Category: Deirdre Fulton
Educators in Maine Worry that Children Will Get Left Behind After All
WASHINGTON – The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001- President Bush’s sweeping education reform initiative – was supposed to revolutionize the nation’s education system by raising standards, testing more students and offering parents better options. But many Maine educators say pieces are missing, out of place or just plain wrong.
While educators in Waterville and Augusta – like many of their counterparts across the country – support the law’s fundamental principles, they say the Bush administration hasn’t provided enough money or flexibility to ensure its success.
“The expenses that we’re incurring are extraordinary,” said Jean Gulliver, the president of the Maine Board of Education. “And they’re not being funded.”
Principals and superintendents in Maine, which already used rigorous testing, say their students were thriving before the federal law took effect. The No Child Left Behind Act, they said, has too many tests, too many across-the-board requirements and too little money.
Some high-ranking Maine educators go so far as to suggest none of the state’s schools will be able to meet the new federal standards. Waterville School Superintendent Eric Healy and Maine Education Association President Rob Walker said they were concerned the law was so unforgiving that it ultimately would label every Maine school as “failing.”
SHOW US THE MONEY
Teachers, principals, superintendents and other education advocates in Maine say many of the new regulations are “unfunded mandates.” In other words, they say, the federal government is telling schools what to do but not giving them the money to do it.
“I think the restrictions of the law were made by people who don’t know one damn thing about education,” said Barbara Jordan, curriculum coordinator of the Augusta School District. “They’ve never been in a classroom, they don’t know what’s going on – they make these laws and these regulations and then we have to implement them. And without the money to do so.”
Schools need more money to help teachers meet new certification standards that require them to be “highly qualified,” Jordan said. They also need financial help to set up database management systems that will monitor the yearly progress of each child who passes through a school’s door, according to Gulliver. And there is a severe lack of money for special education, Healy added.
Officials at the U.S. Department of Education acknowledge they have heard many complaints about money from educators on the local and state levels. And spokeswoman Melinda Malico said the president has responded by significantly increasing what he has asked Congress to spend on education.
Malico said, for instance, that Bush requested $2.8 billion more for fiscal 2004, which starts Oct. 1, than he did for 2003. But Congress added exactly that amount to Bush’s 2003 request. As a result, the president’s proposal to spend $53.1 billion on discretionary education programs – those for which set dollar amounts are not mandated by law – is only $26 million more for 2004 than Congress appropriated for the current fiscal year.
Even in fiscal 2003 – the first full year after Bush signed the No Child Left Behind legislation into law – he requested a budget hike of only $400 million, an increase of less than 1 percent.
Bush’s budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 would give Maine schools $417,474,428, an increase of $10.1 million from fiscal 2003.
A large portion of the education budget goes to Title I reading and math programs aimed at bolstering low-income and low-performing students.
Federal special-education money is distributed under the Individuals with Disabilities Act, which, like the No Child Left Behind Act, emphasizes accountability and assessment, said Education Department spokesman Jim Bradshaw.
When IDEA was first enacted in 1975, Congress told states and cities that the federal government would pay 40 percent of all special-education costs. The 2004 budget request is for 19 percent of the national average of per-pupil expenditures – less than half of what was promised.
But Bradshaw said 19 percent is a higher percentage than any other president has requested for special education.
The Education Department estimated that $45.9 million in special-education grants would go to Maine in 2004. According to the Maine Department of Education, state special education expenditures were more than $218 million in 2001 and were increasing by about eight percent a year.
These figures indicate that the federal government will be paying about 20 percent of Maine’s special-education costs in 2004.
Educators say the process of getting the money is almost as frustrating as the lack of money itself. Grant applications for Title I funds can be 40 or 50 pages long, said Jordan, who fills them out for the Augusta school district. In addition, the grant applications have to show that districts are complying with stricter standards – making it harder, in some cases, for schools to get money.
When applying for professional development grants, for example, Jordan has to make sure that teachers fulfill certification requirements. One of the new federal standards requires middle-school teachers to be certified in specific subject areas. In Augusta, where middle-school teachers are certified as “team teachers” who don’t have a specialty, this regulation may mean less money.
