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Questions 1 & 2 debated

10 mins read

FARMINGTON – Well rehearsed from weeks of debating each other, the opposing sides of Questions 1 and 2 on Tuesday’s ballot went at it again only this time in front of a tiny audience.

Spitting snow fell outside while in the white bright light of the new Fairbanks School Meetinghouse, the question of whether a new plan to pay for the state’s Dirigo Health Program through a beverage tax and a reduction of the assessment on paid health insurance claims should continue or not.

Question 1 asks to “reject a new law that changes the method of funding Maine’s Dirigo Health Program through charging health insurance companies a fixed fee on paid claims and adding taxes to malt liquor, wine and soft drinks.”


Question 1 debaters Gordon Smith, at left and Newell Auger make their points while Irv Faunce, at left, standing, listens.

Newell Auger, the chair of the campaign coalition, “Fed Up With Taxes” urged a yes vote to repeal what he called “a $75 million tax.”

“This is a very difficult time for Maine’s families. Budgets are already pushed to the limit,” Auger said. “This tax will hit every non-alcoholic beverage in your refrigerator.” He quoted a study that estimated a loss of $26 million in sales and 400 jobs, if Question 1 doesn’t pass.

Gordon Smith, executive director of the Maine Medical Association and a “No On One” coalition member said, “We feel strongly about healthcare. When Newell talks about hardships, we should talk about all those people who can’t afford healthcare.” Childhood obesity is on the rise, he added, and there is a strong connect between heavily sweetened beverages and weight gain, which in turn, can bring on a lifetime of health issues.

He disputed the claim of $75 million in new taxes. He said it would generate something like $16.5 million with the added a savings of an insurance claim assessment reduction capped at 1.8 percent for $33 million in added revenue.

“In order to get to $40 million in annual tax revenue, every person in Maine including newborn babies would have to drink two full liters of soda every day.

“The core issue here is taxes,” Auger said. The Dirigo plan was supposed to be funded through savings and there was the promise that no new taxes were needed to prop it up, he said. “This tax includes all drinks including flavored water.”

The beverage tax does not include milk, plain water, drinks with 10 percent or more fruit juice and Maine-produced drinks. The tax proposed is 1 cent on a glass of wine, 3 cents on a bottle of beer, 4 cents on a can of soda and other similar beverages.

Both men agreed that manufacturers will see this tax increase as an opportunity to raise prices for the distributors under the guise of the new state tax. Auger said a 2-liter bottle of soda could go up by 25 percent or 42 cents for the finished product. Smith didn’t dispute this claim.

Jim Sweet, of the Farmington Coca Cola distributorship, said this new tax will be hard on his business.

“We’ll have to make up for the rise in costs,” he said. He added the measure “discriminates against soda. What about candy and meals at McDonald’s?”

Smith said a blue ribbon panel decided to target beverages that it saw as contributing to Maine’s cost of obesity-related health problems estimated at $350 million annually. “If this is repealed, it will deal a serious blow to health care,” Smith warned.

Maxine Collins of Wilton, a candidate for House District 90, said it makes sense for those who are going to have health problems from too much soda should pay for this.

Auger countered that half the products are sweetened with a sugar substitute.


Pat Lamarche of Yes On 2 and Dennis Bailey of CasinosNO debate Question 2 Wednesday night.

Question 2: Casino yes or Casino No

Irv Faunce, serving as debate host as his Wilton Blueberry Farm along with the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored the evening, announced at debate half-time sugared refreshment sat waiting to be consumed. He then launched into the second ballot question: “Do you want to allow a certain Maine company to have the only casino in Maine, to be located in Oxford County, if part of the revenue is used to fund specific state programs?”

Dennis Bailey of CasinosNO said there is no evidence that bringing a casino to the town of Oxford will bring good economic times.

“What it will bring is more traffic and more trash,” Bailey said. He advised a visit to Atlantic City, N.J., where that town “hoped casinos would pull it out of the slum. Now it is a slum with casinos,” he said. “There’s an increase in crime and an increase in unemployment. Donald Trump is richer but few others are.”

Casinos have continually failed to solve economic downturn across the country. “There’s no new money coming in,” he said. Then he went on to blast the proposed bill’s verbage.

“It’s a mess. It will take a gallon of white out to fix it,” he said. “It’s one of the most ridiculous bills ever written.” He went on to list that it seeks to lower the state’s gambling age to 19 from 21, lowers the age to work at a casino to 19 from 21 and allows the casino to provide its own credit to patrons, gives this particularly casino company Evergreen Mountain, LLC a 10-year monopoly on building casinos in Maine and gives its president a voting status on every board in Maine connected with the casino.

“We’ll become a gambling state. Is this the future we want for Maine?” Bailey asked.

“Yes On 2” spokeswoman Pat Lamarche noted “tourism is Maine’s salvation, but we need to grow Maine’s rural economy.” Gambling is the most job intensive of the industry and said “this is a resort with a casino.”

Gaming eases seasonal economy, in that, people will come to the resort year round. It’s a $140 million investment with $33 million payroll that will create $50 million in state revenues, she said.

“Maine isn’t going to become a gaming state,” Lamarche said. “It is a gaming state,” in reference to lottery tickets sold statewide.

She conceded the bill has flaws but said the state desperately needs the added revenue and jobs now. The idea of allowing 19-year-olds to work at the casino is needed in order to secure a liquor license.

“And yet the age to buy a lottery ticket is 18,” she said. She said the company’s president, Dean Harrold, has promised not to attend any of the board meetings he’d be allowed to sit on as a voting member, if the bill is passed.

“There are goods and bads,” Lamarche said of the casino bill, “the goods far outweigh the bads.”

“If the state Legislature has to fix the bill, why not go back and fix it now,” Bailey said. “Don’t tell us what will need fixing once it’s passed.”

State Sen. Walter Gooley, R-Farmington, asked why the ski areas have come out against the casino question.

Bailey surmised casinos “hurt the Maine brand,” while Lamarche said it was “employment competition,” in that the ski areas would lose bartenders and other support service staff who might want to work at the casino.

“A slot machine is nothing but loaded dice,” Bailey said.

“That would be illegal, if that were the case, now wouldn’t it?” Lamarche shot back.

 

 

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1 Comment

  1. Dear Augusta,
    Thank you for offering me the oppurtunity to pay ANOTHER new tax, but at this time I respectfull decline.
    It is not that I do not want to help, it is the fact that YOU LIE! To pass a bill at the “midnight” hour with NO public debate, shame on you! Like we might not notice!!
    I do want to encourage you to ask again AFTER the State of Maine employees have used the plan for several years, let’s see how well they like the plan. What a savings that would be!

    Beverly Misner

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