Editorials from around New England

Editorials from around New England:

CONNECTICUT

The Hartford Courant, Mar. 22

State Rep. Angel Arce wisely pledged to resign his seat in the General Assembly in the wake of revelations that he had sent creepy messages to a 16-year-old girl. We are still waiting.

In his March 7 announcement, Mr. Arce said he didn’t “want my presence to be a distraction to the (legislature’s) very important work.” Now his absence is the distraction.

Mr. Arce missed a key House vote and, according to The Courant’s Jon Lender, he hasn’t been seen at the Capitol or around Hartford.

Now House leadership is weighing whether to expel him. It can be done with a two-thirds vote, says the state constitution, but getting the legislature to make that happen would require organizational will of the sort rarely seen under the golden dome.

Mr. Arce’s attorney points out that the text messages didn’t break any laws. Fair enough. But much more is expected of elected representatives. Mr. Arce’s conduct was, at best, wickedly inappropriate in any context, and if he worked in the private sector, his job would be in serious jeopardy.

He is expected to represent his constituents with dignity. He cannot do that any longer, and he was right to announce that he would resign.

All that’s missing now is the letter to the legislature.

Mr. Arce, don’t drag this out.

Sadly, he isn’t the only aspiring legislator in the news lately who isn’t fit for public service. Former Enfield state Rep. David Alexander, who is running for the state Senate seat held by Republican John Kissel, was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly throwing a coffee mug at his mother’s head.

Mr. Alexander has run afoul of the law before. He has been charged twice with drunken driving and was once charged with punching his father in the face. He lost his re-election bid in 2016.

Even if Mr. Kissel’s seat were in jeopardy - he has been firmly ensconced since 1993 - Mr. Alexander would not be the candidate to unseat him. He too has squandered the public trust and should end his bid for office.

It’s sad that two promising legislators haven’t been able to meet the expectations of elected representatives. They should both acknowledge that the public sphere isn’t the place for them.

Online: http://cour.at/2Gf7fRN

___

MASSACHUSETTS

The Salem News, Mar. 23

These are dire times for the North Atlantic right whale.

A record number of the whales - 17 - died due to ship strikes or gear entanglements last year. Meanwhile, scientists who have been tracking the mammals noted the birth of a mere five calves over the same period. The troubling trend does not bode well for the species.

“The story is just a simple one of arithmetic,” Charles “Stormy” Mayo, director of the right whale ecology program at the Center for Coast Studies, told Public Radio International. “If you have fewer births and higher mortalities, extinction is around the corner.”

It doesn’t have to be this way. Right whales, docile creatures that grow to about 50 feet long and about 70 tons, at one time seemed to be one of the conservation movement’s greatest success stories. The creatures - hunted nearly to extinction in the whaling era - saw their numbers grow from fewer than 250 to the current estimate of 450 after two decades of conservation efforts on the part of the federal government and the fishing and shipping industries.

The measures that worked before, however, are no longer sufficient to keep the species healthy. This is in large part due to the fractured nature of their habitat, which runs from the southeastern United States to Nova Scotia.

While lobstermen in Massachusetts have adapted their work habits and changed their gear to reduce the number of whale entanglements, the snow crab industry in New Brunswick, Canada, has not. The United States has altered shipping lanes to reduce the number of whale strikes. But as climate change changes the ocean, it also changes whales’ migration patterns, and the government of Canada has yet to adequately address shipping there.

Closer to home, the Conservation Law Foundation has sued the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration for not doing enough to protect the mammals. NOAA, however, is closing some areas off Cape Cod to commercial fishing and lobstering and is pushing for more research into fishing gear that would cut down on whale entanglements.

If it sounds like a hodgepodge of approaches, that’s because it is. It’s long past time for these groups to put aside their competing interests and work together on a cohesive plan to address the crisis, one that builds on the cooperation of two countries and several industries.

Humans nearly killed off the right whale in the early 1900s. We are getting perilously close to finishing the job today.

Online: https://bit.ly/2DPIYMO

___

CONNECTICUT

The Republican-American, Mar. 22

Connecticut’s legislature is considering legalizing recreational marijuana use in the Constitution State. Legislation authorizing such use was rejected by the General Law Committee March 20, but related bills remain alive in other committees. “Advocates say the legal marijuana business in Colorado has created 18,000 jobs and generated $2.4 billion in economic activity,” WTNH-TV reported.

