Shifting arguments in Question 3 fight

The Web site of the campaign urging a "no" vote on Question 3 still points to an analysis that shows repealing Maine's school district consolidation mandate will cost taxpayers more than $37 million.

But it's been known that the $37 million figure would be the result of reinstating cuts to state education subsidy that were part of the 2007 consolidation law. It's not the result of turning back savings gained from the merger of school district administrative offices.

Now, we're seeing the arguments of the campaign pushing to uphold the consolidation law evolve. In the past week, No on 3 campaign manager Newell Augur has shifted from claiming the $37 million as consolidation-related savings to saying Maine taxpayers risk missing out on "tens of millions of dollars" in savings if consolidation is repealed.

The coalition fighting for a consolidation repeal has said it's fine with simply repealing the mandate, and not rolling back the $37 million in education subsidy cuts. "We realize there's not a whole lot of money in the State House," Sen. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, told me last week as we discussed his plans to find a way of keeping those subsidy cuts in place.

But Augur has disputed whether only certain parts of the consolidation statute can be repealed if Maine residents opt for a "yes" vote on Question 3 on Nov. 3. "I don't think the people who authored the bill can pick and choose what parts of the law they can repeal," he told me last week.

Augur continues that line of thought in a Bangor Daily News article published today. Reinstating $37 million in subsidy cuts would be an ongoing expense if the consolidation repeal is successful, Augur says. On top of that, he says, Maine would be missing out on consolidation's savings potential.

As the two sides debate each other tonight on MPBN television, how will they approach the $37 million issue?

Update, 12:00 p.m.: Skip Greenlaw of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools has issued a press release taking Gov. John Baldacci to task on the $37 million claim, which he made yesterday in a letter e-mailed to Maine Democratic Party members.