Category: Lauren Smith
Maine Wreaths Put at Headstones in Arlington National Cemetery
Photos by Jill Connor
Wreaths
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
Dec. 14, 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 14–“Doesn’t it make you proud just to be from Maine,” Diane Peva asked a total stranger as she wiped away tears from under her glasses. Realizing they were both wearing sweatshirts embroidered with the state name, the two embraced.
It was just after 8 a.m. Thursday and a thick fog enveloped the hills in the southern part of Arlington National Cemetery, where more than a hundred people gathered at the tail end of a truck carrying 5,000 wreaths.
“Oh, smell them!” Peva said, as the truck back door was pulled up and hundreds of boxes of wreaths were emptied.
Two assembly lines were formed to unload the truck, and within two hours almost every wreath was resting at a headstone in the memorial section of the cemetery.
“Certainly we know why we’re here,” said Wayne Harrington, of the Maine State Society, a Washington-area group of displaced Mainers which helps organize the event each year, before the wreaths were passed out.
“As you place the wreath, this is a time to remember,” Harrington said. “Take time to look at the name. Most of these people don’t have visitors any longer.”
Peva and her husband, Jim, of Surry, each took a wreath and ventured into the rows of white headstones. Down on one knee, Peva leaned the wreath up against the headstone. She straightened the red velvet bow and ran the palm of her hand over the engraved name, pausing slightly. She wiped the top of the headstone and stood up.
“Take a moment, turn around, and just look at what you’re doing,” said a volunteer upon learning it was Peva’s first time helping lay the wreaths.
The two did, and what they saw were rolling hills of white gravestones, all adorned with green wreaths out of the generosity of one man.
For the past 15 Decembers, Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co. in Harrington, has donated wreaths to be laid at headstones in the cemetery. This year, in addition to the ones donated to Arlington, a half-dozen wreaths were laid in each of 230 veterans cemeteries and monuments spread out over all 50 states.
When the project first began there were barely 10 volunteers, said Lewis Pearson of the Maine State Society. Each year more people began to help. Last year approximately 100 volunteers turned out but this year by the time the wreaths were being put out more than 500 people from across the nation came to lend a hand.
Each year the wreaths are laid in a different section of the cemetery. This year the wreaths were set 150 yards from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, upon headstones in the memorial section, which honor those whose bodies were never recovered.
The annual Arlington Cemetery Wreath Project blossomed into Wreaths Across America when a photo of Worcester’s wreaths resting against gravestones on a snowy day was mass emailed around the world.
Since then, Worcester has received more than 7,000 emails, and media outlets from as far away as Australia, Germany and Japan were present for this year’s event.
“It’s gone worldwide,” Pearson said. “It’s unbelievable.”
This year was also the first year that the truck delivering the wreaths was joined by the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcyclists who honor fallen soldiers.
Bunny O’Leary and John O’Leary, of Norway, and Joe Pepin, of Mt. Chase, were the only three riders who followed the truck the entire 750 miles from Harrington to Arlington.
They were cheered the entire way down, said Bunny O’Leary, and people waved flags and clapped for the truck, on whose side sprawled a photo of wreaths and the words “Remember- Honor- & Teach.”
“The riders were with me all the way,” said Bill Stembergh, of Jonesboro, who drove the truck. “We picked up more and more every state we passed through.”
Stembergh usually makes the drive in one day, he said, but this year they took Route 1 instead of Interstate 95 in order for hundreds of motorcyclists to join, lengthening the trip to four days.
The O’Leary’s and Pepin were originally planning on following the truck to Rhode Island, but each time they made a pit stop, they decided to go a little farther.
“I told Morrill, ‘I just can’t go home yet,’ and Morrill said, ‘You may never go home now,’” said John. O’Leary. “We just couldn’t leave him.”
“There were a lot of wet eyes,” said his wife. “It’s been hard for tough bikers.”
This was also the first year the Civil Air Patrol participated, coordinating the wreath laying in all 50 states.
