Where Did Prosperity Go?

WHEREAS, the State of Maine possesses unique opportunities for innovative growth; and

WHEREAS, those opportunities raise issues that are normally placed before several different joint standing committees of the Legislature; and

WHEREAS, to capitalize on those opportunities, a focused, integrated and long-term approach is necessary to build sustainable prosperity for our State;

That was beginning of the Legislation to create the Joint Select Committee on Future Maine Prosperity. You will recall that this was an effort to come out of the gate in the second session with a big new bold idea with which to rally around and do great things for Maine.

There was fanfare!

There were LONG meetings and serious discussions.

There was a unanimous report, followed by a steady stream of press releases, op-eds and fawning stories of bi-partisan glory.

The Results:

• 16 people.
• 5 Meetings.
• 1Report.
• 0 results.

As far as I can tell, the bill never arrived. Either the whole thing was abandoned or is simply languishing in the basement of the State House waiting to be set free from the Revisor’s office.

Credit goes to K.J. Columnist Dan Billings for his op-ed , where he predicted this back in January :

With partisan gridlock appearing to hold up action on our biggest problems, bipartisan compromise is often cheered by the media and the public. Yet in many cases, bipartisan agreement is reached by putting forward a proposal that looks good at first blush, but actually accomplishes little. The report from the Legislature's Prosperity Committee is a good example of this phenomenon.

Mr. Billings was even too optimistic.

Of course, Representative Piotti and Senator Damon quickly responded in a subsequent column designed to take a whack at Mr. Billings. I think my favorite quote from the column demonstrates the incredible foreshadowing by the authors when they said (emphasis mine):

One can say that the Prosperity Committee's work is nothing more than words in a report, because the detailed legislation to make it all happen has not yet been developed or passed. But that kind of criticism is hollow and tells the Legislature to give up before we've begun. That is not what Maine people expect nor what a prosperous future demands.

No kidding?