COLUMN: Bill Nemitz

Baldacci's flip on Powerball may be a flop

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The 16-page document begins with the words "Spending Reform and Property Tax Relief: A Responsible Solution." But less than 48 hours after Gov. John Baldacci rolled it out Wednesday, it already has a new label.

The Powerball Plan.

Granted, the word "Powerball" appears nowhere in either Baldacci's tax reform proposal or the press release that accompanied it. To look at the dizzying mix of spending caps, circuit-breaker increases, cost controls and assorted other bureaucratic bells and whistles - all aimed at heading off an outright tax revolt when Maine voters head for the polls in June - you'd never know the governor had succumbed to temptation and picked the low-hanging piece of fruit that for years has dangled over the Maine State Lottery.

But pick it he did. And only a few months after he said he has no taste for Powerball, Baldacci now wants Maine to relieve its property tax pains by taking a $9.1 million bite from the nation's biggest lottery.

"Given the dire financial situation the state is in . . . he grudgingly included it," said Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey when asked Thursday how the governor could spend months publicly opposing gambling - only to suddenly expand state government's less-than-honorable role as Maine's biggest bookie.

The opportunity to join the 24 states that already play Powerball "has always been there - and he's resisted it," Umphrey said. "But there are already some dire cuts in the (state) budget - and it's broken the governor's heart making a lot of those cuts."

That may be. But by tossing Powerball into a plan that contains no other easy-to-identify ingredients, Baldacci may well have replaced his heartache with a bad case of political indigestion.

"Forget the philosophy for a second," said Dennis Bailey, spokesman for the anti-gambling group Casinos No! "Politically, it was a dumb thing to do."

That it was.

For starters, Baldacci for months has stood front and center in Maine's battle to keep the Las Vegas gaming industry from fleecing this state for everything it's worth. In helping to defeat a proposed Indian casino and then vowing to strictly regulate a racino at Bangor Raceway, the governor repeatedly stressed that an expansion of gambling in Maine benefits neither its economy nor its citizens - particularly those with the lowest household incomes and the highest gambling losses.

Now, Baldacci says, it's time for Maine to join a real lottery!

"Wow. What a turnaround," said Chief Barry Dana of the Penobscot Nation. "If I were the average Mainer, I'd be not only surprised, but I'd be shocked. But my experience in politics tells me that people can do flip-flops."

Added Casinos No!'s Bailey: "It sends the wrong message at a time when we're denying groups right and left the right to expand gambling in Maine."

The Powerball Plan's impact on Maine's gambling debate, however, pales by comparison to the monkey wrench Baldacci just threw into the looming showdown over property taxes.

While spokesman Umphrey noted that the Legislature wanted Maine to take the Powerball plunge long before Baldacci ever did, State House reaction to the governor's plan fell far short of a standing ovation. (Maybe that's because it's one of a half-dozen tax-reform proposals - and a less-than-exciting one at that - now facing weary lawmakers.)

What's more, while Baldacci told reporters Wednesday that the complex Powerball plan "may not be a 30-second sound bite," it surely will be reduced to just that by his two biggest nightmares: the Maine Municipal Association, whose referendum forcing the state to immediately cough up 55 percent of Maine's education costs is already on the June 6 ballot; and Carol Palesky, whose 1 percent tax cap will be voted on in June or November.

Umphrey said he's confident that as Baldacci & Co. take their tax reform show on the road - maybe they should open with Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" - Mainers will come to realize that of all the tax reform proposals out there, this one is by far the easiest to swallow.

Assuming they don't choke on the Powerball.

Columnist Bill Nemitz can be contacted at 791-6323 or at:

bnemitz@pressherald.com

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