“Seeing veterans and meeting them was really an honor,” said Patrick Lappin, of Calais, an airman first class in the cadet program of the Civil Air Patrol. “I will pass this story on to my children.”
This was Lappin’s second time participating in the wreath laying ceremony. The event is personal for him, he said, because he lost two relatives in World War II, one at Pearl Harbor and the other at Normandy.
By the time wreaths were being laid at Sen. Edmund Muskie’s gravestone, the USS Battleship Maine monument, the Kennedy family memorials and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the sun had scorched off the fog to an unusually warm December day.
Morrill Worcester, the man whose love of Arlington National Cemetery began when he won a trip to Washington as a 12-year-old paperboy for the Bangor Daily News, looked out at the endless rows of gravestones, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of wreaths.
“They came here because they wanted to be here,” he said. “It just shows the importance of what we’re doing.”
He added: “You and I wouldn’t have what we have today without these buried here. Every one of these people is why we are here.”
####
Baldacci Named Chair of Job for America’s Graduates
JAG
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
12/7/2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 —Gov. John Baldacci Thursday was named chairman of Jobs for America’s Graduates Inc., a school-to-career program for students facing barriers, of which Maine consistently ranks highly.
Baldacci accepted his nomination at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington before about 750 supporters, business leaders, politicians, teachers and students.
“I don’t accept these positions, with my day job responsibility,” he said. “I have more than enough to do. As a matter of fact, I tell people I don’t go looking for trouble; it walks right through the front door.”
But Baldacci said he was honored to take on the job because he has seen first-hand its effects on students’ enthusiasm.
“In Jobs for Maine’s Graduates’ program there was enthusiasm, there were smiles, there was laughter, there was energy, and there was an interest in education,” Baldacci said. “We’re very fortunate to have this as a tool in the tool chest which is going to help to power Maine and the country in the future.”
Jobs for America's Graduates is a national non-profit corporation that assists affiliates in 30 states serving more than 40,000 students.
The program, established in 1980, targets children who are not engaged in school, have no support networks and lack goal-setting skills. The program pairs them with a specialist or mentor who works with them to prepare them for careers or for post-secondary education.
“I don’t think it matters where you’re from—rural or urban areas, Aroostook County or Portland—children either have the will to succeed or they don’t,” said Craig Larrabee, president and CEO of Jobs for Maine’s Graduates program, who has been with the program since it began in Maine in 1993.
“We help them set goals and teach them why education is important,” he said.
When it started in Maine as a pilot program, 500 children participated, said Larrabee, a Waterville resident. It has since expanded to 52 sites throughout the state and serves 2,500 students.
For the past 12 years Maine has been the best of the program’s participating states as measured by the number of students in the program who graduate from high school. In addition, Larrabee said, a Maine Department of Labor study released two months ago found that students who went through the program made more money then their counterparts six years after graduating.
Larrabee credits much of the program’s success to its staff. “One person wears so many hats—they are teachers, mentors, friends, parents.”
Daniel Ball, a 17-year-old senior at Provine High School in Jackson, Miss., has developed a strong relationship with his specialist.
“I can call her whenever and I know she will always be there for me,” he said. “But she’s also very, very hard on me. But I know it’s out of love.”
Ball, who signed up for the program as an elective in his school because he thought the field trips sounded like fun, said he now believes the class should be mandatory for all students.
“This class should be a requirement for graduation,” he said. “Everyone should get a taste of JAG.”
Rodgeric Poindexter, an 18-year-old senior at Choices High School in Canton, Ohio, agreed.
“I pity whoever doesn’t take advantage of the opportunities they are handed,” he said. “I don’t know my place in this world. I’m lost. I don’t even know my family. But this program teaches you how to find your place and let it all soak in.”
Poindexter joined the program because he wanted to be able to pursue social work after finishing high school. He and Ball said the program has provided them with many new and valuable experiences, including visits to job sites and businesses in their area, as well as visits from college and university presidents.
