Category Archives: Politics

Tales of two Barrys: Crimmins and Crash

When I heard that legendary stand-up comic and activist Barry Crimmins is coming to town, my first thought was of another Barry: Crash. I assume the F.B.I. and the N.S.A. also made the connection, thinking, “Boy, if we can get those two radicals in the same room and spy on both at the same time, […]

BIW workers forced to feed CEO’s greed

Last Sunday, members of Local S6, the machinists union that represents about 3,000 workers at Bath Iron Works, filed into the Augusta Civic Center to vote on a new four-year contract. Though the union’s current contract was not set to expire until next May, executives at BIW, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, pushed to review […]

Largay case inspires “SERE-ial”

In early October, I prepared to drive to Tennessee to bury a body in the woods. My father, who passed away the previous fall, spent his last years in a small town outside Knoxville and loved to hike in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. In lieu of a funeral, his wish was to have […]

The inaugural speech Ethan Strimling should make

Next Monday night, freshly minted Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling will celebrate his inauguration and deliver his first mayoral address at the Ocean Gateway ferry terminal on the eastern waterfront. I know Ethan’s been busy lately, so I figured I’d help by ghostwriting a speech for him to deliver: “Welcome fellow Portlanders and honored developers and […]

Shipyard Brewing owner suckers media on benefit of TIFs

I certainly hope the editors at Maine’s second- and third-largest newspapers aren’t snickering about the Maine Sunday Telegram’s recent misstep — its publication of a front-page story about a drug addict who claimed, falsely, as we now know, to have been a Maine State Trooper. That’s because both the Lewiston Sun Journal (publisher of The […]

LePage’s refugee stance cowardly, traitorous

Gov. Paul LePage’s pronouncement this week that Maine will not accept any refugees fleeing the war in Syria is a de facto surrender to the terrorists of the Islamic State and a betrayal of the values that make America great. Terrorists, by definition, aim to terrorize people. Being craven cowards themselves, they slaughter innocents who […]

Portland vote leaves more questions than answers

This Election Day in Portland has left us with more questions than answers: How can Mayor-elect Ethan Strimling claim victory in a campaign that pledged to unite the city when almost half the Portlanders who voted wanted someone else for the job? Given that less than 37 percent of registered Portland voters cast ballots this […]

My choice for Portland mayor: Tom MacMillan

If I were casting a ballot in Portland next week, my first choice for mayor would be Tom MacMillan. The second mark on my ranked-choice ballot would be for Ethan Strimling. The third candidate in this race, incumbent Mayor Mike Brennan, has achieved some very laudable goals, including passage of a budget that continued to […]