I’d like to thank Lance Harvell. In a recent editorial, he goaded folks into checking our legislators’ voting records before election day. Well, I decided to take him up on it. Aside from all those nasty anonymous bloggers who spew venom without letting us know who they are, the Internet is a wonderful source of information. Anyhow, my ears are still ringing from the Tom Saviello screamfest at the Franklin County Fair’s demolition derby finale night, so I thought that I would start by looking up Tom’s record. In between posing for every single photo opportunity available to him, Tom has managed to squeeze in a few votes here and there. What the record shows is troubling.
Tom voted NO to Public Act 132 of 2007 for setting standards for interviewing children who are subject of a child protective intervention and voted NO to L.D. to protect children’s health on school grounds. Tom did not even bother to vote on Public Act 591 of 2008 to protect children in vehicles from secondhand smoke. Tom didn’t even vote on L.D. 1627 to protect families and enhance public safety by making domestic violence a crime. Further, Tom voted NO to L.D. 846 to increase the distance from a school within which an Agency Liquor Store may not be located. Guess Tom doesn’t care about kids or families. Tom voted NO to L.D. 2095 that ensured the freedom of family child care providers to jointly negotiate with the State. Gee, Tom doesn’t care about improving the quality of child care services in Maine either.
Tom voted NO to L.D. 1760 to restore competition to Maine’s health insurance market and voted NO to Public Act 629 of 2008 for continuing Maine’s leadership in covering the uninsured. Tom even voted NO to L.D. 1047 for lowering the cost of health insurance. Guess Tom likes the current stranglehold that Anthem has on Maine. I sure don’t!
Tom voted NO to L.D. 419 to restrict the use of credit scoring for insurance purposes. Come on Tom, what does my credit score have to do with my car insurance?
Tom voted NO to L.D. 1697 to ensure fair wages in Maine and voted NO to L.D. 1454 to care for working families by providing one measly hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked by the employee. Tom voted NO to L.D. 591 regarding occupational safety and health training for workers on State-funded construction projects and voted NO to L.D. 1925 to cut taxes on Maine residents by over $140 Million. He voted NO to L.D. 1915 to protect fair share workers from termination. Guess Charlie Webster needs a different candidate as Tom isn’t interested in allowing Maine’s “working people”
to earn a livable wage in a safe work environment, save some taxes, or even earn some sick leave in return for their hard work.
Tom voted NO to L.D. 1101 to establish a complimentary moose permit drawing for 100 percent disabled veterans and he voted NO to L.D. 112 to create a one-time fee for veterans’ vanity registration plates. Geez Tom, 100 percent disabled veterans? Have a heart man.
Tom voted NO to L.D. 1632 to impose reasonable limits on the growth of Maine’s state government and he voted NO to L.D. 556 to reduce the size of Maine’s state government by a mere 4 percent. No limits on the growth of Maine’s government, not even 4 percent?! Again, I’m wondering whether Charlie Webster would approve.
Okay, maybe my conclusions are a bit harsh, but his voting record doesn’t lie. The trouble here is that I really don’t know who Tom Saviello serves when he isn’t trying to get his photo in the paper. Tom has been a registered Democrat, Republican, and an unenrolled (so-called “independent”) legislator. Perhaps it’s now time for you to decide who is the real Tom because apparently he can’t decide himself. Sadly, I think he has turned into a self-serving, career politician. However, that’s my humble opinion, of course. You can decide for yourself on election day. Personally, I’ll vote the way Tom does… a big NO to Mr. Saviello!
Oh, yes…and Lance: thanks for the tip. I think I’ll take a peek at your record next.
Dennis R. Haszko
Farmington
before i even opened this article i could tell it was written by someone full of hatred.
Dennis it is a good thing you didn’t actually win when you ran for office because clearly you do not understand legislative procedure. You are wrong on 13 of these votes. When a bill is voted on you must see what the motion was. In simple terms let me explain. If a motion is ought not to pass and you vote NO you are voted that it SHOULD pass. It is the motion you are voting on not the bill. I would think that anyone who wanted to serve as a State Representative would know this. So before you attack someone get your facts straight all you have done here is make a fool of yourself.
So what you have really done is say you agree with Tom’s vote on 13 of these issues if you agree then why attack him and were the insults really required? I think not. I have disagreeded with Janet Mills on many votes and NEVER attacked her once in public. She and I have a good reationship and I feel free to go to her anytime with any issue I have. I never felt any other way about it. The fact is Dennis your atacksare poisen our political system and they are entirely uncivil. I have set by for a year and watched you snipe away at me and felt no need to respond but to have you so misrepresnt Tom’s record I cannot let that pass. I think you should write a retraction and an apology it is the right thing to do.
Just look at that voting record!
It appears that Tom IS for Maine business.
