New England senators reject GOP mercury emissions cuts

A bit of regionalism in action at the U.S. Senate yesterday. Every New England member -- including Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (Maine), Scott Brown (Mass.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) voted against a measure to nix tighter emissions standards for mercury and other toxic metals from coal-fired power plants. A number of southern and western Democrats voted for it.

More in my story in today's Portland Press Herald.

U.S. fish management doing well, so what's up with New England?

Last month the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service released their annual Status of U.S. Fisheries, which indicated that management is continuing to succeed, with more stocks rebuilt and rebuilding.

Here in New England, the story has been bleaker, with Maine's groundfishing industry tottering on the verge of extinction and recent stock assessments of cod suggesting the signature species is not recovering as previously thought. So why is New England an exception in the brightening world of U.S. fisheries management?

My story on the front of this morning's Portland Press Herald offers some explanations and background for the vast majority of you who don't follow fisheries policy closely.

Talking money in politics, Hallowell, Me., June 13

For those in Central and Southern Maine, I'm one of the panelists discussing money and politics at the OneMaine round table this Wednesday evening, June 13, at Hallowell Town Hall, just south of the state capital.

My fellow panelists include Anthony Corrado Jr. of Colby College and the Brookings Institution, Lance Dutson of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, Alison Smith of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, Bowdoin College's Michael Franz, and the executive director of the state ethics commission, Jonathan Wayne. It being a small state, my wife, Sarah Skillin Woodard, is moderating.

The event runs from 5:30 to 7 pm and is free and open to the public.

Maine's U.S. Senate money race: a pre-primary survey

For those curious about the race to replace U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe, the field is about to narrow considerably. On Tuesday, a small subset of my fellow Mainers will vote in the party primaries, presumably reducing the number of candidates from twelve to four: a Democrat, a Republican, a dark horse independent candidate with no shot of winning, and presumed frontrunner Angus King, an independent who served two terms as governor in the 1990s.

In understanding how formidable a candidate is and who they represent, it can be enormously helpful to follow their money, not just their speeches. With that in mind, I prepared a second survey of the Senate aspirants’ political fundraising – who’s giving to them, how much have they spent, and the like – for the Maine Sunday Telegram. It’s based on campaign finance disclosures that were to be filed May 31 and cover the period from April 1 to May 23. (For the first quarter, see this.)

The new data suggests that, in terms of political finance, two tiers have formed in both party contests, with Republicans Rick Bennett and Bruce Poliquin and Democrats Matt Dunlap and Jon Hinck having moved out ahead. King, meanwhile, is steadily building what is, for Maine, a formidable war chest.

One other pre-primary item: earlier this week I reported on the money bomb racino developers Ocean Properties dropped on the state senate primary in the Biddeford-Saco area. I have a blog post over at the Press Herald's Open Season on an additional PAC intervention there, this time by the National Association of Realtors. (As of last I looked, the byline on the post was incorrect, but, yes, it's me again.)

Maine: first money bomb of legislative elections

Ocean Properties has made the first big independent expenditure to influence legislative races here in Maine over the past few days, dumping over $13,000 into three Democratic primary races in the Biddeford-Saco area, where their proposed racino would be located. The sum exceeds that of all six candidates' war chests combined and comes a week before the primary.

For details, here's my story in this morning's Portland Press Herald.

Two corrections in regards to background from 2011: the story says the racino was defeated 60-40 by the state's voters last year. The actual number was 54.3-44.6 (with some blank ballots making up the difference.) My fault there.

Also, although the Maine ethics commission website currently says Ocean Properties contributed $8.5 million on the ballot question, Peter Connell tells me the figure was more like $4 million. The discrepancy appears to lie with how the commission website tabulates OP's loans, but I haven't yet gotten to the bottom of it.

For more background on Ocean Properties' involvement in Portland's Maine State Pier project, read this.

My Monitor review of Callum Roberts' Ocean of Life

My first book, Ocean's End: Travels Through Endangered Seas, aimed to alert the public to the unfolding crisis beneath the seas. Twelve years later, most problems have only gotten worse, yet they're receiving little more attention.

Thankfully one of the world's top marine scientists is taking up the task. I had the pleasure of reviewing Callum Roberts' new book, The Ocean of Life, for The Christian Science Monitor, and the review appeared there today. Enjoy the review, and the book.

For more oceans related reporting, try these posts.

American Nations wins Maine Literary Award

My thanks to the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance for giving the 2012 Maine Literary Award for non-fiction to my most recent book, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. It's an honor to receive such an award, and especially so when it comes from peers here in my native state.

Congratulations also to the other winners, and thanks to Joshua Bodwell and MWPA for an enjoyable awards ceremony last week here in Portland.

American Nations was previously named a Best Book of 2011 by both The New Republic and The Globalist and as a Top Ten Politics Book for Fall 2011 by Publishers Weekly.