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Political Brew: Holding utilities accountable, the SCOTUS vacancy, and a one-on-one race for governor?

Our analysts this week are Democratic activist Betsy Sweet and former Republican state senator Phil Harriman.

MAINE, USA — The Mills administration is working on a plan to hold Maine's electric utilities more accountable. The bill is a response to the last three years of controversy, much of it focused on the billing problems and reliability questions about Central Maine Power.  It would set minimum standards for service with the threat of steep financial penalties.

The Public Utilities Commission would have to issue a quarterly report card on whether utilities are meeting standards.

If significant problems were not corrected, it would allow for larger penalties, including letting the PUC force the utility to be sold.

Phil Harriman believes this could be a good political strategy for Gov. Janet Mills because she can show that "while she may have been opposed to the consumer-owned utility, she is in favor of raising the standards of service. I think politically that's probably a good move for her."

The group Our Power, which is running a petition drive to force a consumer takeover of CMP and Versant, says the bill doesn't work because it relies on the PUC, which it says has failed in the past.

Betsy Sweet feels the problem comes down to the problem of foreign ownership of a vital Maine utility, and "their responsibility is to the foreign investors, not to the people that they're serving."

But she agrees that even if this proposal turns out to be "too little, too late," this bill may "put some space between Janet Mills and Paul LePage on this issue."

Mills and LePage might turn out to be the only candidates in this year's race for governor. Former Sen. Tom Saviello has decided not to enter the race as an independent. We've yet to hear plans from any third party or independent candidates, so this could be the first one-on-one race for governor since Democratic Gov. Joe Brennan beat Republican nominee Charlie Cragin in 1982.

If it turns out to be just former Gov. Paul LePage and current Gov. Janet Mills on the ballot, Sweet says that's good news for Mills.

"I think there's a whole lot of independents and moderate Republicans who just can't vote for LePage again, and I think that if it's a one-on-one race it benefits Mills."

Harriman says "It would be refreshing to have that clear a choice." But he is not convinced that other candidates won't enter the race, especially with some public financing available.

Sen. Susan Collins says President Biden's handling of the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court vacancy has been "clumsy at best." She told ABC News his pledge to nominate a Black woman justice adds to the perception that the court is a political institution.

Sweet says the high court is already a political institution, especially since Republicans eliminated the filibuster for confirming Supreme Court justices.

She adds, "If that is a real complaint on (Collins') part, she certainly has done nothing within her own party to make a difference."

Harriman agrees the institution has become political, but he also thinks Biden could have done things differently.

"I wish that the president had just taken a step back, not declared what race, what gender he was going to choose, just let that come forward naturally and introduced her to America, we'd have a very different conversation today."

Our analysts also discuss a proposal before the legislature to establish a $3 million program to train climate science teachers, something some Republicans in the legislature oppose, arguing that this could give environmental groups too much influence over the teachers they would help train. 

They tackle Collins' refusal to rule out supporting former President Donald Trump for another term in 2024, even though she voted to convict him during Trump's second impeachment, the efforts in the U.S. Senate to clarify rules for the counting of electoral votes, and the problem faced by Democrats in the Senate with one member of the caucus laid up for at least a month following a stroke.

Political Brew is seen Sunday mornings on NEWS CENTER Maine's Morning Report.

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