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Liberal and proud of it: Hallowell flaps its strong left wing
BY CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 11/24/2008

When Maine voters overwhelmingly repealed a beverage tax on Nov. 4, the citizens in Hallowell became the state's only city to support keeping the tax.

Bob Colwell, one of those Hallowell residents who bucked the trend and voted to keep the tax, was hardly surprised to learn so many of his neighbors had followed suit.

"I think we're liberal with a capital L, and I don't think anyone's ashamed of it," Colwell said, a Barack Obama baseball cap perched atop his head.

If, as Colwell suggests, Hallowell's vote can be explained by widespread liberalism, explaining how it got that way requires much more speculation.

"I think people who get Hallowell -- get Hallowell, and they say, 'What a great town. I've got to move there,'" Colwell said. "Those who don't get Hallowell don't get it and they stay away."

Votes statewide agreed by nearly a 2-1 margin to repeal taxes approved by lawmakers and Gov. John Baldacci in April. The tax, which included an additional 4 cents on a can of soda, 7 cents on a bottle of wine and 16 cents on a six-pack of beer, was meant to help pay for the state's health insurance program for individuals and small businesses.

But Hallowell decided by an eight-vote margin, 806-798, to keep the tax in place. It stands alone as the only city in the state, and one of just a handful of communities of any size, to support the tax.

The other nine communities to vote to keep the tax include two territories in Aroostook County, four island communities, two towns in Hancock County and Arrowsic in Sagadahoc County. Each of the communities had fewer than 350 voters, except for Brooklin, with 581, and Trenton, with 1,098, in Hancock County.

Whether they've lived in Hallowell just a few months, or all their lives, residents have various theories about why their community voted as it did. Most of those explanations come down to Hallowell's proximity to Augusta, which has led a large number of state workers to make their home in Hallowell, and to the town's long-standing tradition of unabashed liberalism.

"I have a friend on the right that calls it the Kremlin on the Kennebec," said Kevin Mattson, a lifelong Hallowell resident and former chairman of the Maine Democratic Party. "We're proud of it. If a land bond passes by 55 percent in the state, it will be 80 here. If there was a universal health-care vote tomorrow you'd have an 80 percent yes vote in Hallowell. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a community that consistently votes as progressively on issues."

Rep. Sharon Treat, D-Hallowell, moved to town last year. She was drawn by the same sense of community that has made the town so appealing to others. It is that sense of community that led residents to decide they could spend more for soda and alcohol if it meant helping their neighbors.

"I think it's a little different from other communities in that way," she said.

Hannah Harding-Umler, who moved to town a few months ago, empathizes with neighbors without health insurance.

"I can't afford health care, so anything that looks like it's going to help provide for an everyday person sounds like a good thing to me," she said.

Eric Perry, who lives in Hallowell and owns a small business, voted to repeal the tax, but he is not surprised to learn he was in the minority.

"Hallowell's kind of an eclectic community," Perry said. "We've fancied ourselves as a live-and-let live community, and we've attracted a lot of people that are more progressive in their thinking than conservative in their thinking."

And because Hallowell is a bedroom community for Augusta, it has a large number of residents who have powerful positions in state government, including lobbyists and department commissioners, which puts much of the population at the upper reaches of the middle class, Perry said.

According to the 2000 Census, the most recent figures available, Hallowell's median household and per-capita incomes are at or slightly above the average in the rest of Kennebec County. Hallowell's unemployment rate is slightly below the county average.

But the percentage of Hallowell residents holding executive or managerial positions dwarfs that of the county average, 51 percent to 33 percent.

"A lot of people live here who work at the top tier of government," Mattson said. "Government is not a negative thing here."

State workers were much less likely to see the beverage tax question as more than a black-and-white issue about taxes, said Gordon Smith, spokesman for Health Cover for Maine, which fought to keep the tax in place.

"A lot of Hallowell's people work for the state and they're upper-echelon employees," Smith said. "They're much more involved. They know about Dirigo and they know about tax policy. Being around government they are much more likely to have a deeper understanding of the issues we were trying to get across."

But Hallowell also has its share of small stores and restaurants, which explains why the vote was much closer than other questions that typically break along party lines, said Ted O'Meara, spokesman for Fed Up with Taxes, the group that worked to repeal the tax.

"Almost all these businesses (are) already getting hit with additional costs," O'Meara said. "I think people really felt that this was not the time to be raising taxes."

Though pleased his campaign was able to win the support of the vast majority of Maine communities, based on Hallowell's voting on other ballot questions O'Meara believes there was little chance of success there.

In addition to the beverage tax vote, Hallowell joined Waterville as the only Kennebec County communities to vote for Democrat Tom Allen over Republican Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate race. Hallowell also gave nearly 70 percent of its votes to Obama.

"There's definitely a pattern there," O'Meara said. "It seems like a nice community, but they do seem to have taken a different view on a lot of these questions."

Hallowell Town Councilor Peter Schumacher, who owns a small business, believed Hallowell would buck its own trend and vote to repeal the tax. He has talked to numerous residents and business owners who are concerned about the economic climate and the blossoming burden of taxes.

"Talking to the average person on the streets, I never would have thought they would be in favor of another tax," he said.

Julie Adley, a University of Maine-Farmington student who moved to Hallowell a couple of years ago, believes residents made a point of educating themselves about the tax and determined it was worth the price. It is that communal spirit that drew her to Hallowell in the first place.

"I think there's a little bit more culture here," Adley said as she sipped coffee at Slates Bakery. "I love the area. I love the fact there are different options for eating. It's safer. You can walk around. There are trails, local foods, local stores. I just really like that."

Ironically, that same community spirit is enticing to those of a more conservative bent, Schumacher said.

"The entire blend of Hallowell is what draws people here," he said. "We always have interesting conversations, sometimes they're heated, but I think everyone comes away respecting each people's opinions."

Craig Crosby--623-3811 Ext. 433

ccrosby@centralmaine.com

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