Letters to the Editor From Hancock County Democrats
Carole Beal - Bangor Daily NewsAug. 21I support Troy Jackson to uphold the ideals of Graham Platner’s campaign.
Thank you, Graham Platner, and 15,000 volunteers who with honesty, integrity and enormous amounts of energy successfully created a vision for leadership in our state. As an inspiring candidate, Graham articulated the concerns of the Maine working class. Day after day, Graham spoke to all of us, especially young first-time voters like my granddaughters.
I am tired of powerful, old, out-of-date Washington, D.C. lawmakers telling us who best represents Maine. Graham Platner received more primary votes than any other Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Maine history. I believe he paved the way to retire Susan Collins.
As one of the 17,000 in Maine who voted for delegates to the improvised convention to choose our candidate, I helped nominate Troy Jackson. He has my support through the Maine People Power Movement (MPPM), which upholds the ideals of the Platner campaign.
If it’s time for change in Washington, then join those of us working with the MPPM and committed progressives to retrofit our local Democratic committees from the ground up.
Carole Beal Blue Hill
Alan BlumeAug. 17 - Ellsworth AmericanTo the Editor:When asked about then Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s order granting President Trump, his sons, and family business immunity from IRS audits earlier this year, Senator Collins was quoted as stating: “I haven’t been focused on that, to tell the truth.” As an afterthought she added: “I think the same rules should apply to everybody.” Senator Collins’ response when I wrote asking her to take action to block the immunity deal was non-committal.Although Senator Collins voted against Mr. Blanche’s confirmation as Attorney General (yet another in a long line of her meaningless protest votes), she has not made any meaningful attempt since the Trump immunity deal from IRS audits was first announced to ensure the rules that apply to all of us who pay our taxes year after year also apply to President Trump — or any other president, member of Congress or Supreme Court justice for that matter. I find that offensive.Citizens of Maine deserve a senator who will stand up against President Trump’s abuses of office, which include the order granting him immunity from IRS audits. Maine voters have a choice this November. We can reelect a senator who wasn’t immediately alarmed when President Trump was granted immunity from IRS audits, or we can elect a senator who will stand up for all of us. The choice is easy – I will be voting for Troy Jackson.Alan BlumeBlue Hill
Libbey Gulliver - Mount Desert IslanderAugust 10, 2026
I urge Maine citizens to recognize the immense power we grant our elected officials. It’s crucial to know their personalities and skills. Voters need to be informed and be allowed to advocate about the world we want to live in and to review voting records by candidates that meet those objectives.
Susan Collins doesn’t trust the citizens of Maine to support her in her bid for a sixth term. She continues to avoid any extensive public meetings with Mainers, which suggests she feels guilty about her service to Maine as our Senator.
Our Senators and legislators must serve all of Maine, not for self-interest or to do others’ bidding. Susan Collins’ recent voting record suggests the latter. Her symbolic & strategic votes for medicaid cuts, judicial confirmations, and her being “Insufficiently” critical of Immigration actions have purposely and materially harmed Maine people.
Susan Collins is weak and requires dark money to continue doing the bidding for political operatives like “Stronger America” and “Pine Tree Results.” These 501(c)(4) and political action committees received millions of undisclosed investor money for her campaign.
The Republican leadership clearly fears she can’t win on her own merit. I urge my fellow Mainers to choose power for Maine citizens. Don’t be fooled by the Republican operatives financing the Collins campaign to serve the interests of big-money donors.
