There will be at least one question on the November 5 ballot that is simple, clear, and easy to understand. I am referring to Question 5, which asks whether the people of Maine approve of the new design of the state flag.
“New” is a slight misnomer, as the design actually harks back to the North Star and white pine flag that was official from 1901 to 1909, when it was replaced by the current model. The fisherman-farmer duo will continue to be the state’s “great seal,” whatever happens.
When former Rep. Sean Paulhus first proposed a replacement for the flag in 2021, the proposal seemed quixotic. He received only a few votes when first proposed, yet people across the state raised their jaws, while the official flag is seen mostly at official events and on auditorium stages.
When the bill came back to the floor in 2023, it received far more support, but it still seemed unlikely to pass. Then Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Auburn) added an amendment mandating a referendum in November, and the proposal was smuggled through the House and Senate.
There were no Republican votes in favor in the House and only two in the Senate, but the bill seemed set to go to a vote. Then Governor Janet Mills refused to sign the bill, delaying its enactment until after the midterm elections and making it ineligible for action until 2024.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has a plan. Regardless of the flag controversy, Bellows pushed for a new license plate, the first in 25 years. License plates, like flags, can be sensitive subjects.
Bellows proposed a different “star and pine tree” and presented it to the House Transportation Committee, although she is not usually enthusiastic about new ideas. But she won over Democrats and Republicans by first outlining why a new license plate was needed.
She showed a license plate from a Presque Isle vehicle that had been sandblasted so badly by the weather that there was practically no paint left. And despite the usual concerns about costs, she said the project could be financed with funds already allocated. The committee voted unanimously.
And so the new plates will be introduced next year, gradually replacing the familiar titmouse and pine tassel plate that has served us so well for a quarter of a century. If you really don’t like the pine, you can get a plate with nothing but numbers; the dozens of special plates will of course continue to be issued.
One cannot say that the flag dispute was resolved nearly as smoothly, although Bellows tried there too.
She proposed a new bill that would have postponed the referendum until 2026, provided a cooling-off period and time for a committee to work. The bill passed, but was one of 35 bills that lawmakers sent to the governor shortly before adjournment – a highly unusual procedure.
Mills refused to implement any of the 35 points, and so the referendum was postponed until 2024. The campaign took place in the midst of another presidential election that resembled a national identity crisis.
The only person who emerged from the adjournment train wreck with an improved reputation was Bellows. However things go in November, we’ll have a new license plate that communicates with the outside world just as effectively, if not better, than a flag.
It is assumed that voters will take the same position as lawmakers on Question 5, but that may not be the case.
There is a good argument for restoring the 1901 flag. The Farmer-Fisher Flag looks very similar to a dozen other state flags, including that of New Hampshire.
It would be good to know why the change was made in the first place, but unfortunately those reasons have been lost in the mists of the legislative session.
Flag designs incorporate vivid and uncomplicated imagery — think of the American flag itself — and by that standard, the Pine Tree Flag is superior. And because it was there first, it fulfills poet Robert Frost’s goal of “finding old ways of being new.”
The specially chosen design also has nuances. The flag that so many people fly shows a highly stylized conifer tree.
To the extent that it resembles a living tree, it is more likely a fir or spruce and certainly not the majestic white pine, the official state tree of Maine.
And while one might wish we still had one of the titans of the North Woods, they have all been cut down, especially the “king masts” for warships in colonial times. Today, Sumner is home to the state’s leading white pine, which stands 105 feet above the forest floor.
It is appropriately represented by the “naturalistic” design of Bellows, Gardiner artist and designer Adam Lemire. It is not to be confused with any tree other than a white pine.
As a symbol of Maine, it is as powerful as Mount Katahdin. There may be less common ground among us than we would like, but perhaps we can agree on this.
Douglas Rooks has been an editor, columnist and reporter in Maine since 1984. He is the author of four books, most recently a biography of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Melville Fuller. Comments are welcome at [email protected]
