Maine Democrats find a new Republican villain in an old foe

Rep. Ken Fredette was an old foe for Maine Democrats in the State House, but the Newport Republican’s role in this month’s protracted talks over a short-term budget have made him their new villain.

As House minority leader from 2012 to 2018, Fredette helped former Gov. Paul LePage wield power in Augusta. That tenure was highlighted by a brief 2017 government shutdown in which he and LePage aligned against budget deals inked by Democrats and Senate Republicans.

Now back in the Legislature, Fredette wasted no time in gaining attention. He was absent from the appropriations committee when it inked an overnight bipartisan deal on a short-term budget highlighted by $118 million to close a MaineCare funding gap. The next day, he arrived in Augusta to cast his vote against it. Things snowballed, and there is still no budget.

The convoluted process has resulted in both parties trading barbs. Democrats point out Republican appropriators initially agreed to the deal, while the GOP accused their counterparts of using late-night moves to try to pass another partisan budget. It can all get traced back to Fredette, though his caucus insists he was never the sole reason for the snafu.

“Him kind of going in and blowing up an agreement is unfortunately nothing new,” said Rep. Marc Malon, D-Biddeford, who was a House Democratic aide during the 2017 shutdown.

Fredette, 60, left the State House the afternoon of Feb. 4 to attend a high school basketball game with family. He did not know then that votes would happen. After he learned of a meeting, he said Rep. Jack Ducharme, the top Republican appropriator from Madison, texted him around 9:30 p.m. to say they were voting partly that night and partly in the morning.

Ducharme told him to plan to come in at 9 a.m. because there would be no final vote. But one came close to 1 a.m, when all 11 appropriators, including the three Republicans present, approved the budget in a late-night series of votes. Ducharme went on the record expressing appreciation for the bipartisan work that was done.

Ducharme told a reporter via email Republicans wanted to make sure some “MaineCare reform language” was correct before voting the morning of Feb. 5 on the plan. But he said Democratic leadership wanted to vote before leaving that night. Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, the budget panel’s co-chair, has said Republicans should not have been surprised about that.

The next day, it was clear Republicans would not support the budget. They unsuccessfully pushed the appropriations committee to reconsider it. Last Tuesday, Democrats took the budget to votes on the House and Senate floors but stopped short of passing it because they lacked the two-thirds majorities they needed to enact it immediately.

“If this was such a crisis to get done, why aren’t we working on it right now?” Fredette, a lawyer and Maine Air National Guard colonel, asked in an interview.

Legislative leaders are using the break before another supplemental budget vote that could come Feb. 28 to seek compromises largely focused on General Assistance limits that Democratic Gov. Janet Mills initially wanted. She later told lawmakers to seek them in two-year budget negotiations that will continue during the current session that is set to end in July.

The supplemental budget spat is setting up another contentious two-year budget cycle in which Democrats may again likely use their narrow majorities to pass a plan without Republican support, though Mills’ proposed mix of tax increases and health program cuts have dismayed lawmakers in both parties for different reasons.

Before 2021, both parties often reached bipartisan spending deals, which Fredette mentioned as even occurring during several of the “eight very tough years” under LePage, who dealt with divided government in Augusta for six of his eight years.

“Don’t tell me that this can’t be done,” said Fredette, whose conservative caucus forced others to negotiate with the combative LePage by withholding votes necessary to overturn his record number of vetoes.

Fredette has been a main focus of Democrats since his vote. House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, has criticized him on Facebook and at a news conference last week. Rep. Sue Salisbury, D-Westbrook, said Friday it was “frustrating for one person to upend the work of the rest of the committee,” although others have cast wider blame.

“No one forced them to vote the way they did,” Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, said of Republicans, adding he has worked with Fredette as a fellow lawyer and has found him to be “principled” in that arena.

Fredette did not affect the ultimate disagreements over the short-term budget and he has no “disproportionate impact on the caucus,” Rep. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, said. House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, added that Democrats are making Fredette into “a boogeyman.”

Fredette said lawmakers are constantly balancing family needs with their work in Augusta. Asked if he wishes he had made the committee meeting, he instead expressed a desire for reaching a budget deal with two-thirds support while alluding to criticism.

“A lot of relationships get damaged in the process by doing this sort of thing,” Fredette said, “and that’s not helpful.”