Baldacci said the program, or one similar to it, may be pushed in the new Congress to become a regular part of public school curricula.
“The difficulty with education sometimes is you don’t know where you’re headed and nobody is turning the light on clear enough for you,” Baldacci said. “But with this program and the mentoring and support that you receive, you’re going to hit the ground running.”
###
Maine Delegation Responds to Iraq Study Group Findings
FINDINGS
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University News Wire Service
12/6/2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 —After the Iraq Study Group issued its report to the President and members of Congress, Maine’s delegation said maintaining the status quo in Iraq is unacceptable.
“Today, with Robert Gates’ expected confirmation as Secretary of Defense and the release of the Iraq Study Group's report, our nation is witnessing twin events to usher in a new era for American policy in Iraq,” Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said.
On Wednesday the bipartisan group, which had been formed by the Congress in the spring, presented detailed guidelines for a change in course of action in Iraq, including the pullback of American troops by early 2008.
Collins called the report a “blunt assessment of where things currently stand,” and said is a good starting point for the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq.
Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) said that two of the most important recommendations that the Iraq Study Group made were to call for better diplomatic and political efforts in Iraq and the region, and a change in the primary mission of U.S. forces in Iraq.
“I believe that it is critically important that the United States engage all regional partners,” Michaud said. “By stepping up regional diplomacy and focusing our efforts on training, equipping and advising Iraqi forces, our troops will be able to leave Iraq sooner and the Iraqi people will be more capable of taking control of their own country.”
International diplomatic participation by key neighbors like Iran and Syria, Snowe said, will prove central to containing the conflict in Iraq.
“Ultimately, it is not in anyone's interest to have a failed state where terrorism and sectarian violence flourishes in the heart of the Middle East,” she said.
Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, who has issued his own plan for redeployment from Iraq, said that the group’s failure to set a deadline will make it hard for the U.S. to put pressure on Sunni and Shia leaders to sort out their differences over political power and oil.
Snowe added that the Iraqi government “must understand in no uncertain terms that our presence is neither open ended nor unconditional and that it is up to them to take control of their country by containing the escalating sectarian violence.”
The major question now, Allen said, “is whether President Bush will make the necessary changes in strategy and policy or continue to turn a deaf ear to criticism.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee, of which Collins is a member, will hold a hearing Thursday to further discuss and examine the findings of the study group.
Collins said she plans to seek a better understanding of “why the study group believes the engagement of Syria and Iran without seeking preconditions will help stabilize Iraq. In addition, I will be interested to learn more about the recommendation that we embed additional troops while drawing down all our combat troops and, in particular, what the safety implications of such a strategy would be for our embedded troops.”
###
Command Sgt. Maj. John J. Leonard Receives Big “M” Award
AWARD
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
12/5/2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 —The list of Command Sgt. Maj. John J. Leonard’s decorations and awards reads like a run-on sentence, scrolling 13 lines on a piece of paper and totaling 33 distinctions in all.
He added another to the list on Saturday at Bolling Air Force Base, where he was awarded the 2006 Big “M” Award by the Maine State Society.
“He characterizes the spirit of Maine people who work behind the scenes that are not public officials,” said Lewis Pearson of the Maine State Society. “That was a reason for choosing someone like him.”
Leonard, 59, originally of Southwest Harbor, now lives at Ft. Myer next to Arlington National Cemetery . He was the first senior enlisted advisor assigned to the Office of the Chief, National Guard Bureau, which is the highest-ranking, non-commissioned officer for both the Army and Air National Guard. In this job he has been responsible for advising on the affairs of some 457,000 soldiers and airmen of the Army and Air National Guard.
He served as a Marine in Vietnam, was Command Sergeant of the Maine Army National Guard during the first Gulf War, was deployed to Desert Storm, and has traveled two times to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“One of the reasons he was selected by the senior officers is because of his ability to relate to and communicate with enlisted personnel worldwide and all those in the Army National Guard unit,” Pearson said.
