Augusta Confidential, Chapter 3
Our undercover legislator discusses the puppets and poseurs of the Maine GOP.
(Editor’s note: Reese Calloway, a pseudonym, currently serves in the Maine Legislature.)
Laurel Libby’s Never-Ending Victim Tour
No week under the dome would be complete without Auburn Rep. Laurel Libby finding new ways to humiliate herself. Despite being censured and on legislative “mute” until she apologizes for doxxing a transgender high schooler, Libby is holding a non-stop self-pity party and parade, crying about censorship on every right-wing podcast and broadcast that will platform her whining and complaints.
Let’s be clear: Libby knew exactly what she was doing. Her doxxing of an innocent student-athlete was a calculated stunt to rile up the far-right and to fundraise off transphobia while driving engagement. She’s not fighting for fairness in sports. She’s fighting for attention. And while busy playing the martyr, unable to vote or speak in the House, she remains utterly useless regarding actual governance.
Libby claims she’s “exploring her options.” Translation: How can she further spin her bigotry for more personal gain and money into her pocket?
Caruso: Clone, Copycat or Competition?
Like Libby, Rep. Liz Caruso, the newly-elected first-termer from the tiny Somerset County town of Caratunk, loves to grandstand about local engagement, civic values and her supposed dedication to patriots and other Christian-Nationalists. Also, she frequently brags of having helped poor folk through her work with the Somerset Economic Development Corporation, all while claiming to be “protecting” Maine children and rural communities.
The reality: Caruso votes against the stuff rural Maine and our children need, such as dependable educational funding, broadband expansion and infrastructure investment.
Even worse, though, is Caruso’s spouting of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, while pushing transphobic policies and wasting legislative time on nonsense that targets the most vulnerable kids in our communities. Even though she preaches small-town unity, Caruso’s real game is to push for laws that demonize those who don’t adhere to her standards. Specifically, her own flavor of weird gender-policing, as seen in her extremely detailed bill “to Ensure Equity and Safety in Athletics, Restrooms, Changing Rooms and Housing at Elementary, Secondary and Post-secondary Schools.
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Sound familiar? That’s because Caruso seems to be copying almost directly from the Laurel Libby playbook: While Maine families struggle with real issues, these two cosplay as political leaders (along with assistant minority leader Rep. Katrina Smith) pushing cruel, unnecessary and deeply unpopular agendas that only distract from the serious work that needs doing in the State House.
Their tactics, though, are slightly different. Libby, for instance, is more abrasive and mean, like using images scraped from the socials in order to dox a teenager and launch her outrage-tour. Caruso seems to prefer a kinder and gentler version of bigotry. This week, she staged a press conference with eleven real-life children, whose parents presumably gave consent for their kids to be used as political props.
This current attempt by Caruso, for instance, to ban transgender girls from participating in sports while mandating a statewide bathroom/locker room policy is a perfect example of her pandering. Doesn’t matter to GOP lawmakers that Maine’s transgender athlete policy has existed for years without issue. Never mind that the Maine Principals’ Association already has a system in place. Instead, like Libby, Caruso ignores reality and focuses on stoking outrage, pushing cruelty in order to get local and national attention. In Caruso’s eyes, Maine’s biggest crisis is high school athletics, not our housing shortage or lack of free healthcare or issues with educational funding.
It’s clear that Caruso and Libby are simply not doing the hard work of slogging through the lawmaking drudgery that makes up the bulk of our days as legislators. Instead of governance, their entire legislative strategy is built on distraction and performative outrage. They write bills to get a segment on Newsmax, not to solve real problems faced by Mainers.
Gotta wonder if Libby is worried about Caruso as competition. After all, does the Maine GOP have room (or wallet) for two female Stepford-esque bigots? And Caruso clearly has her eyes set higher than Augusta. After all, she’s already run for Congress once.
In 2022, Caruso finished second-place in the GOP primary for Maine’s Second District, losing to has-been Bruce Poliquin who went on to lose to Jared Golden for a second time. During her short-lived congressional bid, Caruso made her anti-vaxx and other MAGA-beliefs very clear. And presumably, GOP leadership told her to get actual legislative experience before trying for the big leagues again. Her only elected office, prior to Augusta, was serving as “First Selectman” in Caratunk, population 80.
Meanwhile, as the Maine GOP obsesses about teen gender identity, the Dems continue to try to plan for the future: dealing with dramatic weather changes due to the climate crisis, raising teacher pay and taxing the rich in order to protect Maine’s working class.