I want the legislature to NOT tell Maine people how to live their lives, to “protect” people.
Good for Tom for NOT allowing the second had smoke LAW in people’s private vehicle’s.
Good for Tom for NOT allowing a LAW to increase the distance of an Agency Liquor from a school. (Boy, we want those kids to get their exercise to walk an extra 1/2 mile to get their booze on the way home from 2nd grade.)
Good for Tom for NOT allowing a LAW to tell a private business they MUST give a “one measly hour of paid sick leave”. (Like the seat belt law that was passed with the promise it wouldn’t be a reason to be stopped. Well now it is. And that “measly hour”… what would that expand to? A week? Two weeks? Mandating sick leave to a small business would be a crippling expense.)
I AM going to vote for Tom.
Mr. Hazko, you go ahead and vote for a Mitchell liberal that thinks that he or she KNOWS what best for the little people of Maine who don’t have brains and can’t take care of themselves. And run those measly little small businesses out of business that don’t lock step with the wisdom of people better than they are because they can say, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” — yeah right!
Geez, is this Haszko guy related to Diamon or what? His whiny negative comments take things out of context just like Al!!! Next time explain the whole bill Tom voted no on, not just bits and pieces. I don’t think this liberal legislature has given us much to vote yes on besides higher taxes. Get a free hour for every 30 worked? That will help business create jobs. And there are bigger fish to fry than moose permits and vanity plates. I’m sure Tom has had a healthy constitutional with a higher IQ than certain liberals, but I won’t mention any names Dennis. Oops……
sorry hutch, but Dennis is 100% spot -on. saviello is an opportunist, who, when there was an open seat, was a democrat. Then when being independent was “in”, he was an independent. Now, he is a republican, serving Charlie Webster’s destructive agenda (check your NOT lowered Maine income tax this year). Tom is nothing but self-serving, and he does have a magnet for any camera around, doesn’t he?
Somewhat biased but as the man said, “voting records don’t lie”. Funny I sort of had this same opinion six years ago, Tom’s a “photo opp” kind of guy…bow tie and all!
Speaking of hatred, please read the Maine State Republican Party Platform…..
hatred and rage, to boot.
Isn’t it time for DH to pull up stakes and go back to Massachusetts. Whether he is from there or not, he thinks like they do. Change Maine is his motto. Now let’s see: Tom and Lance won and DH didnot. It looks like the voters did the right thing!
Mr. Haszko is from New Jersey, I believe, and that state adopted all of the policies he espouses for Maine and is now bankrupt. Ditto Illinois and California, and soon, depending on this election, MAINE.
It is amazing to me that the author did not know that most of these votes were actually YES votes (by voting NO on the motion to “Do Not Pass). This opens up the question of whether Mr. Haszko is clueless about the legislative process, or trying to mislead the voters. Maybe he’ll tell us now.
go back and read again DH….look at the MOTION….did he vote no against something or did he vote no against an ought not to pass motion…….what was it he was actually saying “NO” to………feeling a little silly yet? You should be. Lance is right, you should write a retraction, apologize for your incredibly misrepresenting letter, then go home and learn the basics of legislation 101. Now….Any bets on whether Dennis will own up to the folly of his misguided rant here? 100 to 1 he hasn’t the courage to write a retraction and say…………..”I was wrong.”
will one of you limousine liberals answer this
Almost every poll and political analyst is predicting that the republicans take back at least the house of representatives and possibly even the senate, if you truly believe that that the democrats are doing such a great job, why is that so many of them are poised to lose their job this fall?
Hatred? Reread the letter and some of the comments. Hell hath no fury like a liberal scorned.
When Harvell throws a tantrum, his writing becomes even more incomprehensible than usual. :D
Dennis takes aim at Tom Saviello and shoots the Democratic majority, blowing away one of his remaining toes in the process. Lance explains why this is so. WILTON READER, unable to follow his explanation can only attack Tom for drawing the conclusions implicit in his voting record. As a Democrat he often found himself voting with the Republicans. As an Independent he caucused with the Republicans. His evolution from Democrat to Republican follows a course dictated by the facts, not by opportunity. He made the switch to the GOP before the Democrats’ November Disaster became evident.
If Tom and Lance fail to send Dennis a Christmas present (perhaps an orthopedic foot) they will be guilty of gross ingratitude. The boy’s epistolary eruptions have been a modest, but consistent help in increasing public support for their candidacies.
I give away nothing here. Poor Dennis can’t stop himself. He’s become obsessive/compulsive ever since Lance erased him from the ranks of Maine’s rising young larval statesmen. He’ll go on blazing away at his own feet until he has shot them to stumps. If i didn’t have a heart of stone I would be moved by the pathos of his confused and impotent frustration.
Feel that left wing, liberal, hate.