Libbey GulliverBlue Hill, Maine
Mike McMillen's op-ed in the Portland Press Herald .
https://www.pressherald.com/2026/09/07/corruption-in-high-places-continues-to-plague-america-opinion/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Millions%20in%20federal%20dollars%20for%20short-term%20workforce%20training%20programs%20come%20to%20Maine&utm_campaign=MaineToday%20-%20Monday,%20Sept%20%207,%202026%20(Copy)&vgo_ee=kBA3XBIVF9cehw38Wu7+xmFFHOoilfDrsJLNWPKWfiiry7K3Lw==:HhoELu3NIOi6kMkMA3l8tv7SIxndIbhY
For those who can't get past the paywall, here's what he wrote:
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Corruption in High Places
The second Trump administration is thought by most historians to be far and away the most corrupt in American history, abetted by a compromised Supreme Court placing the presidency above the law and by the craven failure of a Republican Congress to exercise constitutionally mandated checks and balances. Former federal prosecutor and law professor Barbara McQuade describes it as "mob-style government," which it certainly looks like.
We may not yet be able to see the full repercussions of the Trump era in the economic data, but we see the psychological consequences all around us: a growing sense that economic walls are closing in, a skepticism in the electorate toward government competence and intentions, the mistrust of Americans by foreigners, and the mistrust by Americans of each other.
The instances of Trump's corruption are so numerous and wide-ranging that it is hard to keep track of them all, which itself becomes a strategy of political control, described by Trump ally Steve Bannon as "flooding the zone", instilling a sense of helplessness and hopelessness in the electorate. The great risk of this assault on civic virtue and engagement is that the public becomes inured to general corruption and is no longer shocked by specific instances of it.
Even now there are arguments between the left and right on what is corrupt behavior and what is acceptable, normal conduct. These disagreements in part reflect the intentional debasement of our political language. For instance, Trump and his Republican allies advocate voter suppression measures in the name of promoting election "integrity". Damage is done here to both the concept of integrity and to public confidence in elections. Cynicism results (i.e. "they all do it") and suddenly we come face-to-face with the prospect of the demise of our republic from lack of public support and participation. That threat becomes the ultimate cost of corruption, but there are incremental costs along the way, measured abstractly as decreasing economic stability and dynamism, and concretely as increasing human misery and despair.
Take an example from right here in Maine. Susan Collins, with money from over 100 billionaires, is running incessant campaign ads extolling the pork barrel money she directs to Maine as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Indeed, Collins has been very successful scrounging money for Maine, bringing home $431 million this year, more per capita than many of her Senate colleagues. However, these are just crumbs off the oligarchs' table, on which Trump and a Republican Congress last year spread $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. The tax breaks going mostly to the wealthy and corporations are equal to 10,000 times the amount of pork Susan Collins brought home to Maine.
Meanwhile, the national debt has just topped $40 trillion. We now pay more for the interest on our debt than for national defense, roughly $2,800 each year for every man, woman, and child in the USA. What Senator Collins neglects to remind us in her ads, is that due to decades of massive Republican tax cuts for the wealthy and incessant unfunded wars of choice, all her federal largess is borrowed, left to our children and grandchildren to repay.
As soon as the "One Big Beautiful (Tax) Bill" passed last year by Collins and her Republican cohorts takes full effect after the November elections (cute!), Maine will be hit by an economic storm. Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, ACA and SNAP will eliminate the ability of thousands of Mainers, especially children, the elderly and disabled, to access affordable health care or sufficient food. Already struggling, rural hospitals will need to cut services or will fold entirely, the money earmarked to help them weather this storm being a pittance.
Meanwhile, Susan Collins is adamantly opposed to any form of universal national health care to help lower what is one of the highest and most unpredictable costs for most American families and the leading cause of personal bankruptcies. Her claim is that we can't afford it, despite Americans already paying $6,000 more per person for health care than the rest of the developed world (where health care is universal), while living four years less. In short, we're already covering the cost of public health care, we're just not getting our money's worth. In my book, that is corruption.
Michael McMillen
Harborside and Portland, MaineMichael McMillen is a retired businessman and education philanthropist deeply worried about the irreparable damage being done to our country by the current administration in Washington. He divides his time between Harborside and Portland.
Sept 14/Mt. Desert Islander
How Dare He?
