I heard the news while on break at work; “Olympia Snow Retires” It was out of the blue and a rambling about partisanship was the reason given. Though she was prone to being a loose cannon who was part of a clique that loved to be coddled and pandered too when votes of significance were coming up, she was after all a number. A number that the Republican Party needed to be able to gain control of the Senate. Yet Olympia Snowe had decided that she had enough of the “partisanship” and was going to retire leaving just 16 days for potential Republican heirs to find 2000 signatures to fill her spot on the ballot. Which leaves one question with several possible correct answers: Why?
First if it is health issue that Mrs. Snowe wishes not to speak of, I wish her well and hope the best for her. Barring that, there is much more to it than a aversion to “partisan” politics. I don’t buy it. The Lewiston Sun Journal, a local paper provided a possible clue
“Was there more trouble with her husband John McKernan’s business, Education Management Corp., which is the subject of a multi-state lawsuit headed by the U.S. Department of Justice? Documents from the lawsuit suggest McKernan had mostly inoculated himself from the EDMC controversy. The couple has vigorously denied any wrongdoing.
However, Snowe’s political opponents suggested there was more to the story, citing the couple’s reported assets from EDMC, which in 2009 were valued at between $6 million and $25 million and divided among her and McKernan’s stock options and common stock holdings.”
This I would think is the most reasonable answer to the question. Maybe Snowe’s “Spartan” persona was about to prove to be a false front. Could she have been tipped off, or recently made aware, that soon EDMC was about to become a house hold name, and not in a good way? Definitely possible.
Another possible reason is that Ms. Snowe was losing her conservative base in Maine. To be honest though, she never seemed to care before, why now? It’s not as if since she announced she was going to run for re-election the bottom dropped out from under her. She would have won. Matter of fact ,she was ramping up for re-election according to the Bangor Daily News
“Until Tuesday, Snowe had never given any indication — publicly, at least — that she did not hope to serve another term in the Senate. She had hired a campaign staff, appeared at GOP caucus meetings throughout the state earlier this month and had amassed a campaign war chest of more than $3.4 million as of the end of December.”
With that information before you can one honestly read and hear Mrs. Snowe’s recent statement as to why she is bowing out and not raise the brow of curiosity? Where are the reports of fellow Senate Republicans trying to persuade Snowe into reconsidering? Are they yet to come? Was she informed that she would be losing some committee member positions? Who knows?
Let me add this little bit to the intrigue. From Poynter
“ Lots of folks touting Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree as a potential replacement for suddenly retiring Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe. Dylan Byers writes about Pingree’s media connection: Her husband, Donald Sussman, is an investor in and on the board of MaineTodayMedia, which owns several newspapers in Vacationland: The Portland Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal, the Waterville Morning Sentinel, the Coastal Journal, and the Maine Sunday Telegram, the Press Herald’s Sunday paper. Last Wednesday, MediaWire’s morning roundup pointed you to an editorial by Roger Katz in the Bangor Daily News that worried about Sussman’s influence.”
Chellie Pingree is a Democrat. Her husband has major ties with Maine Today Media which controls almost every major newspaper in Maine. Having lived here I can say without hesitation that finding a conservative viewpoint in any of them is about as rare as an albino lobster on a Rockland dock. I wonder what those little flying monkeys of MTM have been up to?
Eh-Yup!
He is just a fat guy in Maine.