The new Governor of Maine is a fellow named Paul LePage who got some notoriety during the campaign for saying he'd tell Obama to "Go to Hell," lying about his family finances, and telling lies and getting enraged.
He squeaked into office with 38% of the vote with two main opponents on his left splitting the anybody-but-LePage vote.
So what has he done since he got elected?
LePage has picked a set of advisers for his budget and transition planning and, boy does he have a set of Tea Party crackpots.
For one, there's "Pete the Carpenter," who no doubt wants to be known like Joe the Plumber. Pete's a leader in a Tea Party group named Maine Refounders and he's said
Liberals are like slinkys and that's because they bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
Source
Maybe because of this statement or some nasty things he said about Olympia Snowe, a few editorials have said he shouldn't be in the transition group.
But, folks, there's more!
One guy teaches the Constitution According to Glenn Beck by working on behalf of the National Center for Constitutional Studies, which bases its ideas on the writings of John Bircher Cleon Skousen.
He and two others are members of the Constitutionalists of Maine, a group that supports the "Oath-Keepers," who want to convince sheriffs not to follow certain laws.
Besides this, there are folks who kept pushing TABOR, the tax cap scheme, and LePage has various business interests well-represented. As one observer notes, "If tax-cappers, tea-partiers and constitutionalists are shaping the LePage policy agenda, we may be in for a long four years of damage control."
So, that's what's happening in previously all-blue Maine. Since the Republicans took the state House and Senate, too, this is likely to be quite a time. Some of those folks, like Senate President Kevin Raye, are relatively moderate, but as you can see, LePage's base is far, far right -- crackpot right.
Wish us luck, folks!