How dare our president make up stories about being at Ground Zero on 9/11? He makes a mockery of those who died in the attacks and those who actually DID come to the rescue. He makes a mockery of everything that is good and noble and kind about our country and turns it into financial gain and power for him and his minions. And then dares to call Democrats “un-American.” It’s a disgrace. He’s a disgrace and a traitor.
Meanwhile, our military grows weaker as our weapons are used up to attack civilians in Iran and as Sec. Hegseth continues to replace seasoned and respected leaders with those who will tow the President’s line. How long before we see another 9/11 coming our way?
Voting is patriotic. Voting is American. Voting is our right. Let’s vote for Democrats this November.
Alan Blume
Blue Hill https://www.mdislander.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/how-dare-he/article_3795b4a4-e3b5-44eb-8fc9-5f4a9417d200.html
Sept. 8/Mt. Desert Islander
A Vote for Jackson
President Trump remains unable to resolve a war he started--a war that was unnecessary, not authorized by Congress and not supported by a majority of Americans. Sen. Collins repeatedly stood by the President’s actions in Iran, by voting “nay” on multiple resolutions--proposed on the Senate floor in March and April--to remove US Armed Forces from Iran. Six months later, the war is no farther along in resolution.
The war has squeezed both energy and fertilizer supplies around the world, resulting in higher gas prices for us, and putting farmers under intense financial strain. The price of oil is up 20-30% over what it was prior to the war, making gas at the pumps, and diesel which runs most of our transportation of goods more expensive. Furthermore, the Trump administration declared an energy emergency but then cut funds and approval for renewable energy projects, including two offshore wind power projects in the Gulf of Maine.
Republicans in Congress, Sen. Collins included, have been unwilling to challenge Trump on a host of actions. Democrats are running on a platform of economic fairness and opportunity, upholding our Constitution, supporting sustainable environmental policies, and leading with integrity. We can choose peace, integrity, justice, fairness and kindness over war, criminality, injustice, economic inequality, and hate. Voting is a protest and a right. Join me in electing Democrats in November, starting with Troy Jackson.
Martha Blume
Blue Hill
https://www.mdislander.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/a-vote-for-jackson/article_0ce3ae66-754c-46ad-97a5-353b056654b9.html
This was published Sept. 8 in the Ellsworth American and Mt. Desert Islander
President Trump has shared his views on affordability many times since becoming the 47th President.
“There’s this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about – affordability… It doesn’t meananything to anybody,” claims Donald Trump multiple times. He has also called affordability a “hoax.” And in May, 2026 he said, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation, I don’t think about anybody.” Just like with everything else, if he denies something exists often enough he thinks most Americans will believe it.
But how do you feel when you fill up your gas tank and see that gas is $4.12 a gallon or that diesel is at an all-time high of $5.82 a gallon. Or when you are at the grocery store and your grocery bill goes up every week? Or when you get your electric bill and it is much higher than it was when Trump took office? Or any of the other expenses you pay like your insurance bills, property taxes, heating bills and childcare?
After almost two years Trump is still trying to blame Joe Biden or the greedy corporations when it is his chaotic tariffs and the War in Iran that is driving up costs for you and your family. As we know, nothing is ever his fault despite his promises to lower prices on day one.
And what has Susan Collins done to make your life more affordable? She supported the War in Iran driving up energy and food prices. And she has been mum on tariffs until recently when she finally spoke out against Trump’s ridiculous tariffs with Maine’s largest trading partner – Canada. Her concerned response was “I still think imposing new tariffs on Canada is a mistake,” Collins told News Center Maine in an interview. And Paul LePage was all-in on Trump’s tariffs until very recently when he too, turned against them.
In January, when Collins voted against Trump’s war in Venezuela, Trump said, “(she) should never be elected to Congress again.” According to The Hill, Trump also went so far as to call Collins directly to voice his displeasure in what was described as a “profanity-laced rant,” according to two sources.
If you’re looking for someone to help the working people of Maine vote for Troy Jackson and Matt Dunlap.
Gary Loft Lamoine