“It’s a bureaucratic nightmare,” Jordan said. “I want to concentrate on helping teachers teach better – I don’t want to concentrate on this other stuff. But I don’t really have a choice. I have to.”
Educators are placing too much emphasis on money, said Frederick Hess, an education expert at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. If money isn’t reaching the schools, he said, it is because it’s being spent ineffectively by state governments or local school districts.
“The fact is, the change doesn’t always cost more money,” he said. “The change only costs more money if people are unwilling to let go of existing practices.”
Maine’s Department of Education was quick to counter that. State education officials make every effort to spend the money they are given “as judiciously and effectively as we can,” said Jacqueline Soychack, the department’s federal programs administrator.
TESTING: THE LIMITS
No Child Left Behind requires that every school in the nation administer yearly exams in grades 3 through 8. By the fall of 2004, every child’s progress will be tracked in district-wide databases. Results will be given to state officials, who will report to the federal government. Schools and teachers with too many students who fail the tests will be given a year to bring more scores up.
Schools that consistently report low test scores will be required to give students extra help by providing tutors and after-school classes. Parents of students in “failing schools” will be given the option of transferring their children to better schools. The purpose, according to Malico, is to make sure “no children fall through the cracks.”
Teachers need all the help they can get to make sure they achieve the goals laid out for them by No Child Left Behind, said Walker of the Maine Education Association. Walker said he is worried that creativity in the classroom will be lost if teachers begin “teaching toward a test.”
Many educators expressed concerns that students will spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for the tests. “The testing is taking away from teaching time,” Walker said.
“Just because we assess kids more doesn’t mean they’re going to learn more,” said Waterville superintendent Healy.
“We’re assessing kids out the ying-yang,” added Augusta’s Jordan.
They argue that in a state such as Maine – where students consistently score in the top levels on national reading, math and science tests – the assessment, accountability and certification standards are too rigid. Maine’s Learning Results – the set of statewide standards designed in 1996 to ensure that students learn fundamental skills – is succeeding, Healy and others said.
Learning Results measures achievements by using state and local indicators. The state gives the Maine Educational Assessment tests in grades 4, 8 and 11, and uses scores from those tests to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of schools and districts. Local schools are also encouraged to consider students’ overall achievements in assessing their progress.
“Why would you want to destroy that?” Healy asked. He and many other Maine educators said they feared enforcement of No Child Left Behind would gradually weaken the standards and measures already set in place by Learning Results.
Maine’s existing practice of using assessments to identify and target weak schools or curriculum areas is very similar to the one required by the No Child Left Behind Act, said Scott Phair, principal of Waterville High School. But though the programs are similar, Phair said, the methods of assessment differed.
Many educators said they considered the state’s system more fair.
“Maine made a determination many years ago that when we wanted to test our kids we would use what we call multiple measures, which is simply a variety of ways to test children to determine what they actually know,” he said. “With No Child Left Behind, the way it’s being played out in most states really has to do with every student sitting for an annual test. And that test is not of multiple measures at all – it’s one single measure.”
But while Phair, along with many of his colleagues, sees potential problems in coordinating the state and national education plans, he doesn’t think increased assessment will necessarily mean that kids will be learning less. Instead, assessments will help teachers pinpoint skills they need to improve, he said.
That is precisely the rationale behind the act, said the Education Department’s Malico. “We don’t see the negatives of teaching to a test as long as you’re deciding what you want your kids to know and teaching them that content,” she said.
Increased testing also will focus public attention on the actual successes – and failures – of the schools and of the students themselves, Malico said. It also will help schools identify and address the educational needs of students who are not making progress, she said.
To track each student’s yearly progress, every school is expected to install the data-management system that state Board of Education President Gulliver said was an unfunded mandate. Jordan estimated such a system would cost the Augusta School District about $60,000.
MIXED HORIZONS
By Jan. 31, each state was required to submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Education outlining how it would meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. The Maine Department of Education submitted Learning Results, with slight changes to fit the federal regulations.
On Feb. 27, five federal officials traveled to Maine to review the plan with state education officials, Maine’s Soychack said. The main objective, she said, was to coordinate the expectations of Learning Results and No Child Left Behind.
