Bill to increase Maine maple sugar industry signed into law

AUGUSTA – Gov. Paul LePage signed legislation Wednesday to establish a task force to study the potential for expanding the Maine maple sugar industry. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Matt Peterson, D-Rumford, strengthens the brand of Maine Maple products, creates new job opportunities and expands export markets.

“This is an important step in expanding the production and marketing of Maine maple products,” said Peterson. “Finding ways to extend the sustainable use of our natural resources, like the Maine woods, is a key to our long term economic health as a state. This initiative is a particularly sweet business development effort.”

Peterson added “This bill is also a real validation of the citizen legislative process.”

In the spring of 2010 Rep. Peterson was contacted by Chris Botka, a constituent who is a small scale maple producer. Through an arrangement with the Maine Department of Conservation, Botka, who resides in Rangeley Plantation, sustainably harvests maple sap from Maine lands, which he brands and markets for the Rangeley Lakes area.

Botka met with Peterson to find out why the State of Maine wasn’t doing more to promote Maine maple products on a regional, national and international level. As a result of that meeting, Peterson introduced the legislation signed into law yesterday.

“Maine's Maple Syrup Industry is about to shock the world as we begin the process to capitalize on Maine's potential,” said Botka. “The task force will open doors of opportunity which will have a positive economic impact for Maine people and businesses. It would have never come about without the determination of Representative Matt Peterson and bi-partisan support from all legislators. I believe and they have proved it is time to move Maine forward!"

The task force will submit their findings and recommendations in a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry by Dec. 7, 2011.

After doing some research, Peterson discovered that although Vermont is the recognized leader among United States maple producers with annual production that is more than double what Maine markets, Maine forests contain 50 percent more hard maple trees than Vermont forests based on US Forest Service inventories.

After their meeting, Peterson and Botka worked with Rep. Jeff McCabe, D-Skowhegan who attended meetings with industry groups, other producers, and legislators to craft and refine the bill.

“The Maple industry has been promoting themselves worldwide and we need to find out how to support them as they grow,” said McCabe.

“I hope these efforts will replicate the strides we have made in managing and marketing other signature products, like Maine potatoes, Maine wild blueberries, and Maine lobsters,” said Peterson. “Can our delicious Maine maple syrup be far behind as another icon?”

Location:Capitol St,Augusta,United States

Encouraging Accountability

I had already written another column dealing with more mundane matter in the State Legislature when, with a strange sense of disbelief last weekend, I started following with interest and concern the unfolding story of Representative Frederick Wintle. Representative Wintle, a freshman legislator from Garland, spent the weekend in the Kennebec County Jail after having been arrested and charged with violation of firearms laws -- including criminal threatening. Our system of justice presumes the innocence of anyone accused of a crime, so I will withhold any judgment on his behavior, his motivations or the legal consequences until the justice system has had an opportunity to do its work.

That being said, the Speaker of the House has suspended many of Representatives privileges as a legislator based on what a spokesman for the Speaker described as “increasingly erratic behavior.” This unfortunate incident throws two very different issues into sharp relief.

First, there is pending legislation that would make it legal for individuals other than the Capitol Security force to carry firearms inside the Capitol building. This recent event will certainly impact the debate on that proposal and people are already starting to line up for the debate. Those with the strongest interests in this agenda are already claiming that this series of events involving Representative Wintle underscores the need to (a) Allow firearms in the Capitol, or (b) Prohibit firearms in the Capitol. I am sure the debate will be lively, and I will follow the arguments closely and listen to the citizens of District 92 while I decide how to vote on this matter.

More importantly is the matter of representation in the Chamber. If Representative Wintle’s privileges have been suspended, it may be very difficult for him to represent the people of District 24 who voted to send him to Augusta. Should he resign as a result of these incidents, a special election will be held in the District to identify a replacement. However, should Representative Wintle decide to remain in his seat, even with his privileges suspended, the people of his District will effectively have no representation in the Maine House.

In March, the Maine House briefly entertained the idea of introducing a bill to enable citizens to recall elected officials. The Joint Order was tabled by Republican leadership. I hope this Joint Order comes off the Table before the end of the session for a vote so that I can cast my support for this important initiative.

The Joint Order was presented by Representative Cynthia Dill (D-Cape Elizabeth ) -- now Senator Dill having just won a special election. That Joint Order would direct the Joint Standing Committee on Legal and Veterans Affairs to report out legislation that would create a citizens' recall process for state legislators, constitutional officers and the governor.

