed under: Cool Stuff We Like, Elections, Ethics, Money
Bad behavior in state workplace costs taxpayers nearly $2m in settlements
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One corrections officer spread a false rumor that the new female officer at the state prison in South Windham was a stripper. Another one called her “Genitalia,” instead of her real name, which also began with a “G.”
She was asked by a colleague if he could measure her buttocks. When she said no, he did it anyway. She was asked abouther favorite sexual positions and to describe her breasts. When her complaints were not taken seriously, she quit her job and filed sexual harassment and retaliation complaints against the Department of Corrections with the state Human Rights Commission, detailing what she said happened to her in a sworn statement. Continue Reading →