Malico said the Education Department has not yet approved Maine’s plan – only five states have been approved so far. But Soychack said she is optimistic.
“When we take a position, we defend it and we document it,” she said, referring to Maine’s high showing on national exams. “Our record of success nationally in comparison to other states… is compelling.”
While the state waits to hear about the plan, Maine’s congressional delegation is also fighting for more funds and more flexibility. While there are varying degrees of support for the act itself, there is bipartisan agreement among Maine’s members that the state should have more money and more autonomy.
“What we feared might happen has really happened,” said Democratic Rep. Thomas Allen. “The [Education] Department’s being inflexible – this is a one-size-fits-all federal policy being imposed on the state without adequate funding.”
Allen estimated the shortfall at about $10 billion a year. Earlier this year, he proposed a budget amendment that would have cut $100 billion from Bush’s proposed $726-billion tax cut, in return for full funding of the No Child Left Behind Act for 10 years. The amendment was defeated, but Allen, along with fellow Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud, are continuing to press for more money.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who served on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in 2001, was one of four senators who rounded up votes for the bill when it reached the Senate floor.
“During this debate, she led the fight for full funding of special education – IDEA – over six years,” Collins’ press secretary Megan Sowards said in an e-mail. “And she pushed for increased funding for Title I money. Although these provisions were not included in the bill, she solidified support for them in the Senate on a bipartisan basis and continues to work toward these goals.”
Collins and senior Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe are both members of the Main Street Republican Partnership, an organization of moderate Republicans. The group has said it is committed to the “protection and delivery of education reform as promised to both parents and children by Main Street moderates, the president and Congress.”
Snowe and Collins applauded the increase in federal education funds but said there was still a way to go.
Snowe is concerned that the federal government has not provided states with enough money to comply with the law, said spokeswoman Elizabeth Wenk. She said Snowe is working to ensure the federal government fulfills its promise to pay for 40 percent of special-education programs.
Whether or not the state’s plan gets approved, Healy said, his focus will remain on cultivating what he described as the best thing about the school district – the staff. The educators have “tremendous conversations,” he said, and want to educate students in the best way possible.
“I’m putting my energy and my efforts where they can do good for the students,” he said. “I find nothing in the No Child Left Behind Act that is going to better the education of the kids in Waterville.”
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Collins Meets With Maine Soldiers in North Korea
WASHINGTON – The soldiers at Warrior Base, just a few miles from the Korean
demilitarized zone, keep watch near a barbed wire fence that separates North Korea from South Korea. A nearby field is littered with land mines. North Korean tunnels, discovered by the U.S. military, burrow under the border at key spots.
Sen. Susan Collins (R.-Me.) traveled to the DMZ this week as part of a four-country tour to assess America's dealings with North Korea, which recently restarted its primary nuclear plant. In a telephone interview Wednesday from South Korea, Collins said she welcomed the Bush administration's decision to send a U.S. representative to Beijing next week to open diplomatic talks with North Korea.
Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is one of eight senators spending the week in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China. The group has been meeting with diplomats as well as U.S. troops stationed in East Asia.
On Wednesday, Black Hawk helicopters carried the senators to Warrior Base and Osan Air Base, about 45 miles from the DMZ. At Osan, Collins met Maj. Sgt. Jay Mason of China, Me., who told her he was on his second tour in Korea, a "hardship post" that typically requires just one year of service. Collins said other soldiers told her their time in South Korea had been extended involuntarily because the war in Iraq had reduced the number of troops available to take their places.
"They weren't at all complaining, just informing," the senator said, adding that the soldiers were proud of the work of their colleagues in Iraq. "Morale is high."
Collins said was disturbed by the quality of housing on the bases, and that she intends to propose the federal government spend more money to improve existing housing and build more.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who headed the delegation to Asia, brought thousands of CDs to distribute to the troops, Collins said.
Collins also said she enjoyed spending time with the troops as they went about their daily routines.