In the early 1960s the Maine State Society, a Washington organization for persons from Maine, established the Big “M” Award to recognize Maine people for outstanding contributions and service to Maine and its citizens and to the state’s continuing role in national affairs; or for attaining the highest level of achievement in the recipient’s profession; or for exemplifying the finest attributes of a concerned citizen involved in state or national affairs, projects or programs.
You only have to meet one of those requirements, said Pearson, but Leonard, who retired at the end of the summer, has accomplished each one.
Carl Bouchard, president of the Maine State Society presented the award to Leonard at a dinner attended by 75 of Leonard’s colleagues and other Maine State Society members, many of who grew up with him along the coast of Maine.
“When you look at the list of names, I’m probably the only one who has never been a congressman,” Leonard said of the award recipients who include Maine’s Gov. John Baldacci and Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan Collins.
Career-wise, Leonard said he was most proud of being fortunate enough to hold a position that actually makes a difference in soldiers’ lives. Working with members of Congress he was able to make more than 100 changes for the Guard and Reserves in the past five years—more than there has ever been made in history, he said. They ranged from how mail is delivered to protections for the families at home to ensuring they receive sufficient health coverage after they return from the war.
“In working hard, he was always very cognizant of what the little guy needed,” said Leonard’s daughter, Lynn Tinkham, of Orrington. “He would be most proud of having the opportunity to have the position to help the lower-ranking soldiers. That has always been one of his missions.”
But strip away the uniform, awards and distinctions, and what is left is a devoted husband and family man, a Red Sox fan and a proud Mainer.
“I am most proud of my family,” said Leonard, who has two daughters, each with children of their own. “And I’ve always been proud to be from Maine.”
Leonard plans to help lay wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday as part of the annual tribute to fallen servicemen and women.
####
Moderates Still Wield Power in Congress
MODERATES
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/30/2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 —Despite the ouster of many moderate Republicans in the midterm elections, politicians and political experts still expect moderates to play a pivotal role in the upcoming Congress.
“Nearly 45 percent of Americans describe themselves as moderates and I think that speaks volumes about what the people want, what Maine people want: an independent voice building a political center,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who won reelection with almost 75 percent of the vote.
The Democrats will enjoy a 31-seat majority in the House come January. In the Senate, Democrats will have a slim two-seat majority in combination with the two independents who have said they will be caucusing with the Democrats.
“Because of the Senate rules, it takes 60 votes to get any major bill passed,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). “That means the moderates on both sides of the aisle will be the ones who determine whether or not legislation is approved.”
The slight majority in the Senate could put Republican moderates in a powerful position.
“The few moderate Republicans that exist in the Senate are in an influential position,” said Richard Powell, political science professor at the University of Maine, Orono. “They still control the swing vote in such a narrowly divided Senate.”
Because of the rules in the House which allow the majority party to control the flow of legislation, Republicans in the House will have less influence, said Powell.
But the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate and conservative House Democrats, of which Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) is a member, hopes to reach over to the Republican side of the aisle on at least some issues, said Eric Wortman, the coalition’s spokesman.
“I think you will see a rise in bipartisanship. The leadership of the House has made that clear,” Wortman said.
The recent election brought a number of new Blue Dog Democrats to the House but took a particularly hard toll on the already endangered New England Republican.
Rep. Chris Shays is not only the last Connecticut Republican in the House, he’s the only Republican left in the chamber from New England. The state’s other two GOP representatives, Nancy Johnson and Rob Simmons, viewed as moderates on most issues, lost to Democratic challengers.
“This is just the latest in a long line of elections in which the number of moderate Republicans has been declining in both the House and the Senate,” Powell said. “The trend has been underway for quite some time now.”
New Hampshire’s two Republican House members, Charles Bass and Jeb Bradley also were defeated by Democratic challengers.
