Rep. Sean Faircloth, D-Bangor, led the creation of the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor, started the Maine Multicultural Center, which welcomes immigrants to his home region, and served on Bangor’s City Council, including a term as mayor.
Michael Brennan never held a seat in Congress, yet as a state legislator representing Portland, Maine, he has done more for his home state than most Washington politicians ever will for the states they represent. Rep. Brennan is stepping down from Maine’s Legislature after decades of major results. It’s one thing to have high ideals; it’s another to get results for those ideals.
A small sample of Rep. Brennan’s achievements:
- Brennan sponsored a bill offering free clinics for those who earn too much to qualify for MaineCare, but not enough to afford effective health insurance without a large deductible.
- Brennan spearheaded a law requiring concussion reports regarding student athletes so Mainers are informed about what level of cognitive and physical danger exists in youth sports.
- Brennan spearheaded an after-school nutritious food program for at-risk students.
- Brennan spearheaded funding to continue a program that helped thousands of students read more proficiently.
- Brennan sponsored a bill allowing for expanded training programs for educational technicians to help reduce the shortage across the state.
- Brennan sponsored a bill providing ongoing General Fund appropriations of $125,000 per year to provide rental assistance for homeless students in elementary school and secondary school.
This is a mere sampling of nearly 100 bills Rep. Brennan has prime sponsored since the 1990s. I have served in Maine’s Legislature for over a decade all told. Few Maine legislators in this century, or in the end of the last, have been held in such high esteem, particularly by those who truly understand the complex process that is legislation.
All manner of interpersonal skills are part of the process of making good ideas become law. Michael Brennan is truly a leader of historic significance in our state because of his repeated proven ability to take a meaningful idea that could help Mainers and turn that idea into a law that in fact does help the people of Maine, thus moving our state forward.
I greatly respect artists, writers and scientists because the best ones have the ability to make the world a better place thanks to their craft. Ironically, politics — with the bluster and the banners and the blather — can be more attention-grabbing than these other skills, yet simultaneously and, less visibly, some politicians shepherd an idea that can help people and help our state.
They then laboriously, often behind the scenes, build a coalition, foster relationships and engage in measured compromises that turn a positive idea into an effective positive public policy. Michael Brennan has proved his historic skill in this art.
I’m just some guy from Bangor, but citizens of Portland, consider this: they’ve made statues of people who have accomplished much less than Michael Brennan has achieved on your behalf and on behalf of all the people of Maine. Especially now, Michael Brennan is the positive example that Mainers need, and that all Americans need.