“I realized there was too much money being spent in the Senate president’s office, so I reduced spending on the staff budget by 20 percent right off the top.”

— Maine Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, in a 2nd Congressional District campaign video

Raye, looking to remove U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud from office in November and framing himself as a fiscal hawk, is selling himself a tad short on this claim.

Numbers provided by Joseph Carleton, secretary of the Maine Senate, show Raye’s predecessor as Senate president, Vassalboro Democrat Libby Mitchell, had a staff budget of $376,875 in July 2010. Raye was sworn in on Dec. 1, 2010, and his annual staff budget as of Jan. 11, 2011, was $293,904. That’s a savings of more than 22 percent.

It was achieved by keeping five employees, instead of six under Mitchell, and by lowering average wages among staff by nearly $4,000 per person.

An email from Mary Small, Raye’s chief of staff in the Senate, said there will be additional savings this year due to a four-month leave of absence by Robert Caverly, a special assistant. Small wrote that aside from that, salaries have stayed the same. Caverly is now working as Raye’s congressional campaign manager, according to a Raye campaign release.

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The office’s makeup will all but surely change more by next year, as Raye is termed out in the Senate and could be headed to Washington. Republicans currently have a 19-15 edge over Democrats in the Senate now, with one unenrolled member.

Verdict: We rate this statement true.

Michael Shepherd can be contacted at 621-5632 or at:

mshepherd@mainetoday.com

 

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