In Rhode Island, moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chaffee was ousted from his position. In Massachusetts, a Democratic governor was elected for the first time in 16 years, putting the statehouse in line with the state’s entire congressional delegation.
“It is not healthy for Republicans to have such a small presence in an entire region of the country,” Shays said. “Competition makes everyone perform better. It would be better for the Republicans, the Democrats and the country to have two strong parties in New England.”
Shays said he would be happy to travel in New England to help rebuild the moderate wing of the party in the Northeast.
“Moderates in both parties have an important role of reaching across the aisle to get things done,” Shays said. “Most Americans are not red or blue, they are purple.”
Maine’s two senators said they believe voters want results from Congress which requires bi-partisanship.
“I really do think the American people spoke vehemently about what they want from their elected officials and we all have a collective responsibility to address that,” Snowe said.
Collins added: “I think the message that was sent by this past election was that people are tired of partisan politics and that they are tired of excessive partisanship. They want us to work together, roll up our sleeves, and get to work.”
The aim of the Senate Centrist Coalition is to do just that. The coalition, created in 1995, is made up of moderate Democrat and Republican senators who work together to bridge the partisan divide.
But with the shift in control of the Senate, it remains to be seen what the group will look like, what issues it will focus on and who will be a part of it.
“The centrist’s role and the centrist voice in the political process has unfortunately been diminished because of ideological division and partisanship, and created a huge political chasm in the political process,” said Snowe, who has co-chaired the coalition with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, R-Conn.
Collins said she thinks there will be a “floating and changing coalition of centrists who work together.”
“I think the individual senators may change, but I think you will still find groups of moderates working together,” she said.
Collins also pointed out the newly elected senators she considered centrists—Bob Casey (D-Penn.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). “They are not from the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. They are centrists, so I expect to be able to work very well with them.”
Snowe remained realistic.
“Does that mean we won’t have differences,” she asked. “No. But we’ll try to make every attempt to pave a way towards crafting solutions to problems, work through and navigate out differences and obstacles to get to an end result that will benefit the broader majority of Americans.”
###
Maine Faces Funding Shortage for Children’s Insurance Program
CHILDREN
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/29/2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 29 —Maine’s program that provides health insurance coverage for children in low-income families may face a shortfall of as much as $6.5 million in 2007, according to a new study.
The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which the federal government and the states jointly finance, provides health insurance coverage to children in families that earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid but not enough to afford private insurance.
“Generally it covers low-income working families and fills in that gap and provides health insurance and health care,” said Matt Broaddus, research associate at the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. He said the program covers more than 4 million children nationwide, most of whom would otherwise be uninsured.
Federal funds budgeted for fiscal year 2007 will not be enough for the program to maintain current enrollment levels in 17 states, including Maine, through the end of the fiscal year, which ends next Sept. 30, Broaddus said.
“Based on data provided to the federal government, it looks like Maine’s shortfall will be about $570,000,” Broaddus said. “But when we talked to officials in the state of Maine, they reported that actually, expenditure figures looked like they would be higher than what they reported to the federal government and thus would result potentially in a shortfall as high as $6.5 million.”
Without additional funds, states such as Maine will have to either increase state spending for the program or scale back their coverage by reducing eligibility, capping enrollment, eliminating benefits, increasing beneficiary cost-sharing or cutting payments to providers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ analysis.
In any event, the federal-state program is set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The program, authorized in 1997 for a 10-year period, provides critical access to health coverage, preventive care and neonatal visits for children in Maine.
Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), along with 17 other senators, on Tuesday urged the Senate leadership to enact emergency legislation to fully fund the program for fiscal year 2007. The call for immediate action came just four days after Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) sent a letter to President Bush asking him to secure funds to continue the insurance program beyond 2007.
“It is unacceptable and incomprehensible that today in the United States of America more than 9 million children are without health insurance and too often do not receive the care they need to grow and develop,” Snowe said.