Currently there are 18 states that have a recall process. Maine's constitution allows for the impeachment of state civil officers --a legal process whereby the House votes on an indictment, and the Senate acts as jury and votes to convict or not.

The recall process that the Joint Order would seek to create would be in statute and be a political process that citizens would engage in similar to the citizens' veto and petition.

I supported that initiative and now I believe even more strongly that it is a simple matter. Maine people expect accountability for the actions of the people they elect to represent them. I am accountable to the voters of District 92, and I am happy to have that accountability increase -- because I think it encourages me to continue to constantly do a better job. This initiative is nothing more than a matter of consistency with existing policies.

• Here in Maine we have one of the easiest to access citizen initiative processes in the country, and as a result we have ballot measures in almost every election cycle -- accountability;

• We have a provision for a people’s veto and that has been exercised with increasing frequency -- accountability;

• We are required by the Maine Constitution to seek voter approval of certain types of long term debt obligations -- accountability;

• Our new State Treasurer wants to expand the involvement of voters in approving even more of the state’s financial transactions that have long term implications -- in the name of accountability;

• Some legislators are proposing that any initiative that would raise taxes and even certain fees must be approved by voters before they can become effective -- again, in the name of accountability.

We affirm constantly that accountability is a good thing and in order to be consistent, we need to facilitate the ultimate accountability tool -- the power of Maine voters to recall their state elected officials. I am happy to submit to that continuous accountability, and I have been encouraging all of my colleagues to support the initiative.

The unfortunate incident with Representative Wintle highlights the issue. The people in his District deserve to be represented, and if he will not step aside, or if the Legislature fails to undertake an impeachment process, the voters in his District have no alternative.

It is time to change that and introduce a provision in Maine statute that will allow voters to recall elected state officials -- including legislators and members of the executive branch.

Finding New Economic Opportunity

The last two weekends, there have been big crowds at the Stephens Avenue Armory in Portland and the Portland Expo, as Maine promotion companies hosted the first ever full sanctioned mixed martial arts events in Maine. Thousands of spectators from all over the Northeast traveled to Maine to watch these shows. By all accounts, the events were a resounding success, offering an opportunity to both amateur and professional fighters from Maine and throughout New England to compete in the fastest growing professional sport -- mixed martial arts or MMA.

In the last legislative session, I worked to pass a bill that enabled these MMA events to be held in Maine. We had to rebuild our state’s ability to oversee and regulate gladiatorial sports after the Maine Athletic Commission, that had formerly regulated prizefighting and boxing, was disbanded. The Athletic Commission was disbanded because interest in prizefighting had waned in Maine and there were no requests for scheduling bouts over several years. At the same time, interest in mixed martial arts was growing -- not only nationally but within the state, so I sponsored a bill to create a new regulatory mechanism for this sport.

As a result of the growth of MMA, interest in more traditional gladiatorial sports, such as boxing, has been revived. One well known promoter in central Maine attempted to put on a fight only to learn that it was not possible. Given this interest, I got involved with a number of parties to develop a modification to the existing statute in order to restore the regulatory framework to enable sanctioned prizefighting to resume in Maine.

Combat sports have a large fan base and following in Maine, and provide an opportunity to attract new investments in Maine by expanding these sports. Maine has a long history with boxing -- including hosting one of Muhammad Ali’s most famous prize fights. This legislation is designed to provide opportunities for Maine fans of combat sports, as well as the people who compete in these contests to have events in our state.

Two weeks ago the legislature held a public hearing on L.D. 889, An Act To Regulate Boxing and Prizefighting in Maine. Rather than create a duplicative authority to regulate boxing, LD 889 proposes to expand the scope of the MMA Authority to regulate boxing as well as MMA. Since the state is facing serious financial constraints and consolidation and efficiency are guiding principles in shaping new initiatives, this seems preferable to creating a new standalone entity to regulate prizefighting. Given the similarities of regulating gladiatorial sports like MMA or boxing, it seems logical to expand the scope of the present authority to oversee these contests as well.

To that end, LD 889 will:

*Change the name of the Mixed Martial Arts Authority of Maine to the Combat Sports Authority of Maine;
*Expand the membership of the Authority by adding 2 new members, with expertise in boxing, and;
*Direct the new Authority to adopt new rules to govern boxing, using the rules that had previously been established by the Maine Athletic Commission during its operations, if appropriate.