Budget Standoff: More Manufactured GOP Drama
In the latest episode of “As the Senate Turns,” Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart and his band of obstructionists are once again opposing the Democratic majority’s supplemental budget. Their demands? Gutting General Assistance and slapping work requirements on MaineCare recipients all in the name of “fiscal responsibility.”
Meanwhile, Senator Matt Harrington (aka #FloridaMan Paul LePage’s son-in-law) keeps parroting the same tired obstructor talking points on social media. One has to wonder if Harrington’s political strategy is just to mimic his father-in-law’s gubernatorial actions that gutted and nearly destroyed the state programs that help the elderly, the vulnerable and needy?
But here’s the reality: without passing the budget, Maine faces a $118 million shortfall in MaineCare funding, jeopardizing hospital and nursing home payments. While Democrats work to prevent a healthcare crisis, Republicans are busy coordinating their sabotage while rehearsing their manufactured outrage for tv cameras and Facetime Live.
As the budget showdown continues, Mainers watch with bated breath, eager to see if this political soap opera offers any new plot twists or if it’s just another rerun.
A Conference of Idiots: The GOP’s Education Lies
Augusta GOPers and January 6th enthusiast Rep. Barbara Bagshaw recently held a press conference lamenting the supposed downfall of Maine’s education system. It was like watching an arsonist complain about the fire department.
Let’s break down her bullet-pointed nonsense:
CLAIM: Maine’s education system ranks dead last.
FACT: Maine ranks 16th nationally in public education (WalletHub, 2024). But facts don’t fit their scare tactics.
CLAIM: DEI initiatives are ruining schools.
FACT: DEI has nothing to do with academic performance. Decades of underfunding (Did I mention LePage already?), teacher shortages and lack of special education investment are the real problems. Republicans have consistently opposed solutions.
CLAIM: School choice will save education.
FACT: “School choice” is code for funneling public dollars into unregulated private and religious schools. Public schools serve everyone. Private schools cherry-pick students while draining taxpayer funds.
Maine schools have real challenges. However, GOPers like Bagshaw need to do their homework, before opening their mouths and spewing disinformation and anti-public education rhetoric.
In the photo below, Bagshaw (left) and Justin Whynot (right, vice-chair of Maine’s Moms for Liberty) having a great time sightseeing at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Listen to this episode of the Disinfomaniacs podcast to learn more about Whynot’s shady past.)
Rep. Tom Lavigne: MAGA Puppet with Democratic Strings
You'll fall for anything, the saying goes, if you don’t stand for something. And lately, Rep. Tom Lavigne of Berwick has been falling for all sorts of garbage on a regular basis.
Lavigne, a real estate broker with a New Hampshire phone number and a legislative footprint as faint as a whisper in the wind, suddenly found his voice last week. But not for the people of his district or Maine’s downtrodden or even the average taxpayer. He decided to take a stand by defending Laurel Libby after her well-earned censure. He emailed the entire House, demanding that Democratic leadership be held to the same standard as the weirdo from Auburn obsessed with teenage gender.
Of course, Lavigne’s move wasn’t about principle, but playing the role assigned to him by his GOP overlords to distract from Libby’s behavior. His job was to escalate the outrage and parrot the MAGA talking points like a good soldier while waving the proverbial Trump flag. Which is embarrassing and downright hypocritical. Despite having an “R” after his name, Lavigne likes to pretend he’s an independent voice, which, in his case, usually means being silent, ineffective and completely irrelevant. Lately, though, he pivoted and seemingly enjoys linking arms with the far-right faction of his party, eager to do their bidding.
Which has got to be impacting his homelife. In the ultimate irony, his longtime romantic partner works in the private sector for a law firm tied to a powerful very liberal Democrat. He’s been seen with his gal pal at non-political events and fundraisers that would offend his GOP masters.
Which begs the question: Is he a true believer? Or just a complicit GOP puppet playing their assigned role in the outrage machine? Because, at this point, the Maine GOP is just a bunch of bully shit-posters masquerading as public servants. Disinterested in governing, they prefer to play-act from a script of outrage, distraction and victimhood. All in order to cash in on controversy and stay relevant in the right-wing media biosphere.
Maine deserves better than this mess of a GOP. But until voters throw them out, expect a continuance of hypocrisy, hysteria and a whole lot of wasted time.
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