As the Maine legislature debates reducing some of its $500 million annual tax breaks for businesses to fill a budget hole, a national group has ranked Maine near the bottom for making it easy for the public to find out how that money is spent.
Business
Bonus plan for veteran’s claims workers means complicated cases get backlogged
While veterans waited longer than ever in recent years for their wartime disability compensation, the Department of Veterans Affairs gave its workers millions of dollars in bonuses for “excellent” performances that effectively encouraged them to avoid claims that needed extra work to document veterans’ injuries, a News21 investigation has found.
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Court approves foreclosure, sale of ex-Rep. Martin’s bar and restaurant
A taxpayer-funded agency is about to foreclose on a restaurant and bar owned by former state Rep. John Martin and a partner – unless they come up with $232,000 by the end of March.
Rep. Martin, partner buy back bankrupt store for less than half of the debt
The federal bankruptcy court has allowed State Rep. John Martin and a partner to buy back their Eagle Lake convenience store for $125,000 even though they owe almost $300,000 to a variety of creditors, including the IRS. Martin, a Democrat, has been a power in state...
King cites his $900m tax break program as a job creator
The number one issue on voters’ minds this year is jobs. Angus King, the leading candidate in the U. S. Senate race, claims as governor he helped create jobs in Maine with some of his policies, including a program called BETR. BETR stands for Business Equipment Tax...
Documents show how incoming Speaker Nutting inflated Medicaid charges more than $1 million
AUGUSTA -- In 2001, True's Pharmacy in Oakland, owned by incoming Speaker of the House Robert Nutting, bought medical gloves for $4.39 per package. By the time True's sold them to a Medicaid provider, the price had gone up to $11.11. That markup -- 153 percent -- was...
GOP backers from 2003 still with Nutting
His fellow Republicans backed him when he was in trouble in 2003 -- and they still back him now. When Rep. Robert Nutting was battling Maine regulators in 2003 over a payment plan for the $1 million-plus his pharmacy owed the state in Medicaid overbilling, his fellow...
Teamster organizer found role in candidate Richardson’s state agency
By JOHN CHRISTIE Senior Reporter AUGUSTA -- John Richardson's first day on the job as commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community development was Jan. 22, 2007. It was also the first day on the job for the department's new acting project officer for...
Risky business: Les Otten and the rise and fall of American Skiing Co.
Editor's note: The following examination of gubernatorial candidate Leslie B. Otten's role in American Skiing Co. by the non-profit Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting is the first in a series examining the claims and records of some of the leading candidates...
Well-connected lobbyists won special tax treatment from Gov. Baldacci
“Thank you Governor Baldacci.” — Linda Gifford, chief lobbyist for the Maine Association of Realtors, after winning her fight to change the tax reform bill Dozens of organizations and businesses pleaded for exemptions from tax increases in the tax reform bill that was...
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