💡 Two prominent western Maine Republicans fight on Facebook.
◉ Catching my eye last week was a feisty exchange between Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford and Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque over rate increases approved for major utilities including Central Maine Power Co. last week.
◉ Levesque tagged Bennett, who was a leading opponent of the CMP corridor and is championing a consumer-owned utility, to sarcastically thank him for the rate increases. Bennett shot back by telling the mayor to get off his "simplistic, self-righteous soapbox and call me, rather than demagogue."
◉ The cities of Lewiston and Auburn were some of the biggest allies of the corridor, in large part to due to large property tax gains from new infrastructure there. It is worth noting that the rate increases approved by regulators last week were largely due to soaring for natural gas in the region.
📮 Recounts in legislative races begin today. Expect no big changes.
◉ Three races are going to recounts that will be conducted by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows' office at a north Augusta state office building between Monday and Wednesday.
◉ The first is today in a race in which former state Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, bested former state Rep. Bettyann Sheats, D-Auburn, by 164 votes and a margin of just under 1 percentage point, according to initial tallies provided by Bellows' office.
◉ The other two recounts, coming Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, are in House races between Republican Barbara Bagshaw and Democrat Dana Reed of Windham and Democrat Kathleen Shaw and Republican James Sorcek of Auburn. Bagshaw won by 24 votes and Shaw won by 63 votes. |
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