The Maine Reason

Last week, Maine became the 31st state to reject a referendum that would have legalized gay marriage.

With 87 percent of precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the vote in a referendum that asked Maine voters whether they wanted to repeal a law allowing same-sex marriage that had passed the Legislature and was signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci.

“The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation,” said Frank Schubert, the chief organizer for Stand for Marriage Maine, which lobbied for the repeal.

For the gay rights movement, which has gained a foothold in New England, it was a stinging defeat. Gay marriage has now lost in every state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine, framing same-sex marriage as a matter of equality for all families in a campaign that used 8,000 volunteers to get out the message.

Five states have legalized gay marriage — Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut — but all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote.

Portland resident Sarah Holman said she was torn, but decided — despite her conservative upbringing — to vote in favor of letting gays marry.

“They love and they have the right to love. And we can’t tell somebody how to love,” said Holman, 26.

Hold on a minute here…let’s get the record straight. This vote did not outlaw homosexuality, it only outlawed gay marriage. They are still free to love to each other.

While the gay marriage opponents claimed victory, Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, held off conceding until early Wednesday, when he issued a statement vowing to continue to press the issue.

The fight for marriage equality will continue, he told supporters at the Holiday Inn ballroom, where a buffet table included a three-tiered wedding cake — with two grooms standing side by side, two brides standing side by side and the inscription: “We all do!”

And this is why you will never, ever, ever see gay marriage be voted on by the people, and not ushered in by a small handful of judges. The pro-gay marriage movement knows that gay marriage will not survive a vote by the people…and they will stop at nothing to keep you from voting on it.

But hey, if you want to keep electing people that choose to effectively put duct tape over your mouths, by all means…

Deval Goes To Vermont To Tout Health Care

Governor Deval Patrick, who was not involved in the creation of the Massachusetts universal health care law, is going to Vermont with a White House team to talk about his experience with said law.

Gov. Deval Patrick is traveling to Vermont to help lead a White House forum on health care.

The Democrat will join with Gov. Jim Douglas next Tuesday to talk about his experience with a universal health care law in Massachusetts.

President Barack Obama has said he wants to pass legislation this year that will provide health insurance to the 45 million Americans who currently lack it. Massachusetts has dramatically lowered its number of uninsured since enacting its health care law in 2006.

Since that law was enacted, my own health care costs have gone up approximately 20% per year. Don’t forget to mention that, Deval–make sure everyone knows that health coverage for all means all of us who actually have jobs and pay our own health care will have to start covering the costs of the bums who don’t.

Violent Crime Rate Has Gone Down During Romney/Healey Administration

It’s time to do some fact-checking.

Deval Patrick said at the debate that the Romney/Healey administration’s record of crime “has marked Massachusetts as the most violent state in New England,” as well as the Northeast. According to Deval Patrick, “that’s their legacy.”

According FBI crime statistics for 2005, it is true that Massachusetts ranked the most violent state in New England, but that’s not the whole story. Let’s look at the violent crime rates in these states in 2005 vs. 2002 (in parentheses):

Connecticut: 274.5 (312.5) -38
Maine: 112.2 (107.8) +4.4
Massachusetts: 456.9 (484.9) -28
New Hampshire: 132.0 (161.3) -29.3
Vermont: 119.7 (106.7) +13
Rhode Island: 251.2 (285.6) -34.4

What Deval Patrick chooses to ignore is that violent crime rate gone down since Romney/Healey took office. Deval Patrick would also have you believe that it was because of Romney/Healey that Massachusetts ranked #1 in violent crime in 2005 for New England states, when the reality is, it also ranked #1 in 2002 (#2 if you include all Northeast states), before they took office.

It’s disingenuous for Deval Patrick claim that Massachusetts being the most violent state in New England is “their legacy,” as if to suggest Massachusetts was previously #6 in New England and shot up to #1 under their watch. The violent crime rate has gone down on their watch, even if Deval Patrick and his supporters won’t admit it.

Deval Patrick is deliberately misleading the voters of Massachusetts by not telling the whole story. The Romney/Healey administration’s legacy is one of reduced violent crime. Deval Patrick’s legacy is one of coming to the aid of convicted rapists and cop killers.

UPDATE: Irony… Yesterday the Boston Globe reported that many Massachusetts communities are experiencing… (drumroll) a decrease in crime

UPDATE: The Lowell Sun notes that since 1960, Massachusetts”has had a dramatically higher crime rate than the rest of the New England states.” I wonder if Deval Patrick will blame the Romney/Healey administration for that.

Missing UVM Student’s Body Found

It is with great sadness I report that I’ve been informed by my friend in Vermont that Michelle Gardner-Quinn’s body has been found.

My deepest sympathies go out to her family.

