Former Gov. John Baldacci honored at Truman Dinner
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona
Speakers at the event draw sharp contrasts between Baldacci and his successor.
By Meredith Goad mgoad@mainetoday.com
May 14, 2011 – THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD
Baldacci and Master of Ceremonies Dr. Ralph Carmona listened as former Portland legislator Herb Adams presented a copy of the book “Bold Vision” Friday at the annual Truman Dinner hosted by the Portland Democratic City Committee. (Press Herald photo by Gordon Chibroski)
“Apparently there’s nothing like honoring a former governor to really increase turnout,” said Jill Barkley, chair of the committee, as she welcomed a room full of Democratic dignitaries that included U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, Portland Mayor Nick Mavodones, former Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe, numerous city councilors and state legislators, and well-known lawyer F. Lee Bailey, who lives in Yarmouth.
“… and there’s nothing like our current governor to increase turnout,” Barkley continued to laughs and applause.
Baldacci himself would not rate his successor’s performance in a brief interview.
“I think I had my turn, and I think it’s now his turn,” Baldacci said. “You just hope and wish that things are on track and moving ahead, and the state is going to be better. That’s all we can do.”
The rest of the politicians in the room were not as diplomatic, criticizing Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s positions on health care, the environment, reproductive rights and other issues.
“I’m just going to say there’s probably a little buyers’ remorse going on right now with our current governor,” said Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, who thanked Baldacci for “eight incredible years.”
“The contrast couldn’t be any greater,” Alfond said. “Gov. Baldacci is someone who is professional, someone who took his job seriously, who cared. … I feel like right now what we have up there is someone telling both parties what to do and not really having the respect of either party.”
Pingree praised Baldacci for his work on health care and said the former governor had taken “an amazing stand on marriage equality.” She said Baldacci respected the legislative process and understood “how it’s supposed to work.”
Justin Costa, a member of Portland’s school board, urged the audience to reject the politics of cynicism.
“I know these are challenging times,” he said, “but we need to remind ourselves what it is that we’ve done. Think of everything that we Democrats have accomplished these past five years: The governor stood up for equality, a woman became speaker of the U.S. House. A black man rose to the highest office in the nation.”
Baldacci said in an interview that he misses Maine but is enjoying his new job in the Department of Defense, where he is working on military health care reform. Some Republicans have criticized the new position as duplicative and wasteful.
“You know, going to Walter Reed and seeing the young men and women, our wounded warriors, you just get energized to go out and do all you can to be helpful to them,” Baldacci said. “My dad used to say, ‘It’s not about you being comfortable, John, it’s about making sure that (other) people are comfortable.”
Baldacci struck the same notes in his speech at the dinner, saying that, “at the end of the day, it isn’t about what we’re doing and what we have, but it’s what we’re leaving the future generations. Can we say we did everything that was necessary? Did we try?”
The Portland Democratic City Committee holds the Truman dinner every year to honor Maine Democrats who have contributed statewide to the party. At the end of the evening, former Portland legislator Herb Adams presented Baldacci with a copy of “Bold Vision,” a book about Portland parks and the city of Portland, that had been signed by most of the people in the room.
Baldacci: ‘Portland has the wind at its back’
Filed under: Articles about Ralph Carmona
By David Carkhuff – THE PORTLAND DAILY SUN
May 13, 2011
Former Democratic governor John E. Baldacci, while withholding comment on his controversial successor, emphasized his efforts to build bipartisanship during his two terms in the Blaine House.
Baldacci is being honored at the annual Portland Democratic City Committee Truman Dinner, tonight at 5:30 p.m. at the Italian Heritage Center. He spoke with The Portland Daily Sun Thursday about the city’s upcoming mayoral election, developments he championed from Augusta and the state of politics in Maine.
New Republican Gov. Paul LePage has riled his critics with a more blunt governing style, but Baldacci refrained from saying anything about the current governor. He preferred to praise Portland Democratic Chair Jill Barkley and Vice Chair Ralph Carmona for revitalizing the party, saying he’s looking to the city’s fall election of a voter-approved mayor.
“You have an important election coming up in Portland for mayor, that’s the largest city in Maine, a big economic engine for the state,” Baldacci said.
He said he wants to help make sure that “turnout is high, good candidates come forward and focus on jobs and the economy.”
The Democratic Party is in the minority in the Maine Legislature, but Baldacci credited the Portland Democrats for building up enthusiasm.
“I come back and forth and try to stay in touch with people, and I’m really excited about seeing Ralph and Jill and appreciate their support and the work they’ve done,” he said.
“I was proud that in the state of Maine in the most difficult times we were able to strike bipartisanship agreements,” he said.
Baldacci was elected governor in 2002 and reelected in 2006, and one of the accomplishments he singled out was helping to bring a deep-water pier, or megaberth, to Portland Harbor. The future is bright for the Port City, he said.
“Portland has the wind at its back,” Baldacci said.
Tourism development and waterfront improvements came to mind as projects he supported as governor.
“I just enjoyed working with the community and its leadership in trying to realize — especially coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression — there are opportunities to expand the megaberth so you can take in more than one ship at a time … That was huge, I worked with them on that, we certainly worked on redevelopment of the Maine State Pier and the cargo container port so you could make improvements there so you have a working waterfront,” Baldacci said.
“We’ve worked a lot in Portland to build up the megaberth for tourism, I”ve been so pleased with the development, you can’t look at the Food Channel and not see the chefs of Portland showing up,” he said.
Today, Baldacci is working on military health care reform at the U.S. Department of Defense. Overseeing the National Guard in Maine was a training ground for military health care reform in the Obama administration, he said.
“A lot of things that we did — we tried to bend the curve longterm — are ths same issues that we have to face as a country,” Baldacci said.
Asked if he had any advice for LePage, Baldacci said he didn’t, at least not to share.
“I had my turn, and I think that this is his turn,” Baldacci said.
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