Hard Feelings Linger Between Local Parties
Dems Bash Greens at Annual Truman Event
By ED KING

Seven months after a hard-fought and sometimes bitter election in which two incumbent Green Party officials were defeated at the polls by Democratic newcomers, and two new Greens defeated local Democrats in City Council races, hard feelings between the city’s two dominant political parties still bubble to the surface.

At the Portland Democratic Party’s annual Truman Dinner held at the East End Community School on June 2nd, Committee Chair Sive Neilan introduced former East End City Councilor Will Gorham as “our City Councilor” although Gorham was upset in the election by Green Kevin Donoghue. Neilan expressed dismay as to why Gorham was not re-elected, and was confident that he would soon be returned to the local governing body.

Donoghue is currently locked in a battle with Councilors Jim Cloutier and Jill Duson, two Democrats on the officially non-partisan council, over the $100 million Maine State Pier proposal.

House Majority Leader Glenn Cummings praised West End State Representative Jon Hinck at the June 2nd dinner, saying that the West End finally got the “professional” representation it deserved. Hinck defeated Green Party incumbent legislator John Eder, who most recently was recruited to join Ocean Properties, the Maine State Pier bidder whose team also includes such prominent Democrats as former Senator George Mitchell, former Portland City Councilor Peter O’Donnell, and Governor John Baldacci’s brother.