Combat Sports -- both MMA and Boxing -- have many fans in Maine, and those who work and train as fighters, as well as those who see these contests of skill as good entertainment, should be able to practice their sport in their home state. Finally, MMA athletes have that opportunity, but now boxers who have a long and storied history in Maine are denied that privilege. LD 889 will correct that situation.

In addition to pleasing fans, these contests have the potential to generate new revenues for the state, its communities, and the many small businesses that make up the combat sports industry. If the last two weekend’s contests are any examples, we can look forward to generating tourism revenues from these sporting contests just as the Portland Seadogs or the newly founded Redclaws stimulate the economy -- selling hotel rooms and meals as well as revenues for venues, vendors and participants in the contests.

I am very proud to report that last week the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee voted 11-2 Ought To Pass on LD 889. One Democrat and one Republican opposed the bill. With such a strong report coming out of committee, LD 889 should hopefully pass both chambers of the Legislature and land on the Governor’s desk to be signed sometime within the next month.

I’ll be working on getting this legislation enacted -- not only because I am a fan of these combat sports, but because the growth of these sports can be a lift to our economy and mean more jobs. In this economy, every little bit helps!

I’m also thrilled to report that a week ago my colleagues on the Health and Human Services Committee unanimously voted to support the passage of my bill LD 683, “An Act To Enhance Long-Term Care Services for Maine Citizens.” The bill now moves to the full legislature for votes by the House and Senate.

Coming up with new solutions

Last week I was honored to present L.D. 683, a bill which will at long last begin really addressing the issue of long term care in Maine. We know Medicaid is a huge driver of our state budget. It is one of the biggest, if not the biggest driver -- and its influence has been growing and will continue to grow as long as this state/federal partnership remains in place. Nationally, one quarter of Medicaid expenditures are for long term care and it may be more in Maine given our demographics and aging population.

Unless we transform the long term care system in Maine -- by setting better priorities in our spending, insuring that dollars are spent on vital quality direct services that people really need rather than excessive and complicated administrative overhead, we will continue to fall further and further behind. In the last legislative session, I proposed very similar legislation. It met with a lukewarm reception from the Department of Health and Human Services management as well as the providers and their advocates who were basically satisfied with their contracts and their role in the system. They did not want to see systems change because they were comfortable. I’ve learned my lesson. This session, I will be looking for a vigorous debate, but will be asking for an up or down vote.

I have literally spent years engaged in this issue and traveling around the country looking at best practices from other states. Some of the best of those ideas are contained in this proposal. These ideas have been successfully implemented in a variety of states -- Minnesota, California, Oregon, Massachusetts -- and I have tried to find the approaches that improved overall quality and also promoted the cost-effective use of taxpayer resources.

Here is the core intent of the bill:

*Break down the silos in service delivery of long term care. We should provide the services Maine people need, when they need it, in the most cost-effective manner and not worry about running programs based on demographics or diagnosis. We should be approaching services from a functional perspective -- making sure people get the services they need to be as independent as possible delivered as cost-efficiently as possible.

*Services should be delivered on a priority basis -- the people with the greatest needs (both medically and financially) should be given the highest priority, so that the limited resources we have to allocate to long term care serve those with the greatest needs. This means better integrating skilled services and support for activities of daily living to enable people to remain at home for as long as possible if that is what they desire.

*We should organize ourselves to best accomplish this goal -- so consolidation of effort is in order. The Department should be organized to manage without creating silos; the provider network should be consolidated to reduce duplication of services or redundant administrative expenses.

*We should reallocate existing dollars away from non-essential administrative overhead and into direct services. That’s not to say that the services are not worthwhile -- they may be. The issue is really this -- Can we afford to spend money on administrative activities when we are facing the budget situation at hand? As good as the extra support services may be -- we need to find the way to direct as much resource as possible into the hands on services that maintain our citizens. Given that, LD 683 would completely redesign our intake system -- expect more work on the front end from AAAs, ADRCs and other intake conduits with the resources allocated from federal sources; eliminate the cumbersome multiple steps in receiving services -- intake, independent medical assessment by Goold, separate service brokerage services by EIM, finally delivery of services from a proliferation of small providers. The process should be much simpler. We need to find out what people need to be independent and then help them make an informed choice about their options -- encouraging use of the most appropriate cost-effective approaches.

*By consolidating program offerings, consolidating the provider network and eliminating expenditures that are not for direct, hands on services we should strengthen the delivery system being able to serve more people, provide higher quality services, pay higher wages to direct care workers, provide more realistic reimbursement to providers, and better utilize tax-payer dollars on the things that really matter.