Police Search For Missing UVM Student

Like many others last week, I took to the highway at the start of the Columbus Day weekend for a trip north to check out the foliage in Vermont. I’ve made several trips there over the course of the summer to visit a friend from college, and was looking forward to taking a day trip to Stowe that Saturday, and go paintballing that Sunday.

But I’m not here to discuss my trip.

I arrived in Burlington Friday afternoon; it was Sunday when I first heard about the missing UVM student, Michelle Gardner-Quinn.

A University of Vermont senior disappeared in downtown Burlington early Saturday morning, and city and university police, calling the situation “suspicious,” launched a search for the woman Sunday.

Michelle Gardner-Quinn, 21, of Arlington, Va., was last seen at about 2:15 a.m. Saturday walking east on Main Street, toward UVM, according to Burlington police.

Gardner-Quinn’s roommate, Erin Degraw, said Sunday that people were worried and upset.

“No one’s heard from her since Friday night,” said Degraw, an 18-year-old freshman from Honeoye, N.Y., who has shared a residence-hall room with Gardner-Quinn since the start of the academic year about six weeks ago.

Gardner-Quinn was planning to spend Saturday with her parents, who are in town for UVM’s Family Weekend. They reported her missing when she didn’t show up for dinner, sometime around 6 p.m. Saturday, said friend Julia Martin, 19, of Hopewell, N.J.

Her friends are “really worried,” Martin said.

“She’s not the type of person who would just disappear,” Lang said.

This story has been on my mind a lot, more so than most missing persons stories because there are only 3 degrees of separation [click here for an explanation of the six degrees of separation] between me and Michelle Gardner-Quinn (she is the suite-mate of a friend of the friend of mine I was staying with in Burlington). This wasn’t like the story of Natalee Holloway, a girl I had absolutely no connection to, but Michelle is a friend of a friend of a friend of mine, who had been cruising the same bars and clubs in downtown Burlington that I’ve been to on my trips to the area. While I can’t imagine what it must be like for her family, friends, roommates, or classmates, it still hits home. It could have been anyone. It could have been a close friend of mine–or yours. And that’s why it is so important that people heed the safety tips that the Burlington Police have issued to help stay safe. At the risk of sounding sexist (which under the circumstances I care very little about), young women especially need to be extra careful.

While the fate of Michelle Gardner-Quinn is uncertain at this hour, and all we can do is hope and pray that she is alive, I couldn’t help but hope that all the parents that were visiting their daughters at the University of Vermont last weekend had a long, long talk with them. A really long talk.

Please keep Michelle Gardner-Quinn and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

[Editor's note: Typically, articles on Hub Politics are limited to local news and commentary. I had planned to delve into this story more by relating it to a story of local significance from earlier this year. However, at this point in this story's development, I have decided to refrain from making that connection at this time.]

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I couldn’t help but recall the story of Imette St. Guillen, who was out until 4am drinking with friends in NewYork, and left the bar without her friends. She was raped and murdered. I was also reminded about WRKO talk show host John DePetro being harshly criticized for suggesting that St. Guillen’s behavior was a contributing factor to her death, specifically, she was “asking for trouble.” While the criticisms levied against DePetro accused him of a “blame-the-victim” attitude, when it was nothing of the sort. The fact is that in the case of Imette St. Guillen, had she acted responsibly and left with her friends, she’d be alive today. It’s not her fault that she was killed, but it is her fault for putting herself in a position that significantly increased the likelihood of being put in harms way.

It is all too unfortunate that not more emphasis was made on the personal choices that led to St. Guillen’s murder. Boston Herald reporter Michele McPhee blasted DePetro for his remarks, and suggested that Immete St. Guillen was “as safe alone at 4 a.m. in the bustling SoHo area as she would have been leaving Sonsie on Newbury Street at midnight, maybe more so, because there are always people milling about Manhattan.” With people like Michele McPhee trying to tell young women that it’s okay to stay out until 4am and walk alone, the lessons that could, rather should be learned from the tragedy are lost.

This is not about being sexist, or in any way suggesting that it is okay for men to drink all night and walk home alone–that too is irresponsible and could end in tragedy. But if you can’t accept that fact that women at more at risk walking by themselves after last call, then you are only making it easier for more stories like Imette St. Guillen’s become more common. If people like Michele McPhee want to continue to argue that women should feel safe to walk around late at night by themselves, they are free to, but I‚Äôd rather use these stories that all too often end tragically to warn young women that this is a dangerous world–criticize me all you like, at least I will be able to sleep at night. It would be great if women didn‚Äôt have to worry about walking home alone late at night, but that is not the case in today‚Äôs world. Darryl Littlejohn, the man on trial for the murder of Imette St. Guillen, didn‚Äôt care that she was supposed to ‚Äúfeel safe‚Äù by herself at 4 am.–>