No Thanks to Susan Collins for the PPP from Maine Pundits
The editorial pages of Maine’s largest newspaper remind us constantly about the importance of their work and how unimpressed they are with the work of Susan Collins, the state’s Republican senior senator largely responsible for drafting and negotiating the Paycheck Protection Program that according to her office is pumping $2.24 billion to nearly 17,000 small employers in Maine and helping provide paychecks to some 180,000 workers.
You might think spearheading legislation during a crisis that passed unanimously in the Senate, by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House and signed by President Trump would get a nod locally for “mitigating economic destruction,” as the editorial board for the Washington Post noted recently — or at a minimum that the pundits whose jobs were saved and who will continue to get paid to write demeaning things about Susan Collins leading up to her re-election bid thanks to the PPP might at least acknowledge it, but no.
A week after receiving PPP funds, the editorial pages of Maine’s most widely circulated newspaper have been mum about Collins’ achievement -- and about the taxpayer subsidy it apparently received thanks to her bill. In a letter published Sunday the publisher and CEO of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and CEO of Masthead Maine implored readers to purchase subscriptions and make donations because “newspapers need help in unprecedented times” without mentioning the lifeline it got that presumably will be used to continue paying its pundits to regurgitate talking points of the Democratic Party, of which I am a member. The letter was accompanied by a column penned by a serial Susan Collins critic called, Who backs the front line worker? that made no mention of the aid package.
In full disclosure two small businesses I own and manage — a law firm and media company— applied for PPP loans and to date it's unknown whether they will be approved. I also used to write a popular weekly column for the Portland Press Herald about politics until I got sacked and replaced by a lovely millennial enamored with AOC who writes about her dog, her bisexual orientation and breaking up with her boyfriend when she’s not dissing Susan Collins for taking “blood money" from Big Pharma.
Despite being a Democrat, like many women in business who live in the suburbs and work in the city — an elusive demographic not represented in punditry but that often makes or breaks election outcomes — I don’t know yet know who I will be voting for in November in the race for U.S. Senate in Maine.
Six years ago and six years before that I voted for Susan Collins because I admire her work ethic and values. In 2002 I volunteered for Collins’ opponent, Chellie Pingree.
My main worry presently (on top of the pandemic) is about the federal judiciary under a Republican-controlled senate, even though Brett Kavanaugh is not the right-wing extremist we were led to believe. In two recent decisions about the environment and gun control Kavanaugh sided with the liberals. If an abortion case is decided before November and he upholds a woman’s right to make healthcare decisions without government interference, the case for “Bye Bye Susan” gets weaker. The tax cuts she supported in 2017 also have little to no meaning in the new world of Coronavirus. If the PPP program is bungled by the Trump administration, that’s another story.
Sara Gideon, Collins’ Democratic challenger, is extremely competent, charismatic and has integrity. She would make a fine U.S. Senator, but she lacks Collins’ legislative experience and seniority in an institution that requires both to be effective. And there is no guaranty defeating Susan Collins in Maine will deliver a Democratic majority. We could give up a powerful representative in Washington and have another senator in the minority. Like most people my decision about who to support in November will be affected first and foremost by the economic security and health of my family when I head into the voting booth.
“And long after this national trauma passes into history, Maine’s Susan Collins will be forever remembered not for her courage, but for her capitulation,” wrote Bill Nemitz from the ivory tower about Collins’ vote on impeachment, but I disagree.
Women make up a majority of the electorate and Maine women-owned businesses were ranked number one in the country for employment vitality according to the 2019 State of Women Owned Business Report. Talk is cheap. What we want is opportunity.
If we survive the Coronavirus pandemic thanks in part because of the PPP program, what we will remember is who was on the front lines when the crisis hit, and who took action to protect our businesses and families.