I want this bill to set a broad direction for the new leadership at the Department to turn its attention proactively to this important part of the health care and support system. Investing state dollars, especially as they leverage federal Medicaid resources can help build an architecture of support for seniors and people with disabilities in all Maine communities. As we build the system and approaches, we should be thinking about all citizens, not just those eligible for direct state supported services. Our MaineCare spending should be a catalyst for systems that work for Maine seniors, people with disabilities and their families.

Unfortunately, this approach makes people uncomfortable because it embraces such significant change. Some of the organizations that have multi-million contracts for services with the state -- many of which have been in place for a decade or more -- may be put at risk in this system realignment. These are the difficult choices that I believe voters asked me to make when you sent me to Augusta to represent you. I look forward to working to fulfill that challenge.

The curtain goes up on an extreme new world

PORTLAND - The cheers from the crowd drowned out the sound of his name. Trevor Kell didn't care. He was a winner in his very first amateur fight, on the first night Mixed Martial Arts fighting came to Maine.

Some 18 months after Maine's legislature gave promoters the green light to bring the sport to the state, Linda Shield's Cage Fighting Xtreme staged the Maine Event at the Stevens Avenue Armory on Saturday night. Shield and her co-promoter, Marcus Davis, believed their sport would find an audience. They got one.

Fans were waiting at the armory's main door more than an hour before it opened. By the time Pat Walsh of Stoughton, Mass., and Boston's Wai Kru club won the first of 11 amateur and professional bouts, it was standing room only on the arena floor.

"I never had a crowd cheer that loud for me," said Kell, a wrestler at Kennebunk High seven years ago. "Never. I had dreams about it."

He wasn't the only one. The sport, with its elements of boxing, wrestling and forms of martial arts with a bit of street brawling thrown in, has worked to change an early image and earn acceptance. Its critics call it barbaric. Its fans call it an extreme form of competition that challenges all the definitions of toughness.

"Being the first means everything to me," said Davis, a 38-year-old Bangor native who tried a career in boxing before switching to a successful professional career in cage fighting. He worked with state legislators to draft rules for a commission that would regulate the sport in Maine. He pushed. He may have twisted a few arms, figuratively speaking, of course. And he won.

"These are the people who will be remembered for being part of the beginning," he said, nodding at Shield's staff, the fighters from his Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy in Brewer. "Two of my goals in life were to fight in Ireland -- and I did that twice -- and to be part of this."

Five of his fighters were on the card. Kell, now a house painter living in South Portland, was one. Steve Desjardins of Brewer was another. Two hours before the first bout, Desjardins walked around the empty arena dominated by the eight-sided cage in the center. A Brewer High graduate, one-time wrestler and just 20 years old, he was making his debut as well. Davis has taken some members of his team out of state to compete, but Desjardins was not one. Was he nervous? No, he said. He had spent three years preparing for this.

Don't try to paint cage fighters with the same brush. They can be college graduates, like Mike Brown, the professional lightweight champ and Bonny Eagle High and Norwich University graduate. They can be working men. They share the desire to challenge themselves by walking alone into the cage to test their survival instincts.

"You can teach fighting," said Gary Foreman, who has spent 30 years in this world. "You can't teach toughness. You find out how tough you are very quickly. The good ones find out they can be better and commit themselves to this."

Foreman is Shield's husband and her partner in this business, based in Massachusetts. They spend a lot of time on the road, taking this level of cage fighting from city to city. At Friday's weigh-in, they worked quickly and efficiently. Unlike some weigh-ins in professional boxing, there was little in-your-face testosterone.

Muscles were flexed and chests expanded for the cameras, not each other. When photographers gave a thumbs up, opponents faced each other and embraced. Such a violent sport, such a show of respect when the cameras turn away.

"It takes two to fight," said Desjardins. "We respect that. It's all good blood outside the cage."

Inside, it's very bad blood. Call it mayhem, call it barbaric.

For Kell, Desjardins and all the others, it was a simple test. That hundreds of fans Saturday night watched to see if they passed or failed did matter.

"I've never felt like this before," said Kell, as he waited for his beating heart to slow down. He had won, paid his respects to his opponents and walked out of the cage and into the embrace of friends and family. He'll do it again.



Staff Writer Steve Solloway can be contacted at 791-6412 or at:

ssolloway@pressherald.com

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