Orlando Delogu
The Forecaster
United States
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Past articles by Orlando:
Policy Wonk: Thanks to LePage, Maine leaks revenue in 2 ways
Gov. Paul LePage is nothing if not relentless in pursuit of a tea party fiscal agenda. He would directly cut state taxes (primarily for wealthy individuals and corporations) and indirectly give money to corporations by expanding and/or creating new tax expenditures, i.e., tax forgiveness, ... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Will Democrats keep their eye on the ball?
In the wind-down of legislative sessions, Maine Democrats' recent track record is awful. They’ve continually settled for tax measures that inevitably shrink state revenues and make budget cuts necessary to essential programs. They haggled so long over the mechanics of paying h... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Only Gov. LePage is above the law
As odd as it may seem, the headline on this piece reflects Maine’s reality. In 2012, Gov. Paul LePage refused to issue $40 million in voter-approved bonds, notwithstanding a constitutional duty imposed on him to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Oth... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Reducing Maine income taxes will not create jobs
Our smiling governor, with his smart Moxie tie and glib argument that income tax cuts will return more money to a town than is lost by ending revenue sharing, cannot mask the truth. Revenue sharing holds the line on municipal property tax increases: Everybody in a town benefits. Income tax... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Statewide jails need a chance to succeed
Maine has a statewide court system, a statewide Public Utilities Commission, Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Transportation. We attempt to equalize educational opportunity by distributing school aid statewide. We have a statewide university system. Why? Beca... → Read More
Policy Wonk: With Portland’s Midtown project, less can be more
The paradoxical phrase "less is more" was coined by the renowned early 20th century architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Breaking with "bigger is better" architectural styles of the past, Mies van der Rohe emphasized form, shape, scale, design, use of new cost efficient materials. He argued... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Maine Dems share blame for a long, cold winter
It always surprises me when large numbers of people vote against their own self-interest. Women who vote for candidates who oppose choice, equal pay for women, child care and pre-school programs. Unemployed and low- or middle-income people who vote for candidates who cut taxes for the weal... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Train police to be defusers, not killers
Almost everyone following the recent fatal shooting by a law enforcement officer of an unarmed man in Ferguson, Missouri, is focused on the racial dimension of the case, and that is certainly appropriate. The inequality of justice that Blacks, Hispanics (and other racial groups) confront i... → Read More
Policy Wonk: School district consolidation still a good idea
A recent newspaper headline blared “Tax relief scarce in school consolidations.” The headline and story suggested that property tax relief was a primary purpose behind the school consolidation movement. But it wasn’t, and it shouldn’t be. Property tax relief ... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Maine’s health care policy is costly
The cost of Maine's health care policy is mounting as we speak. For example, decisions made early in the LePage administration to shrink the state’s Medicaid program by narrowing eligibility requirements have (from 2012 to 2013) increased the number of individuals without health insu... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Disinvestment in UMaine is staggering
In 1968, the University of Maine System was founded, pulling seven campuses under a single board and chancellor. The Legislature appropriated 15.2 percent of undedicated state revenues to meet the operating budget of the system. In 2013, the Legislature appropriated 6.3 percent of undedica... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Debunking myths about a higher minimum wage
There is a growing sentiment in Maine and the nation that it’s time to raise the minimum wage – some would say its “high time.” Current minimums – $7.25 at the federal level, $7.50 in Maine – were established in 2009; neither rate is adjusted for inflati... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Income inequality risks our economic future
The gap between the rich and poor in Maine and the nation is large, long-standing, and growing. It is not a temporary phenomena borne of the recent recession that will self-correct as a slow-moving recovery unfolds. On the contrary, this gap goes back 150 years. It is rooted in the ... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Portland parks initiative preserves a constitutionally protected right
Maine’s Constitution was amended in 1909 to take back two important powers of the people that had been ceded to the state Legislature: 1) the people’s power, as sovereign, to enact state legislation, and 2) their power to veto “any Acts, bills, resolves, or resolutions” of... → Read More
Policy Wonk: The University of Maine’s Faustian bargain, and other mistakes
In the fall of 2012, after a self-imposed tuition freeze for the academic year starting that fall, the University of Maine System board of trustees and then-new Chancellor James Page responded to Gov. Paul LePage’s request for belt-tightening by proposing a further two-year tuition freeze i... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Voter initiative should decide Mainecare expansion
An obstinate governor and an ideologically driven Republican minority in the Legislature are on the cusp of again blocking Maine’s participation in the Affordable Care Act, a participation that would provide health insurance to some 60,000-70,000 low-income Mainers, and pour hundreds of mil... → Read More
Policy Wonk: State or towns should buy Maine's beaches, before it's too late
More than 25 years ago, I wrote a law review article urging the state and/or Maine towns with sandy beaches to “Buy the Foreshore — NOW.” Though my urging was largely ignored, it was a good idea then, and it’s a good idea now. Then and now, the cost of acquiring thi... → Read More
Policy Wonk: Revenue sharing in Maine needs a permanent fix
Preserving what remains of Maine revenue sharing by taking $40 million from two different reserve funds and earmarking unanticipated revenue receipts is at best a one-year fix. Like spending a bonus or taking money from a savings account, once you’ve used it, it’s gone. Even if... → Read More
Policy Wonk: It's time to end LePage's pursuit of the poor
Paul LePage took an Ax, → Read More
Policy Wonk: State revenue sharing: Going, going, gone
Several realities justify revenue sharing: • The greater capacity of the state, as opposed to individual municipalities, to implement broad taxes that raise revenues needed to fund governmental services, and to distribute a portion of these revenues to municipalities. • Th... → Read More