King's endorsement for Maine US Senate

[Bev Vincent]

For this lifetime Mainer, Bellows is the clear choice (http://bangordailynews.com/2014/05/29/opinion/for-this-lifetime-mainer-bellows-is-the-clear-choice/)

[mae]

For this lifetime Mainer, Bellows is the clear choice (http://bangordailynews.com/2014/05/29/opinion/for-this-lifetime-mainer-bellows-is-the-clear-choice/)

It's not clear from Bev's post, but this is a piece by King published in the Bangor Daily News:


It’s been almost 20 years since Maine had a Democratic representative in the U.S. Senate (George Mitchell, if you’re keeping track). The smart money says we won’t elect a Democrat this year, either, but this is a case where I hope the smart money is wrong.

No disrespect to Sen. Susan Collins, and no mudslinging, either; there’s precious little mud to sling. She’s been a purple senator in an increasingly purple state, where we have a conservative governor in Paul LePage and an independent (but centrist) senator in Angus King. But when I get those emails from the Collins campaign calling her “our Senator,” I have to disagree.

Sen. Susan Collins is considered a moderate who compromises a lot. Sounds good, but when it comes down to casting votes that serve Mainers, she always seems to end up with her Republican colleagues, led by Mitch McConnell — the hardline block that shut down the government last year and has since neglected many urgent issues (including better care for our veterans) in a near maniacal effort to repeal an Affordable Care Act that is already working.

Moderation is fine, but only up to a point. It’s not helpful to Mainers when Collins continues to vote on the wrong side of policies that matter most.

Collins supports the Patriot Act, and has repeatedly voted for its renewal. She has repeatedly voted to authorize (and legalize) NSA spying. Shenna Bellows advocates repeal of the Patriot Act, and so do I. Obviously we need to keep an eye out for terrorists on American soil, but in the age of drones and mega-surveillance, it’s way past time to restructure this thing. And although Collins claims the NSA spying program is fair, it looks to me too much like a doorway to that world George Orwell wrote about in 1984.

Bellows supports raising the minimum wage. Collins opposes it, which makes me roll my eyes in exasperation. A $10.10 per hour wage in an America where gasoline costs $3.65 a gallon — and where a great many Maine workers have to travel long distances to their place of employment — seems fair to me. The idea that 10 bucks an hour will flatten the economy is basically an idea promulgated by rich greedheads who don’t want to pony up what’s fair to hard workers who are struggling to make ends meet.

Collins supports the Keystone Pipeline. This just makes me sigh, but not because of the pipeline per se. It’s where it comes from. This is tar sands oil, and according to the National Wildlife Federation, it’s “one of the dirtiest, costliest, and most destructive fuels in the world.” It lays waste to fragile ecosystems, emits more of the pollutants associated with global warming when burned, and creates lake-sized reservoirs of toxic waste. It’s a lethally short-sighted quick fix, and the supporters of the Keystone are its enablers.

Bellows believes that genetically modified foods (known as GMOs, and called “Frankenfoods” in my house, but that’s just us) should be labeled. In 2013, Collins voted against a law that would have mandated labeling these modified products, more or less turning her back on all the organic farmers here in Maine who were in favor.

I could go on. Collins voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act, mandating that women get equal pay for equal work (and you thought Lincoln freed the slaves). She voted for the Iraq war, and OMG, what a horrible idea that was. Her personal views on same-sex marriage are unclear to me, while Bellows is frank and up-front on the subject, stating her belief that gay folks should have the same rights under the law as straight folks (and the same responsibilities, of course).

Collins has shown leadership, at least within her own party, which hasn’t always been easy. She shows up, she does the job, she interacts with her constituents. All good. For this lifetime Mainer, however, she’s on the wrong side of too many issues to deserve re-election. I’m voting for Bellows. No smart money there, just smart ideas, idealism and youthful energy.

There's also a reply:

http://bangordailynews.com/2014/06/01/opinion/contributors/stephen-kings-comments-on-sen-collins-need-addressing/

As a former resident of Bangor, a University of Maine graduate and someone who has been deeply connected to Maine for 40 years through my work with former Congressman, Senator and Defense Secretary Bill Cohen, I am writing to comment on the column by author Stephen King criticizing Sen. Susan Collins and supporting her Democratic opponent.

I begin by saying that I am a devoted fan of King, both for his unparalleled gifts as a novelist and for his evident love of Maine, including his many acts of philanthropy such as his amazing support of the Bangor Public Library. Maine can be very proud to have King as one of its most visible native sons.