"I had my first MRE," she said, referring to meals ready -to eat that are a regular part of each soldier's diet. "It was a very interesting day."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Collins Hears From Portland Police Chief at Hearing
WASHINGTON – Local and state officials told senators Wednesday that federal homeland security dollars are not effectively being distributed to states and towns across the nation. Sen. Susan Collins, R.-Me., introduced legislation to give state and local governments more flexibity in how they use the money.
The federal government should allow local agencies to help determine their staffing, training and equipment needs, Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood told the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Collins, who chairs the committee, scheduled the hearing to evaluate how homeland security money can best help protect towns, states and the nation. She said she wants to assess whether the government is "getting the right resources to the right people," she said.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the federal government has ordered Portland to increase police staffing by 600 percent at the Portland International Jetport. This requirement has "cost taxpayers close to a million dollars in police staffing and overtime," Chitwood said.
The police force isn't the only local agency with staffing troubles: officials at the Portland Fire Department and the Old Orchard Beach Fire Department are considering layoffs. Not one Maine fire department is compliant with national staffing standards set in place during the summer of 2001, a few months before the terrorist attacks, according to the International Association of Firefighters.
State and local officials also told Collins' committee that they lack money for training, that federal money takes too long to get to them and that there is not enough coordination between federal and local emergency agencies.
Chitwood added that local emergency workers have little say in how homeland security funds are spent. He said improving communication between federal and local agencies would help solve this problem.
Collins agreed that states need more flexibility to distribute funds. While the federal Office of Domestic Preparedness provides states with money for training of first responders and for equipment, emergency simulation exercises and planning, it doesn't permit local officials to make enough decisions about how the money is used, she said.
In the states, 70 percent of homeland security money goes for equipment purchases 17 percent for exercises, seven percent for planning and five percent for training. That formula is the same from Maine to Hawaii, and prohibits state officials from moving surplus money from one area to another.
Maine received more than $5.7 million in homeland security funds this year, according to the Office of Domestic Preparedness. About $4 million goes for equipment, and the remaining $1.7 million is used for training, exercises and planning combined.
Collins said the distribution of money means that "in some cases, we may see communities with up-to-date, complex equipment but lacking the training to use it most effectively. This defies common sense."
Collins' new bill would authorize the Department of Homeland Security to grant waivers to states that would allow money to be transferred from one category to another.
"I believe states should have the flexibility to spend homeland security dollars where they are most needed," she said.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Snowe and Collins Examine First Responder Funds
WASHINGTON – State and local emergency first responders need more money and more flexibility, Maine Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan M. Collins said Thursday as the Senate debated President Bush's wartime spending request.
"I have met with first responders in Maine and know the difficulties they are facing, especially in terms of flexibility within funding," Snowe said in a statement. According to Elizabeth Wenk, Snowe's press secretary, the senator plans to introduce legislation within the next few weeks to allow communities to spend a portion of federal homeland security money however they see fit.
Waterville Fire Chief Ray Poulin, said in an interview that money for training is crucial for local first responders, such as police officers, firefighters and paramedics. While the state has bought new equipment, such as biohazard suits and meters to test air quality, the firefighters don't know how to use it, Poulin said.
"The city can't afford to send 50 firefighters to training," Poulin said. Typically, firefighters will perform training drills with new equipment, but the city can't afford to pay overtime to train the entire company, he added.
Next week, Collins will hold hearings in the Governmental Affairs Committee to address the amount of money that goes to first responders and how they can spend it, according to Megan Sowards, Collins' press secretary. Collins, who chairs the committee, has said she is concerned about port security, an issue critical to Maine, which has more than 3,000 miles of coastline.
The hearings will be designed to determine specific estimates of just how much money first responders need, Collins said Thursday in an interview. "We need to recognize that the needs in our communities are diverse," she said. "I suspect there should be additional funding."
The administration's $3.8 billion request for homeland security funds out of the nearly $75 billion supplemental war request the president has sent to Congress "is a bit on the light side," Collins speculated. However, she pointed out that there is a lot of money "still in the pipeline" for homeland security that has not made it to the local level.
Some states, particularly those with long borders, vulnerable ports or international airports, may need more money, she added. Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood will testify at one hearing next week on the financial burdens faced by communities that need to beef up airport security. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the city police provided extra security at the Portland International Airport.
