Susan Cook Is A Lunatic

The redistricting squabble has shown no signs, as of yet, of lessening.  Yesterday, the redistricting commission held a public hearing, and invited Maine citizens to step up to the mic and give a piece of their mind to the lawmakers on the panel.

That’s when this happened:

Susan Cook, the secretary of the Maine Democratic Party gave a rambling, incoherent speech about the virtues of the Democratic plan and the evil of those horrible Republicans, trying to abuse their power.

You’d think somebody involved in the Democratic Party in Maine wouldn’t have the stones to lecture people on using their power to do what they want after forty years of doing just that, but I digress.

She droned on endlessly about how moving a line on a map was a move to “intimidate voters”, and just generally made an ass out of herself.  Then the whopper came.  Cook accused Senate President Kevin Raye of, wait for it, secretly recording constituent phone calls, as a way of intimidating them. Her accusation basically boiled down to Raye recording constituents, without consent and without announcing he is recording, as a way of intimidating them away from calling him in the future.

I’m going to go ahead and assume that Cook’s accusations have no proof and are either an invention of her imagination, or of some fringe leftists she hangs around.  The right doesn’t have a monopoly on crazy people, after all.  I have never heard anything even remotely close to this rumor, and it doesn’t pass the smell test.  For one, how is recording a phone conversation supposed to intimidate anyone if it is done secretly, and without the constituents knowledge?  For two, wouldn’t just ignoring the phone calls be easier, especially since it isn’t like the Maine legislature’s switchboard is overwhelmed all that often.  For three… ah screw it, this is barely worth me refuting.  You get the idea.  It doesn’t make any rational sense.

Raye, when he heard about this, was remarkably restrained, much moreso than I would have been, and simply called for Cook to apologize to the people of Maine for her unfounded slander.

Charlie Webster, Chairman of the Maine Republican Party went a step further, calling for Cook to resign.

With due respect to Webster, though, I have another suggestion.  Let her keep her job.  Having people like her front and center representing the Democratic Party will be the best possible advertisement for electing Republicans in 2012 you could hope for.

Give this woman a microphone, a camera, and let her do her thing.

Matthew Gagnon

About Matthew Gagnon

Matthew Gagnon, of Yarmouth, is the Chief Executive Officer of the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a free market policy think tank based in Portland. Prior to Maine Heritage, he served as a senior strategist for the Republican Governors Association in Washington, D.C. Originally from Hampden, he has been involved with Maine politics for more than a decade.