Republican state Rep. Scott Strom of Pittsfield has joined Democrats, Tribal representatives and the vast majority of polled Mainers in wanting state lawmakers to resume their work in a special session this year.
In a tweet on Aug. 26, Strom called for a special session, bucking his party, a majority of whom earlier this month refused to answer a poll within the legislature to reconvene.
The regular legislative session was cut short in March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I hear a lot of my fellow Legislators from both parties talking about how the state is being hurt by covid and what needs to be done to help Maine. So let’s go back into session and work together to help our great state,” he wrote.
“The Legislature must return to finish business for the good of Maine,” he followed up a day later. “The easiest way to return is for Governor Mills to call us back.”
While Strom didn’t account for his fellow Republicans’ role in resisting a return to Augusta, Governor Janet Mills could compel lawmakers to convene for a special session but has so far declined to do so.
On Aug. 5, all Democratic, independent and Tribal members of the legislature voted in favor of calling a special session to be held at the Augusta Civic Center in a poll put out by Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) and House Speaker Sara Gideon (D-Freeport). Sixty-four Republican members declined to vote in the poll, and four Republicans voted against returning.
“Any job you have in this state — I’ve talked about in logging — you’d be fired if you didn’t show up,” Jackson, a fifth generation logger, said in an interview with WABI on Aug. 5.
89 percent of Mainers support legislators returning to work
Strom’s comments come after a poll of 500 Mainers released last week found 89 percent supported lawmakers returning for a special session this year.
The poll also found substantial support for policy proposals that failed to see a vote before state lawmakers were dismissed in March. A number of those policies would directly support people affected by the pandemic, the economic recession, and the projected state revenue crisis.
Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents support a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. Sixty-three percent support allowing all Mainers to buy into Medicaid and 67 percent favor closing a tax loophole for private corporations. Sixty-one percent of Maine voters support requiring companies to provide paid sick leave for employees, and 67 percent favor stronger protections for workers blowing the whistle on workplace violations. Sixty-one percent of respondents support the creation of a state insurance fund to expand paid family and medical leave.
In other states, pressure is mounting on state lawmakers to make changes in the absence of federal action against state violence in Black communities.
On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks, whose players walked out on the abbreviated NBA season in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, made reconvening the Republican-controlled Wisconsin legislature a top strike demand.
Rep. Scott Strom official photo
Daily Updates