The reauthorization of the children’s insurance program “will be one of the most important issues for children we consider in the 110th Congress,” Snowe and Collins wrote in their letter to the president, urging him to include funds for the program in the 2008 budget to ensure its continuation.
Broaddus said that while the program’s reauthorization was certainly an important issue, it was critical to recognize the immediate needs of the 17 states with projected financial shortfalls.
The number of uninsured Americans reached a record level of 46.6 million in 2005. Without increased funds, Broaddus said, 610,000 children would be at risk of losing their health insurance coverage.
“Since the enactment of the SCHIP legislation at the federal level, the un-insurance rate for children in Maine has fallen by more than half,” said Ana Hicks, policy analyst at Maine Equal Justice Partners, an advocacy group for low-income people. “It’s significant, and meant that Maine has been able to cover many more children with critical health coverage and has meant that we have one of the lower un-insured rates in the country.”
####
Women Senators in 110th Congress Meet for the First Time
WOMEN
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/15/06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 – Women senators of the upcoming 110th Congress met for the first time Tuesday to discuss agendas and welcome new members.
They sat in a tight circle in the office of Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), drinking coffee and calling themselves the “Sweet Sixteen.”
“When I was elected back in 1996, I remember this meeting very well,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said. “It was a much smaller group then, but I remember Barbara Mikulski teaching me how to work the appropriations process, and that was so helpful to hear from her.”
The midterm election yielded historic gains for women in Congress, in both the House and the Senate. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is set to become the nation’s first female Speaker of the House as the Democrats gained more than the 15 seats they needed to take the majority, and the number of female senators will increase to 16, with Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) joining the ranks.
The women’s caucus gathered to give its new colleagues some guidance on what they can expect, said Collins. All were in attendance except for Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and McCaskill.
The closed-door “power workshop” helped to “give us a greater focus and strength on some of the issues we all care about—whether it’s on women and work and family issues, but also across the board,” Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) said.
Both senators agreed that one of the best things about the group of female senators is their diversity.
“I think the interesting part of it is that we all represent different committees and we have a chance to share our strengths and build support on different issues,” Snowe said.
Until the new Congress, Snowe chairs the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and Collins chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, but other senators represent committees ranging from Environment and Public Works to Banking,Housing and Urban Affairs.
“We don’t think alike, and obviously the female senators span the ideological spectrum,” Collins said. “I, for one, always resist being pigeon holed as working on ‘women’s issues.’ That’s one reason why I’m chairman of Homeland Security. Because I think every issue affects women.”
When the Democrats take control of the Senate in January Snowe and Collins will lose their chairmanships and will become the senior Republican members of their committees.
Research shows how women change the agenda, said Barbara Palmer, assistant professor and affiliate faculty with the Women and Politics Institute at American University. “Women don’t vote differently than their male counterparts,” she said. “But different things get talked about.”
For example, in the early 1990s when there was a large influx of women into Congress, they were able to get former President Bush to sign the Family and Medical Leave Act as well as provide more money for breast cancer research, she said.
“Women bring different perspective and life experiences to the job, and I think that’s very valuable,” Collins said.
Maine has long been an example of female leadership.
The late Margaret Chase Smith (R-Maine) was the first woman to serve in both the House and the Senate, as well as the first woman elected to the Senate without first having been elected or appointed to fill a vacant Senate seat, according to the Congressional Research Service. Smith’s 24 years of Senate service is still a record for a woman.
“I was inspired by Sen. Margaret Chase Smith when I was growing up,” Collins said. “I think that it’s valuable to have more women in the Senate, and I think it’s important in terms of being role models for girls and young women growing up.”
Palmer agrees. “There is clearly a role model effect here,” she said. “Nancy Pelosi becoming speaker will have a huge impact. That visual is really important.”
Today, Maine is (along with California) one of two states whose senators are both women.
“I want little girls growing up in rural Maine to know that they too could grow up to be a United States senator,” Collins said. “It really matters to me to send that message, just as I think the presence of more women in the Senate is important in terms of raising aspirations of girls who are growing up.”
