If It's ‘Like Father Like Son,’ Pray Angus III Never Becomes Maine’s G

By Ted Cohen/Patch.com

If Angus King II’s governorship were a blueprint for his son's could-be term, Angus III’s would be an abject failure - just like his father's was.

In the wake of two terms as Maine's chief executive, the old man left Maine taxpayers with a $1 billion deficit.

Along the way, Angus II was also the guy who came up with the ill-fated, middle-school laptop plan that we’re still paying for at the tune of $12 million a year.

So if the son by King’s failed marriage is following in Daddy's footsteps in announcing his candidacy for the governor's office, then the only thing the kid has is his name because his father's performance was an unmitigated disaster.

Even the liberal NPR adjudged Angus II’s boondoggle laptop program a failure:

“Research has shown that ‘one-to-one’ programs, meaning one student one computer, implemented the right way, increase student learning in subjects like writing, math and science. Those results have prompted other states, like Utah and Nevada, to look at implementing their own one-to-one programs in recent years.

“Yet, after a decade and a half, and at a cost of about $12 million annually (around 1 percent of the state's education budget), Maine has yet to see any measurable increases on statewide standardized test scores," NPR reported.

That's part of why one of Angus II’s successors as governor, Republican Paul LePage, called the program Angus II came up with a "massive failure.”

“It’s been a failure and we all know it but we keep doing it because we’re used to doing it,” LePage said

The first King trampled over Democrat ex-Gov. Joe Brennan and Republican Susan Collins in his first successful gubernatorial bid, declaring his alleged party as “independent.”

Trampled is an apt description for Angus, who came from his well-heeled Virginia home state to Maine as a young lawyer, first working as a lawyer for the poor.

Angus apparently had so much fun doing that he decided he needed to find something that didn't involve heavy lifting, so he appointed himself as the host of a so-called show on Maine's taxpayer-funded TV network.

He then used his name recognition as a small-time TV celebrity to launch a bid for governor.

King’s opponents criticized him for flip-flopping.

Collins said it best, arguing that King "presents different images, depending on who he is talking to.

“Angus has been a Democrat his whole life,” Collins added. “He became an independent because he didn't think he could beat Joe Brennan in a primary. He says different things to different groups.”

Once the votes were counted carpetbagger Angus began dismantling Maine's tax base with expensive government programs that defined his disregard for Maine's working class.

King’s pretense portraying himself in the mold of Jim Longley, Maine’s first independent governor, followed none of Longley’s successful legacy.

After his two terms Angus took a hiatus from politics, later leapfrogging Democrat U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, (ME01), the heir apparent to retiring Olympia Snowe’s U.S. Senate seat, in 2012, flip-flopping to become a Democrat during the campaign in order to convince the party he would do it proud.

During that campaign, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce aired an ad targeting King's abysmal spending record.

The advertisement called King, "The King of Spending." and said, "When King left office, Maine had a $1 billion budget shortfall.”

King threw a flag, vehemently denying the claim as “negative advertising.”

Whomever said negative advertising had to be false?

Apparently the ad was accurate - even according to the bleeding hearts at the Portland Press Herald who analyzed the ad’s content.

“The newspaper says the ad passes a truth analysis,” WGME reported at the time.

Angus King, the guy who claimed he swore off negative advertising himself, also had flip-flopped on what became a hollow promise.

In his campaign against Brennan, King did an ad comparing Maine-native Brennan to a mummy.

His duplicity didn't stop there.

When Collins was running for re-election to the Senate in 2020, at the same time King conveniently stayed silent but hired his second wife put up an ad saying she was fully supporting Collins’ opponent, Democrat Sara Gideon.

In 2014 when Collins was running for reelection, Angus claimed to be her friendly supporter.

Ten years later, when Collins did no more than solicit a Republican to run against King, he threw a fit, claiming it was out of bounds for his alleged friend to go around his back.

That would be the same Angus who while claiming to be the friend of the senior senator from Maine solicited his wife to do an ad for Gideon when Collins was running for reelection...