While she said additional money might be necessary, Collins criticized some Democrats for attempting to increase federal spending arbitrarily on homeland security without providing evidence of specific needs.
"Some of these amendments are just plucking figures out of the air," she said. "I don't think that's a good way to decide."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Maine Lawmakers Vote on Energy and Environmental Bills
WASHINGTON – Maine Democratic Rep. Thomas Allen warned Wednesday that the influence of dam owners could cost the public its say in the dam relicensing process.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, overriding several objections from environmental and consumer protection advocates, was expected Wednesday evening to approve an energy bill that included incentives for development in the hydropower industry. Allen's proposed amendments that he said would guarantee a public voice in dam relicensing were defeated.
"I'd like to see a different bill that looks forward - that encourages new technologies," Allen said after the committee's vote.
The dam relicensing provisions in the bill would ignore a compromise Congress agreed to last year, Allen said, that would have placed more power in the hands of the public and public-interest groups.. The committee bill would give that power to dam owners, leaving fishermen, fish and wildlife agencies and other interested parties with little say in the managing of hydropower facilities.
Four years ago, the Edwards Dam, on the Kennebec River, was removed after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission determined that the amount of power the dam generated did not justify the destruction of the river's ecosystem. Without citizen input, the dam's removal would have been impossible, said Judy Berk of Maine's Natural Resources Council.
Now that the dam has been removed, "the large value of the ecosystem" is being realized, she said. Fish, like salmon and sturgeon, that were unable to reach their spawning grounds because of the dam are rebounding. In addition, the state was able to raise the river's water quality level after just a few months, Berk said.
Another provision of the committee bill would give a $300 million subsidy to the hydropower industry. Hydropower is "cheap and established," and the subsidy is unnecessary, Allen said.
Subsidizing the hydropower industry would cost taxpayers at least $200 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense Action, a non-partisan budget watchdog group. The committee rejected Allen's amendment, which would have cut the subsidy to $100 million.
Neither Allen nor the Maine Natural Resources Council opposes hydropower development in general. In fact, Allen's biggest problems with the bill stem from the fact, he said, that it remains "too attached to oil and gas." Nevertheless, he added, there are problems with giving the hydropower industry too much power.
Allen suggested that other renewable energy developments, like solar, wind and energy efficiency, need more financial help than hydropower does.
"America has the high-tech work force, the research institutions and the capital to lead in each of these industries," he said in his opening statement to the committee.
Energy efficiency is particularly important, Berk of the Resources Council said. "A kilowatt-hour saved is a kilowatt-hour earned," she said.
In the Senate, the Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a package of bills that would provide incentives for environmentally responsible energy policies. Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, who sits on the committee, has pressed for more fuel-efficient vehicles and said she was eager to support "responsible energy solutions for America's future.
The committee-approved legislation includes provisions that Snowe sponsored or co-sponsored to offer incentives for technology, such as wind energy, hybrid vehicles, energy-efficient appliances and fuel cells.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Amid War and Protest, Maine 4-Hers Quietly Visit the Capital
WASHINGTON – While affirmative-action activists filled the street outside the Supreme Court and Maine's Congress members ran from committee hearings to policy meetings, 17-year-old Erin Spear of Canton and 19-year old Devin Prock of Walderboro wound their way through the overwhelming maze of Senate and House office buildings Tuesday.
They got lost only once, as they tried to find a cafeteria.
Spear and Prock came to the capital to attend the annual national 4-H council conference at the organization's Chevy Chase, Md., headquarters. On Tuesday, the group of about 200 teens visited members of their states' congressional delegations.
So Spear and Prock, along with their chaperone, Karen Hatch-Gange, a University of Maine coordinator from Sydney, set off on a mission. They wanted to make sure Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Reps. Thomas Allen and Michael Michaud knew at least one thing about 4-H.
As Prock put it: "4-H is more than cows and cooking."
It's reputation is for agriculture, but 4-H really is about leadership, the students repeated in four meetings with the members. While some amount of farming is involved, not all the members have cows, the teens told the lawmakers, quietly at first, but more confidently as they went from office to office.