###
Bill Would Extend Term of Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction
INSPECTOR
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/14/06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 – The Senate Tuesday voted to extend by about a year the life of the agency that acts as a watchdog over the billions of dollars being spent on Iraq’s rebuilding.
The vote, on an amendment to the military construction bill, came only a few hours after
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) joined three other senators to press for legislation that would keep the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction alive into late 2008. Otherwise, the inspector’s term would expire next October.
The Senate was expected to approve the military construction bill later this week. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House.
The work of the inspector general’s office, led by Stuart Bowen, is critical and has effectively rooted out millions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse and therefore must be continued, the senators said at a press conference.
“The inspector exposed numerous cases of waste, fraud and abuse,” Collins said. “Its work has led directly to conviction, and its simply inconceivable to me that this office would be eliminated before its work is done.”
The office is responsible for the oversight of approximately $32 billion in Iraq reconstruction contracts and grants. The financial impact of the inspector’s audits, investigations and inspections, Bowen estimated, has been approximately $1.87 billion, far exceeding the office’s expenses of $72 million, according to a press release from Collins’ office.
“It is necessary to have an IG who can follow the money, who can cross departmental lines regardless of where the source of the funding originated,” Collins said.
The office has issued 71 audit reports and 65 project assessments, and its work has resulted in the arrest of five people and the conviction of four, with more than $17 million in assets seized.
On Thursday, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Collins chairs, will meet to vote on the bill to extend the inspector’s term. Originally the inspector’s duties were to end 10 months after 80 percent of funds for Iraq reconstruction had been expended.
But the recently enacted defense authorization bill includes a provision that would end the inspector’s oversight responsibilities next October. The new bill, as well as the amendment the Senate adopted Tuesday, would restore the 10-month target.
The press conference was attended by the principal sponsors: Collins, Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.).
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) is one of 18 co-sponsors of the bill.
##
Maine State Day Celebrated at National Cathedral
Maine State Day
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University News Service
11/12/06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 —A stained glass window in the Washington National Cathedral tells the story of a seasoned sea captain out on the water. A schooner sets sail in the background. On the opposite wall, the Maine state flag hangs amidst other state flags.
On Sunday morning the Maine state flag was marched down the aisle as the Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Maine, the Rev. Chilton Knudsen, joined other clergy in celebrating Maine State Day at the Cathedral.
To a small group of Mainers gathered before the service, Benjamin Bradburn, the National Cathedral’s program coordinator, said the Maine state prayer. It speaks of a chowder “concocted so delectably of pine needles and potatoes, of herring and clams and lobsters in their rocky lairs, of blueberries and new-mown hay and a thousand lakes and little boats brave upon the deep.”
“It’s really a celebration of the people of the state and their service to their neighbors and the nation,” Bradburn said.
Each state has its own day once every four years to five years, when the Cathedral welcomes people who have ties to the honored state and provides them with opportunities for worship, prayer and fellowship.
Linda and Bill Rhine were two of those people. The Wells couple are the Cathedral’s regional volunteer leaders. Bill Rhine read a lesson during the ceremony.
“There’s nothing quite like looking up at the Cathedral,” Linda Rhine said. “Or looking at it from a distance from the Washington Monument. It just blows you away.”
In the gothic cathedral, buttresses fly hundreds of feet into the air and stained glass windows shine down on gray limestone. The commanding organ, that blasts notes from its 2,560 pipes, played to more than a hundred people gathered for the Sunday service.
“It’s always important for people to come here and see the Cathedral,” Linda said. “To think of how many years it took for people to create this all–through wars and depressions. The people who thought of this are brilliant.”
The National Cathedral’s foundation stone was set in 1907, but construction continued for 83 years, and was not completed until 1990. Although Anglican, the Cathedral is a place for people of all denominations and faiths to worship.
A stained glass window picturing Episcopal, Catholic and Quaker leaders,, acts as a reminder of that.
