OK, Tony Payne, here are the details that you didn’t mention in your debut column last week.

I make no apologies for my vote on municipal rights: LD 1028 would allow a municipality to adopt an ordinance that states that a corporation may not be recognized as a person. I believe that the rights of municipalities and its citizens should come before corporation rights and voted accordingly. This may not have been the politically popular vote, but I believe it is the right vote.

And as for LD 290 (the bill to allow Mainers to purchase insurance from out-of-state companies), it had many problems, such as the fact that no other state allows this, and for good reason. At the public hearing the insurance agents testified no company would even offer this insurance nor would any state agree to it. This is what could happen if this bill was passed: Cherry-picking based on age, health status, location; Maine insurers would be more, not less, likely to leave the state; consumer protections would be lost; consumers would have no one to go to appeal claim denials; Maine-based medical providers may not be covered; patients could end up being sued for payment, as well as Maine doctors; if the company went belly up, there is no back-up plan; other states won’t let their general fund and insurance assessment dollars be used to benefit Mainers, meaning we would pay higher premiums than in-state consumers. These are the reasons that many of us voted no on LD 290.