Dan Billings

Dan Billings, a Waterville attorney and Republican activist, said that while Gov. Sarah Palin brings balance to the Republican ticket with John McCain, people still will vote for the top of the ticket, not the Vice Presidential pick.

If she came to Maine to campaign, however, residents would relate to her.

“Gov. Palin in Alaska has done a lot of things Barack Obama claims he wants to do,” Billings said, such as working across the aisle and getting past presidential politics.

“Most people she’s had problems with in Alaska are Republicans,” he added.

Legislative Democrats were quick to point out that history appeared to be repeating itself after the Republicans proposed a special session without pay for legislators last week.

In 2004, the Democrats had approved retroactive legislation to waive pay for lawmakers in a special session that dovetailed the regular session. Republicans sued, won, and back pay was awarded.

The circumstances, however, were vastly different.

Matt Wickenheiser of the Portland Press Herald took an interesting look at the adverse effects of a recent ruling by the Maine Supreme Court that took independent U.S. Senate Herb Hoffman off the ballot.

The court ruled that the individual signing the back of the petition must personally witness each of the signatures being signed. If the petitioner can prove that one signature cannot meet that requirement, this violates the oath on the back of the sheet therefore invalidating the full petition.

It will likely affect referendum and people’s veto petition drives. Wickenheiser wrote:

Click here for a previous report on the issue.

In the last legislative session, state lawmakers approved measures that made it 30 percent harder for candidates for governor to qualify for public financing. They also required all gubernatorial candidates to be audited by the Ethics Commission.

Lawmakers also asked Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission, to study further improvements to public financing in gubernatorial elections.

At a public hearing Friday morning, a handful of proponents – mostly the usual suspects – said that the most recent round of changes should play out in 2010 before any more are made.