Their purpose might not have been as lofty as that of the throngs trying to influence the Supreme Court on affirmative action. And they might not have as great an impact as the members of Congress in their meetings and hearings. They came, primarily, to make sure the lawmakers understood that the 4-H network is connected to many after-school enrichment programs, camps and clubs - that it is helping young people in Maine and nationwide.
"4-H makes a person a better person," Prock said to Allen. "We help people who need help."
Spear, for example, enjoys crafts. Recently, she and other members of her 4-H group in Canton constructed a handicap-accessible garden at a local nursing home. Prock helped autistic boys learn how to show and work with animals.
"That sounds wonderfully worthwhile," Collins said, as the teens told her about their leadership activities, projects with adults and work with schools.
Collins took a few minutes to tell Spear and Prock about some of her recent activities, including oversight of the new Department of Homeland Security as chairwoman of the Governmental Affairs Committee. And before the senator ran off to her weekly Republican policy lunch, she joked with the teens about partisan disagreements.
Spear and Prock said they were struck by how pleasant the members were. And the two of them really seemed to take to politics.
"I like cows and all," Prock said, "but this stuff's more fun."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Candidate-Donor Relationship is a Strong One
WASHINGTON – Everything, right down to the paper and the water in Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud's legislative offices, is about unions.
Michaud is a 30-year labor union man, a paper mill worker and Maine credit union board member. He considers himself a blue-collar laborer. In his first few months in Congress, he co-sponsored legislation to increase the minimum wage and extend unemployment insurance benefits. He also signed letters opposing President Bush's plan to stripping homeland security workers of their union protections.
And he makes sure the paper coming out of his printers and the water his staff members drink come from union sources.
Labor unions, conversely, know that they have a congressman on their side - which explains why union political action committees donated $301,500 to help Michaud beat Republican Kevin Raye in a close and competitive 2002 race, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzes campaign contributions.
Michaud is "one of us," said James Carson, president of the Maine Teamsters Union Local 340. "We were pretty excited to see if we could elect a union member to Congress," he said. The union contributed $10,000 to Michaud's campaign.
Labor PACs also raised $138,600, as reported on the Center for Responsive Politics' Website, to help ensure nine-year House member Thomas Allen's reelection over his Republican opponent, Steven Joyce, in 2002. Allen, an outspoken advocate of health- care reform and prescription-drug benefits - issues important to labor groups - listed the Laborers Union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the United Auto Workers and the National Association of Letter Carriers among his top contributors.
Members of Congress often vote in ways that please groups that give them such large amounts of money during campaign time. However, staff members say, money exercises less influence in these decisions than similarities in political philosophies.
"The Congressman always has the perspective that you can't take a contribution from someone you can't say no to," said Peter Chandler, Michaud's chief-of-staff. Fundraising, he said, "is an opportunity for people who support a campaign to invest in it. It's doesn't guarantee votes."
As an example, Chandler said Michaud received $10,000 in campaign contributions from the Philip Morris Cos. Political Action Committee even though he voted against tobacco interests while serving in the state legislature in Maine. Michaud nevertheless had good working relationships with some officials from Philip Morris, now called the Altria Group Inc., Chandler said.
Especially in a first-time race, political affiliations become less important than the personal connections Chandler described. Of the $1,187,462 Michaud raised, a little less than half was from individual donors. The donations from PACs were unusually high for a first-time candidate, to a great extent because of strong support from labor.
Allen's chief -of staff Jackie Potter said personal relationships were key during Allen's first run for office in 1996. "He called every person he knew," she said.
That year, almost 75 percent of Allen's contributions were from individuals, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This time around, for Allen, 57 percent of donations were from individuals, while 42 percent came from PACs.
In the 2002 race, however, potential donors could simply look at the congressman's voting record and decide whether he stood with them or against them.
Often, donors decide which Congress members to give money to based on committee assignments.
"When you get elected, you pursue your interests," Potter said. "These things coincide with what other people are interested in." Allen's interests, particularly his battle for affordable health care and prescription-drug benefits, as well as his efforts in energy and education reform, coincide with those of many PACs.