However, having read his comments about Collins with care, and with full respect for his views, I think Mr. King would be well-advised to stick with fiction rather than nonfiction. King made a number of specific points about Collins’ record which require correction and amplification.

Collins has dedicated herself to working to help keep Americans safe from terrorism, while also protecting our civil liberties. Regarding the Patriot Act and questions of intelligence oversight, Collins created the federal Privacy and Civil Liberties Board that passed as part of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, and she has worked closely with Sen. Angus King to increase oversight of the NSA. Also, she was one of the few Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee to vote to declassify parts of a long-delayed report on the CIA’s defunct detention and interrogation program, again joining with King in an effort to note that torture is wrong and at odds with basic American values.

Collins has made it clear that she supports a responsible increase in the minimum wage and is working with the Common Sense Coalition in the Senate to come up with a compromise that could actually pass. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that raising the minimum wage by 39 percent, to $10.10 as advocated by Stephen King, would cause as many as a half million people to lose their jobs, an outcome that he likely would not want to see either.

On the related issue of pay equity for women, Collins clearly supports equal pay for equal work, which has been enshrined in law since 1964, and she voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Act to strengthen legal remedies. Like Sens. Olympia Snowe and Angus King, she opposed the Paycheck Fairness Act, which could be more accurately named the Frivolous Litigation Against Small Business Act.

Concerning the Keystone Pipeline, Canada is going to increase its production of oil whether we like it or not — the question is whether this oil gets shipped to the US or China. Collins wants to lower our energy costs, and having access to oil from a friendly neighbor will continue to reduce our dependence on less reliable, Middle Eastern energy sources. Collins also has been a strong supporter of alternative energy, whether it is deepwater, offshore wind, pellet stoves or tidal power.

Finally, concerning independence and bipartisanship, the widely respected National Journal magazine rates Collins as the most bipartisan member of the US Senate. She led the way out of the disastrous government shutdown by developing a plan and founding the bipartisan Common Sense Coalition, and she has proven that she will work with both Republicans and Democrats to do what’s right for Maine and our country.

For good reason, Stephen King is one of Maine’s most beloved figures. His rich imagination has produced works of fiction which have endured and will continue to endure over the years. But in the more prosaic world of government and politics, it is important to state the record clearly. King has actively supported Democratic candidates in the past, so it’s no surprise that he would support the Democratic Senate candidate this year. But though he is certainly entitled to his own opinions about Collins, he is not entitled to his own facts.

[Ari_Racing]

Was this also published in paper or only online?

[herbertwest]

I tend to think that it's only online, but I could be wrong as I didnt even consider that it could also have been printed. I guess that the easier way to find out would be to ask the newspaper directly? :)

[Br!an]

The guy's rebuttal doesn't actually correct anything Stephen said. He certainly doesn't refute any of SK's facts, while using his own rhetorical "facts."

[mae]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/10/09/stephen-king-is-in-a-campaign-ad-and-its-not-scary-at-all/

Maine celebrity-in-chief Stephen King is clearly an inspiration for most campaign ad directors, what with the dominant themes of terrifying music, explosions, terror, death by insurance and pandemics haunting this year's batch of ads.

However, he also dabbles in the political endorsement game; he stars in a new ad for Democratic Senate candidate Shenna Bellows, who is running against Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins. King has been a vocal supporter of Bellows for a while — he wrote an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News in May listing the many reasons he couldn't support Collins, despite the fact that she was "a purple senator in an increasingly purple state."

Get the popcorn, this is going to be the most frightening ad of all time! And they saved it for October too, perfect timing. Roll the clip.

Wait, what? Stephen King stars in a campaign ad, and it's positive?! Where are the scary clowns running through the Senate in a post-apocalyptic post-election nightmare-scape? Why isn't Shenna Bellows sneaking out of Maine through a hole hidden behind a poster of Democratic pin-up Franklin Delano Roosevelt?

So much potential ... wasted.

Since endorsements aren't very effective at changing the fundamentals of races, as the Fix explained earlier this week, you might as well go big — especially when you're behind by more than 20 percentage points, as Bellows is.

Oh well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kej8f6wa9Xk

[mtdman]

If it was my state, I wouldn't need to know anything else about the candidates. If King is endorsing one of them, I'm voting for the other guy. His politics suck.

[herbertwest]

Here is a new (and different?) endorsement by King :
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014: Stephen King for Michaud and other endorsements

>>> http://bangordailynews.com/2014/10/17/opinion/letters/saturday-oct-18-2014-stephen-king-for-michaud-and-other-endorsements/

[Ari_Racing]

Does anyone know if they published it in the printed edition as well?

[mae]

His politics suck.

Not from where I'm standing :)