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, and Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, have touted the revenues that would come with legalization.

If the legalization effort comes to fruition, Connecticut will be “stabilizing” its economy and finances in part on something harmful to residents. Shameful though that is, it isn’t a surprise that things have come to this.

In January 2017, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report outlining the devastating consequences of pot use. “Some people think that marijuana is not truly ’addictive’ or that people can’t become ’hooked’ on the drug, but research shows that about 1 in 10 marijuana users will become addicted,” the report noted. “For people who begin using before the age of 18, that number rises to 1 in 6.”

Also highlighted were associated cognitive problems, like stunted capacity for remembering, learning and focusing; and physical problems, like cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Arguably the most chilling finding was that “marijuana users are significantly more likely than nonusers to develop chronic mental disorders, including schizophrenia.”

It was predictable that Connecticut policymakers would turn to marijuana. Their years of coddling public-employee unions have put Connecticut’s economy and balance sheet in deep holes. Last year’s “concessions” deal with the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) means it will be years before state government’s formidable personnel costs can be addressed effectively, and the process of relieving the private sector’s burden can begin.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, the foremost champion of the SEBAC deal, says he opposes the legalization of recreational marijuana use. Don’t be surprised if Gov. Malloy eventually changes his mind. His first round of proposed revisions to Connecticut’s troubled 2017-18 budget, delivered in early February, called for legalization. It truly is sad that Connecticut has gotten to this point.

Online: https://bit.ly/2DOSHTS

___

MAINE

Bangor Daily News, Mar. 20

President Donald Trump made a mockery of the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic Monday in New Hampshire when he turned what was supposed to be a policy announcement about new steps to ease addictions into a political rally, complete with chants and gratuitous insults to Democrats.

The opioid crisis, which kills more than one Mainer and 115 Americans a day, needs a serious, consistent and evidence-based response. Trump has again proven he is unable to deliver that.

To be sure, Trump made some promising pledges, such as increasing spending to combat the problem by $6 billion. Some of that money will go toward developing nonaddictive painkillers, which already exist but can’t compete with the huge marketing pushes from opioid drug makers.

The president also promised a federal plan to cut opioid prescriptions by a third over the next three years. He gave no details about how this important work will be done.

He also called for greater availability of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, which also goes by the brand name Narcan. This is counter to the thinking of Gov. Paul LePage, who has vigorously fought efforts to make Narcan more easily obtainable in Maine. Even though this is an important step, there is reason for skepticism as the price of some versions of the drug have risen sharply as demand has increased, benefitting drug companies and their investors.

Most important, Trump touted the importance of evidence- and science-based treatment, especially medication-assisted treatment, which research has shown to be the most effective approach to easing substance abuse disorder. But, again, the president gave no details.

And, as so often the case with Trump, what he says on Monday could be totally reversed by what he tweets on Wednesday. He also peppered his speech with threats to sanctuary cities and criticism of Democrats for inaction on legislation for young immigrants, which have nothing to do with opioid misuse.

Despite the positives, the centerpiece of Trump’s announcement was to re-emphasize a “get tough” approach, the centerpiece of which is his call to execute drug dealers. “The ultimate penalty has to be the death penalty,” Trump said to cheers from the hand-picked audience.

“I think unless you do that, unless you have really, really powerful penalties, led by the death penalty for the really bad pushers and abusers, we are going to get nowhere,” he added.

Although he refused to name them, Trump touted countries that he said have no drug problem because they execute drug dealers. These countries include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, China and South Sudan, all of which are known for their barbaric policies toward criminals and so-called dissidents. This is not the model for the U.S. to follow.

Plus, it doesn’t work. And it may not be constitutional.

Tina Nadeau, executive director of the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, called the president’s proposal “deeply troubling.”

“Our clients need expanded and free access to treatment, both psychological and medical, and community-based support services, not incarceration and certainly not the death penalty,” she said.

About a quarter of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain misuse them and 80 percent of heroin users first misused prescription opioid medication. Trump did not say if his death penalty plan included drug company executives and others who promoted the widespread use of prescription opioids.

Likewise, Trump’s continued emphasis on “great commercials” that will scare kids away from using drugs is ludicrous. Studies have shown that “just say no” approaches don’t work.