Potter recalled one vote that upset many labor unions - and donors. In 2000, Allen voted to establish permanent normal trade relations with China. Many labor groups, fearing the effect of foreign competition and cheap overseas labor on domestic manufacturing, lobbied hard to kill the bill.
Despite their disappointment on that vote, union leaders continued to support Allen. "He had built up a strong enough relationship" with the organizations he went against, she said.
The Teamsters had been especially vociferous during the fight against knocking down trade barriers to China, she said. But the Teamsters' Carson said that though Allen and the group have "had our differences, by and large he's been on our team."
Financial support didn't buy the Teamsters a vote. However, Carson said, the real advantage of donations comes in the form of access.
"It doesn't get you the vote. But I really believe you have a receptive ear - that they'll listen and give good consideration," he said.
Ultimately, money rarely enters into a decision-making process, Chandler said. The Maine delegation - "independent thinkers," according to Chandler - is especially apt to make decisions against donor or party lines.
"The delegation mixes it up," he said. "They vote the way they think is right."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Collins Proposes Increase in Money Paid to Families of War Victims
WASHINGTON – When Maine Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins heard about the deaths in Iraq of two marines who had ties to Maine, she started thinking about how the United States compensates the families of those servicemen and women who die in action.
She discovered that the immediate benefit given to families of victims to help with pressing financial needs is only $6,000 and has not increased since 1991, the year of the first Gulf War. To address the issue, Collins introduced legislation on Wednesday that would double the payment to $12,000.
"We can never fully repay the debt that we owe to those who have lost their lives in serving our nation," she said in an interview yesterday. "But this is a small step that we can take to honor their memory and to help recognize their sacrifice."
The payment to family members is typically issued within 72 hours and is in addition to general death benefits. Collins has also suggested that the legislation be retroactive to 2001 so that the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan can also get the increased benefits.
Military associations call the increase overdue and say victims' families need more help than they have received in the past.
"For so long, nothing's really been done to recognize the families," said Jacqueline Garrick, executive director of America's Heroes of Freedom, a group started to educate and assist families and survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks. Garrick speculated that "given the backdrop" of war in Iraq, it would be unlikely for Congress not to pass Collins' legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Collins said that she hoped Congress would "move swiftly" to pass the bill and that she had spoken to the Defense Department and secured the support of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who indicated that the Pentagon will back the legislation.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Cause of Helicopter Crash Remains Unknown
WASHINGTON – The military is launching an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash that killed Capt. Jay T. Aubin and Cpl. Brian Kennedy, two marines with ties to Maine, early Friday morning.
The CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter went down in Kuwait, about nine miles from the Iraqi border, at 7 p.m. Eastern time, 3 a.m. Iraq time. Defense officials said there was no indication that the helicopter, which had four U.S. and eight British marines on board, was brought down by enemy fire.
Typically, the large Sea Knight is used to transport troops, supplies and equipment from ships at sea or base camps to operations sites, according to the United States Marine Corps. It can carry up to 24,3000 pounds at takeoff and has two large rotors that spin in opposite directions, as opposed to most helicopters that have one set of main rotors and a tail rotor for balance.
First procured in 1964, the helicopter line is old and has not been replaced since it was introduced. It is "eventually expected to be replaced" with the V-22 Osprey, a significantly different type of aircraft that is still in testing, according to Maj. Mike Neumann, a spokesman for the U.S. Marine Corps.
The Sea Knights are sometimes affectionately called "frogs," said former Navy helicopter pilot Lt. Jim Zoulias, a Boston University ROTC professor. "People will always joke about the frogs as being a very old aircraft," he said, recalling the story of one colleague who said the aircraft were "older than he was."
The average age of a H-46E Sea Knight is 34-and-a-half years, according to Bob Coble of the Naval Air Public Affaris. For all aircraft, the average age is much higher - about 18 years, he said. The Marine Corps refused to speculate whether the crash could have been the cause of an old or malfunctioning aircraft.
Zoulias, who has flown H-60 Sea Hawk helicopters - these are slightly smaller and have the typical top rotor and tail rotor - speculated that the innate dangers that exist for any helicopter pilot may have been at fault.
