More than 50 people crowded into the Newcastle Community Room the evening of March 22 to hear from Democratic legislators Mick Devin of Newcastle, who represents Maine’s House District 90, and Senate Minority leader Troy Jackson, who holds the Senate District 1 seat.

Devin described the numerous legislative proposals he is sponsoring this session, highlighting: establishing statewide K-through-12 standards in the teaching of English, science, mathematics, and technology; setting up electrical “microgrids” in communities, supplementing the wider statewide electrical grid, to provide backup in emergencies and to access local energy sources; and phasing out the use of single-use plastic shopping bags, to stem their dispersal in the environment. Devin, who is a marine biologist, also spoke of his interest in advancing the seaweed fishery, which he called the fastest growing fishery in Maine.

Speaking of the broader question of the state budget now being worked on in the legislature, Devin said that in the end the budget enacted by the legislature is “guaranteed” to be vetoed by Governor Paul LePage.

Jackson spoke in broad terms on Democratic Party efforts in Maine to push back against Governor LePage and Republican efforts to cut government support for low-income-earner healthcare, and to reduce spending on government services in general. Democrats, Jackson said, also are working hard to implement the minimum wage increases approved in last November’s referenda votes, and to implement the three-percent surcharge on incomes over $200,000, also approved in the referenda votes, with the money to be used to support Maine public schools. Because of strong LePage administration opposition, “It will take a take a monumental effort” to keep the surcharge in the budget, Jackson said.

Other Democratic Party aims, he said, are to increase state government support for local schools, as mandated in long-standing legislation, thus reducing the pressure on towns to raise property taxes, and to provide debt relief to students who are the victims of predatory lenders. He concluded his opening remarks with a plea to preserve healthcare for low-income people. He spoke emotionally of the many people in his northern Maine district who have suffered and even died for lack of healthcare coverage. He is particularly upset, he said, “that people in Washington and people in Maine that have government-sponsored healthcare decide who else in this country is worthy … to also have it.”

Turning to a completely different subject in response to a question, Jackson said that in his opinion, Governor LePage “is clearly running for the U.S. Senate against [Angus] King,” whose term ends in 2018, and LePage’s recent trips to Washington have been “to stir the pot and get some money to come.”

The business part of the meeting included welcoming more than a dozen new applicants into the local Democratic party chapter. For more information on the Lincoln County Democrats, visit http://www.lincolncountydemocrats.com/.