As Trump noted in his speech in Manchester, a panel he convened issued numerous common-sense recommendations. He should follow them instead of touting campaign-style talking points that appeal to his supporters but do little to solve the very real problem of opioid addiction.

Online: http://bit.ly/2FVNdIM

___

NEW HAMPSHIRE

The Portsmouth Herald, Mar. 20

York High School student Hayden Osgood encapsulated in a few short sentences why he joined hundreds of other students at both YHS and York Middle School as part of a nationwide walkout on March 14 in support of gun control measures and safer school procedures.

Osgood, like so many others of his age, watched as 17 students and staff were killed at a Parkland, Florida high school in February - only the most recent of so many mass shootings at schools and public places across the United States. He spoke of growing up in a country that seems to treat death so cavalierly.

“When I walk through the halls of my high school, I imagine being locked out of my classroom, hiding in a stairwell, being unsure of what to do and how to react,” he said. “I can feel the panic of students who have heard gunshots. I scan my surroundings. I know I am not the only student that thinks like this. It’s a part of the American educational experience.”

Across town at York Middle School, more than 100 students took part in the walkout, organized by a small group of older students who are members of the Sandy Hook generation - the same age that students at Newtown, Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School were when they were killed in 2012. “We were the kids growing up with Sandy Hook. I remember; there were kids my age getting shot. After that, a lot of security measures were put in place, and everything got safer. But this has been something going on for a long time,” said organizer Anna Cohen.

These are the voices not of teenagers in some far-flung corner of America, but from right here in our town. It is difficult for many of us adults to imagine what it must be like to go to school with that underlying tension, that underlying insecurity, wondering if today will be the day. We lived in a simpler time, when schools were solely a sanctuary for learning and discovery. The shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 changed all that. It occurred just years before today’s high school seniors were born, and the continuing reverberations of that event are felt like a persistent presence in our older students. They live in an era when that seemingly offhanded Facebook post, or tweet, or Instagram comment can no longer be discounted because, who knows? They are left to grow up before their time, to grapple with a world not of their making but which draws them in inexorably nonetheless.

And they have risen to that challenge magnificently. We stand with our students. We stand with them as they exercise their constitutionally-guaranteed right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. We stand with them as they join the voices of their counterparts across the country in calling for reasonable measures to limit access to guns, for consistently safer schools, for responsible politicians not beholden to a gun lobby that controls their every move. We stand with them as they tell us adults in clear and unequivocal language: listen to us.

“We call ourselves America, the leader of the free world,” said YHS student organizer Karsten Rees. “We call ourselves America, the land of the free and the home of the brave. How brave is it to stay silent while schoolchildren are shot in their classrooms? How brave is it to let our political differences overcome us?”

And we stand with Rees and his fellow students when he says, “This is a government by the people, for the people. And since the government refuses to do anything, we must.”

Online: http://bit.ly/2HVVoFC

___

VERMONT

The Caledonian-Record, Mar. 22

Last week the Vermont House Appropriations Committee dedicated $10-million to the teacher pension fund. The money was part of a $28 million settlement from big tobacco.

“This is a very good investment for the taxpayer,” State Treasurer Beth Pearce said. “That $10 million will result in $29 million in savings on interest.”

We agree, and we’re happy to see lawmakers taking unfunded liabilities a little more seriously after years of burying their heads in the sand.

As David Coates explains, the most recent reports on Pension and Retiree Health Care Benefits (OPEB) for State Workers and Teachers, “show that Vermont’s combined unfunded liability has increased by over $900 million (over 25 in just one year.”

That means, “as of June 30, 2017 our unfunded liabilities stand at $4.5 billion, an amount that is now three (3) times our General Fund revenues and seven (7) times our bonded indebtedness,” Coates writes. “In other words, this is the biggest liability the state owes, is more than all of our other liabilities combined, and overwhelms the state’s balance sheet.”

“At the end of the day,” Coates asks, “does anyone think our state can possibly meet these obligations? I doubt even those legislators supported by the labor unions can believe this, given the preponderance and magnitude of this factual information.”

The state has ignored the problem for years … over-promising teachers and under-funding their benefits.

The $10-million earmarked last week is a nice gesture but does little to address the structural deficiencies likely to sink Vermont.

Online: http://bit.ly/2GRKUYh