"Inherently, flying a helicopter that low to the ground is dangerous," he said. Other factors could have included poor visibility because of dust or the difficulty of flying in formation with night vision goggles. Gunflashes, from enemy or friendly fire, can also have a disorienting effect, he said.
Three of the marines were based at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California, and one was from the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona. Memorial services will be held at the bases.
The Maine delegation extended its sympathies to the families of the victims.
"Like all Mainers, I am saddened by the deaths of Captain Jay Aubin and Corporal Brian Kennedy." Rep. Thomas Allen said in a statement. "These brave young men have given what Abraham Lincoln so eloquently deemed 'the last full measure of devotion' to their country."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
War Worsens Budget Concerns
WASHINGTON – Members of the Maine congressional delegation pledged Tuesday to support President Bush's request for $74.7 billion to pay for the war in Iraq and increased homeland security although a majority of the delegation opposes the size of the proposed Bush tax cut.
In the Senate Tuesday, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe was one of only three Republicans to vote for a Democratic amendment that would slash President Bush's tax cut in half, from $726 billion to $350 billion over the next decade. The amendment, which Snowe had been advocating among centrist Senators, was defeated on the Senate floor last Friday. Yesterday it passed 51-48 as a result of slight changes made to draw support from a few undecided lawmakers, said Snowe spokeswoman Elizabeth Wenk.
Snowe's vote to halve the tax cut was not based solely on war concerns, but also on worries about the flagging economy, the deficit and the cost of the war on terror. "The global uncertainties have cast a dark shadow over a domestic economy that was already
on shaky ground even before September 11th catapulted our economy deeper into
recession," Snowe said in a statement.
War costs make massive tax cuts irresponsible, Democratic Rep. Thomas Allen said in an interview. "It's destructive, it's crazy," he said about Bush's proposed tax cut. Because billions and billions more dollars could be required for the war and rebuilding Iraq in addition to this six-month supplemental war proposal, a tax cut would be especially harmful, Allen said.
Bush's war request includes $59.8 billion for military operations, $4.25 billion for homeland security interests and $2.4 billion for post-war reconstruction.
Allen speculated that Congress would definitely vote to approve the $74.7 billion supplemental request, "and so will I." But he said that while the request was necessary to support America's troops and allies, it underscores the need for reexamination of the current budget proposal. About Tuesday's Senate vote to reduce the tax cut, Allen said that it was "helpful" and that "if it holds up, it will diminish the damage done by the budget resolution."
"We need to throw out the [president's] budget that's been considered in the House and Senate," Allen said, suggesting Congress work on passing a budget that is "realistic and prudent so that we're not cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans at a time when we're running up hundreds of billions of dollars for a war."
Michaud supported a different budget proposal backed by centrist House Democrats and Republicans last week. He said that proposal, which the House rejected, "addressed these inadequacies, balanced the budget and provided necessary funding for first responders, veterans' health care programs and our military efforts in Iraq."
The Senate has been considering the size of the Bush tax cut for several weeks.
Senator Susan M. Collins voted for a successful amendment last week which reduced the Bush tax cut by $100 billion (which Snowe voted against). However, Collins voted against Tuesday's larger reduction in the tax cut.
"My concern with the $350 billion tax cut is that, ironically, it is both too small and too big," Collins said in a statement. If the economy is weak after war, the stimulus package might need to be bigger, she said, but if the economy is strong, "we may not need a stimulus package at all." Collins said Congress should wait until after the war to figure out whether a stimulus tax package is necessary.
Collins said she expected some debate on the president's supplemental war funding request, particularly its provisions for additional homeland security funds, but she predicted that Congress would "act swiftly" to pass the request.
Snowe vowed to fight for flexibility for the $2 billion in homeland security funds slated to go directly to state and local governments.
"I will work to make funding more flexible so local governments can use the money for their specific needs," the senator said in a statement. "While equipment is absolutely vital to emergency preparedness, it is ineffective if responders are not trained on how to use it."
Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud also expressed concern about homeland security, saying it remained "drastically inadequate."
"I continue to hear from firefighters and other first responders across Maine who state
that they do not have the necessary funding or training to provide for our homeland security," he said.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
