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

Update: The Portland Press Herald reports that the MEA has indeed chosen Libby Mitchell as its gubernatorial pick for November.

9:47 a.m.

The Maine Education Association this morning is set to announce its pick for governor. The teachers' union has scheduled a press conference for 10 a.m. today at Portland High School.

At the risk of being wrong, I won't make any guesses before the announcement.

I will note, however, that the MEA in May chose Democrat Libby Mitchell -- along with Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree -- as a "Friend of Education." As I noted two weeks ago, Mitchell and Pingree earned the distinction as "lifesavers in a time of great peril."

"Had it not been for their efforts, school funding would be severely reduced, our health insurance programs would have been threatened, onerous reforms would have been dumped upon the desks of educators, and our students and schools would have suffered mightily," MEA President Chris Galgay said in announcing that award.

During the gubernatorial primary, I was told that none of the Republican candidates made the MEA cut. And independent candidate Eliot Cutler has an education reform agenda that's at odds with MEA's priorities.

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