Brewer speaks with BDN about national monument debate, presidential politics
Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine, was interviewed by the Bangor Daily News for the article, “How Maine’s national monument debate plays into presidential politics.” The question of whether President Barack Obama will designate a North Woods national monument looms large in northern Maine, according to the article, and could have an affect on the presidential race. If the president designates about 87,500 acres as a federally protected national monument, northern voters outraged at the prospect of a land grab by presidential decree could turn out for Trump, according to Brewer. “That’s a pretty popular stance: Being opposed to an overly powerful, meddlesome federal government,” he said. “If Obama steps in to do this, that’s like serving one up to Donald Trump and the Republicans on a tee and saying, ‘crush this.’” He added that a lot of people in southern Maine support the monument and don’t understand why those in the north are opposed. “They see this as an economic lifeline and think this would be an economic [boost] to the area, whereas people in the Katahdin region say, ‘You don’t understand traditional land uses, our culture up here. This is just another example of southern Maine telling northern Maine what to do,’” Brewer said.