Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Executives from the Maine Public Broadcasting Network are expected to once again plead their case to state lawmakers Monday as they face the total elimination of all of their state funding.

Last week, Gov. Paul LePage proposed to keep the $4 million originally slated to go to MPBN over the next two years. He told the Associated Press that he has nothing against the network, he just needed to find $4 million to close a budget gap.

Along with MPBN executives, who stressed last week that the money amounts to 20 percent of their operating budget, a group of LePage supporters is expected to testify in favor of the cut.

Maine People Before Politics, which is run by two former LePage campaign staffers, sent out an action alert this weekend asking supporters to show up at 2 p.m. Monday when the Appropriations Committee will take public testimony on the cut.

The press releases praises LePage for his "courage" to do what's right and listed three reasons why it's a good decision.

1. Funding these entities "is outdated."

2. Maine people have "more choices than ever before in television and radio programming. The state should not spend taxpayer money to subsidize public television and public radio."

3. State funding leads to a competitive disadvantage for local radio and television. "These private companies have to go out and sell advertising to succeed. The taxpayer should not be subsidizing an entity that competes directly against Maine's small businesses."

It will be interesting to see where lawmakers end up on this issue.

Previous entries