“It’s a house of prayer for all people,” said Jim Rose, a docent at the Cathedral who summers in Prouts Neck. “This is an Episcopal church, but it has many windows which honor all faiths.”
Bangor native and past president of the Maine State Society in Washington, Wayne Hanson, also took part in the ceremony, carrying the Maine flag in the procession.
Barb Rich and daughter Anna, 14, and Val Bemis and two daughters Vanessa, 13, and Violet, 9, drove 12 hours down to Washington just for the ceremony. The girls, representing the Girl Scouts of Kennebec Council, wore green sashes and their troop number and carried wine to the altar before communion.
“It was special,” said Rich, a Rockland resident. “Well worth the drive.”
The mothers and daughters, who made the same trip for the last Maine State Day four years ago, said they were excited to be a part of it again. The Bemises are from Rockport.
The Maine state flag will rest at the front of the altar for the duration of the week, beside the pulpit where Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu and the Dali Lama have spoken. All prayers during the week will be offered for the people of Maine.
###
Maine House Members Look Forward to Majority Power
LEGISLATORS
Bangor Daily News
Lauren Smith
Boston University Washington News Service
11/8/06
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8--With their party taking control of the House Tuesday night, Reps. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) and Thomas Allen (D-Maine) look forward to their first 100 hours in the majority, beginning in January .
“The House in Washington doesn’t work the way the house in Augusta does, and it doesn’t work the way the text books say,” Allen said. “The majority party has enormous power to determine the legislative agenda, and for the last six years that power has been exercised to help the pharmaceuticals, insurance, oil and coal companies, and not for middle-class Americans.”
Michaud, currently the senior Democratic member of the Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee, said he plans to seek the chairmanship of the full committee when Democrats organize the new Congress. He currently ranks fifth in seniority on the committee.
“I think it’s very important that we have someone in the chairmanship that is willing to work with both sides but is also willing to work with veterans’ service organizations all around the country,” Michaud said. “So I definitely will be running for chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.”
Both Democrats stressed the importance of ameliorating the high cost of prescription drugs and increasing the minimum wage.
“It is my hope that we’ll be able to get legislation passed in the House that would require the federal government to negotiate for lower-cost prescriptions,” Michaud said. “We’re the only industrialized country in the world that does not negotiate.”
During his first term, in 1998, Allen proposed negotiating prescription drug costs. The legislation, which he said would save taxpayers billions of dollars a year, has been strongly resisted by the pharmaceutical companies, according to Allen.
Michaud plans on continuing to push for his bill, America RX Act, which would pull together many existing patient assistance programs that provide low-cost or free medicines to qualified individuals. It is modeled after Maine’s Rx Cares for ME, which went into effect in 2003.
The minimum wage in Maine is $6.75 an hour, according to the Maine Department of Labor, higher than the federal $5.15. Both Michaud and Allen agree the federal minimum needs to be higher.
“If you look, every year Congress automatically gets a pay increase, but yet they refuse to increase the minimum wage,” Michaud said. “I think it’s very important that we raise the standard of living.”
Michaud also said he supported making higher education more affordable and making college tuition tax-deductible. Other legislation he ranks as a high priority is the Northeast Regional Economic Development Commission Act that would spend $40 million a year for the economic development of the Northeast.
Of first importance, Allen said, would be changes in the House rules.
“You could hear Nancy Pelosi promise a more open legislation process last night,” Allen said.
The rules changes, which Allen had a hand in developing, would provide more open government and restrict the ability of the leadership to manipulate votes or squeeze ordinary members to vote against their constituents’ interest.
“It would be a very different process from what the House has become in the last 12 years,” Allen said.
Allen said he plans to continue his role on the Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful committees in the House.
“It makes a huge difference whether you are working to bring legislation to the floor for a vote- which you can do much more frequently in the majority than in the minority- or whether you are proposing legislation that you hope at some time there will be a majority willing to push it,” he said.
