Legislative Challenges

Maine's legislature needs reform

Here in Maine, there are 186 seats in the Maine State Legislature (House and Senate). Every two years, every one of these seats is up for election. The result is short-term thinking and short-term policymaking that caters to narrow interests, only for the purpose of ensuring their support for the next election.

Although there are many important public policy issues, the state of Maine’s economy should be top priority. And yet, we won’t hear nearly enough about the state of our economy before Election Day and how we can work together to fix it.

As we know, the political discourse in our country has become toxic, tribalistic and unproductive. Elections have become about not just winning candidates, but a winning ideology. Policymaking has become about scoring political points and advancing those ideologies for a certain “tribe,” rather than what’s in everyone’s best interest.

What Maine lacks is a long-term vision and a long-term strategy for our economy that exists above partisan agendas and political maneuvering. We need a plan that serves the best interests of all Mainers. The strategy needs the best ideas from across the political spectrum. All elected officials should be charged with implementing this vision. And it needs sustained support year after year, not just from one election to the next.