Author: Grady Burns
Grady Burns is an activist on issues involving young Mainers. He serves on the Auburn City Council and is president of the Maine Young Democrats.
In 2015, when Beacon was just emerging as a local progressive powerhouse for political news and analysis, I caught my political hero Mike Tipping’s eye when I posted a long commentary about climate change on my personal Facebook page. He messaged me and asked if I would be interested in turning that commentary into a…
Over the weekend, hundreds of Democratic activists, organizers, and candidates descended onto the Colisée Center in the heart of Lewiston to conduct their biennial state convention, a two-day event that lays bare the beautiful messiness of Maine progressive politics. For me, the location this year held special significance because it is where I attended my…
If we have learned anything from Maine politics in the last few years, it is that norms are very important and very fragile things. General and often unwritten rules of the road that control the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’ of our politics, norms created the bounds of acceptable conduct for both parties within the…
For the second time in two years, Governor LePage last Friday vetoed bipartisan legislation aimed at finally implementing a recreational marijuana policy passed by Maine voters by ballot initiative in 2016. The newest version of the bill scaled back some provisions of the law passed by voters, including reducing the number of personal plants an…
This Sunday marked America’s 48th celebration of Earth Day, a day dedicated to environmental restoration and education, and for many Mainers this year it was an excuse to get out and finally enjoy the sunshine while de-littering their neighborhoods. Though the day is technically a celebration, and the refreshingly pleasant weather made for a cheery…
It has been just over a week since the revelation of Waterville Mayor and Maine Republican rising star Nick Isgro’s long history of uncivil, degrading, and even bigoted public comments leveled against immigrants, Muslims and political opponents ranging from Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg to Mitt Romney to Pope Francis. As a result of his…
Many Mainers may remember last December when Senator Susan Collins sold out her constituents by casting the decisive 51st vote for a Republican tax bill that eliminated the key “individual mandate” provision of the Affordable Care Act and would threaten to collapse the insurance marketplaces in states across the country and push roughly 13 million…
Fearlessly raising their voices about issues both national and local, Maine students are leading a youth-organizing renaissance that could be planting the seeds for a new generation of grassroots activism in our state. This weekend’s massive, statewide March for Our Lives events that drew thousands to the streets in over a dozen simultaneous events heavily…
Life comes at you fast sometimes. Just a week ago, erstwhile Sabattus Republican House candidate, Androscoggin County GOP treasurer, and longtime gadfly in central Maine political spaces Les Gibson was doing what he, along with the (now deleted, more on that later) Androscoggin County GOP Twitter handle in tandem have done best for years: casually…
In what has become a distressingly perennial event, Lewiston’s conservative political establishment is once again in the news for using its resources to confuse, intimidate, and suppress young and new voters. Last week, over 200 recently registered voters in Lewiston, roughly a third of whom are students at Bates College, received an official letter from…