I applaud Senator Brakey’s stand against the efforts of Governor Mills and the leadership of both parties in the House as they brazenly attempted to dilute Maine’s legislative process by attempting to push through a spending bill totaling almost 500 million dollars of our hard-earned money.
In Article IV-3, Section 1 of Maine’s Constitution we the People clearly granted the power to make and establish laws and regulations, for the defense and benefit of the people of this State, ONLY to our representatives serving in the legislature. Our Governor has simply been granted the opportunity to make recommendations for legislative consideration, yet it seems she and House leadership assume automatic passage of legislation submitted by the Executive branch.
They go so far as to empower themselves the ability to negotiate the particulars of how our money shall be spent while excluding the representative body and therefore the People from weighing in on the stewardship of our funds.
The Maine Constitution clearly states in Article III, Section 2 that “No person or persons, belonging to one of these departments, shall exercise ANY of the powers belonging to either of the others...” Nowhere does our Constitution state that political party leadership and the Governor shall have the sole power to negotiate laws to the exclusion of the body. The audacity of Governor Mills and party leadership to assume this role is clearly contradictory to their sworn oath to honor the Constitution. I challenge every reader to identify in the comments below the word which defines the action of defying one’s oath to honor the Constitution and to consider the legal consequences one faces when guilty of this action.
As the echoes of Senator Brakey’s oath of office to honor Maine’s Constitution had barely dissipated from the chamber on Dec 7th 2022, the 1st day of 131stLegislature, he demonstrated by action that he is worthy of his seat. Kudos also to Senator Lisa Keim and Representative Laurel Libby for standing strong on this issue. As trustees and servants of the People you are off to a pretty good start, keep it up!
*This is an opinion article by Dorene Libby. The views expressed are those of Dorene Libby, and not endorsed by the New Gloucester GOP. If you would like to submit an article please email newgloucestergop@gmail.com
Treason is the name of her actions