AUGUSTA, Maine — Last summer, Democratic and Republican lawmakers were all smiles while flanking Gov. Janet Mills as she signed into law a plan to give $200 million in ongoing funding to Maine’s transportation system that had long relied on borrowing.
Rep. Melanie Sachs, D-Freeport, who co-chairs the Legislature’s budget committee, and Transportation Commission Bruce Van Note stood next to one another that June day inside the State House, as Mills lauded the “good, bipartisan compromise” and expressed confidence it would become the long-term status quo for funding the state’s highways and bridges.
Less than a year later, that plan and its bipartisan goodwill were threatened by a series of moves from Sachs that drew concerns from Mills, Van Note and transportation interests along with rank-and-file legislators who were caught off guard.
In the wee hours of Saturday during a budget committee meeting, Sachs moved to take $60 million per year from the transportation budget and move it to a separate one that funds most of the state government.
She also successfully moved the transportation budget to her own committee under a “unified budget” proposal and moved to pass a scaled-back pension tax break that won bipartisan support last year
The decisions were striking because they came from member who is not in the top echelon of leadership, and led to criticism from both the right and left.
Sachs’ late-night moves have led to tension among powerful Democrats. Mills and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, issued a news release calling for the budget committee to meet later Thursday to reconsider the spending plan, but Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, found the Mills and Talbot Ross release “surprising and confusing,” a spokesperson said.
Democratic committee members joined Sachs in passing the final budget proposal around 3 a.m. Saturday over Republican complaints that the proposals came with no prior notice. It served as an example of the swift power of a committee chair who is in only her second term.
The moves were likely meant to free up millions to fund a range of bills the Democratic-led Legislature has not yet passed in the final weeks of the session, but Sachs faced heat from both sides while defending the changes as not jeopardizing the transportation department.
In a statement sent through a Talbot Ross spokesperson, Sachs said the budget addition includes “significant investments” in areas such as affordable housing, mental health services, nursing and veterans’ homes while preparing for “any future economic uncertainty.”
“To do so, we needed to consider the entire scope of the budget and adjust accordingly,” Sachs added.
Sachs did not touch on the criticism she has faced from members such as House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, who called on Talbot Ross to remove Sachs from her committee chair role due to “toxic and intimidating leadership.”
Talbot Ross responded Tuesday by telling the Republican leader that “your dislike of this process should not be conflated with the leadership” of Sachs and asked him to “refrain from impugning the character” of a member.
Sachs, a licensed clinical social worker, previously served on the Freeport Town Council and led Sexual Assault Response Services of Southern Maine for about two years before running for the State House seat vacated by former House Speaker Sara Gideon.
The Bangor Daily News reported in 2020 that Sachs resigned from the sexual assault response organization a year prior after several employees said she fostered a “hostile” and “abusive” work environment. Sachs responded by telling the newspaper she was “truly disappointed in a late, politically motivated effort to undermine” her campaign that year for the House seat.
While most Democratic members have not outright defended the most recent budget moves, several spoke up for Sachs this week by defending her character and leadership.
Rep. Dan Ankeles, D-Brunswick, a budget committee member who backed Sachs’ transportation-related moves, added he is “very proud that she’s my chair.”
“And I think she’s done a really good job trying to squeeze every last dollar available out of this budget to help the people of Maine thrive,” Ankeles said.