Good evening and welcome to the inauguration of Governor elect Janet Mills.

I'm Jennifer Rooks here with colleague Steve Mistler and Robbie Feinber for the next 2 hours, we will be live from the Augusta Civic Center, where there will be ceremony, performance and ultimately the swearing in of Governor elect Janet Mills.

A lot to talk about, a lot to see in the next couple of hours.

But we understand we're starting with a little bit of entertainment.

The Sockalexis Family Singers starting us off tonight.

They're on the stage (singing) (singing) (singing) (singing) (singing) (singing) And some entertainment with the Sockalexis family singers to kick off 2 hours of ceremony here at the inauguration of Governor elect Janet Mills.

Robbie Feinberg.

What do we expect next?

Yeah.

Coming up next, we are awaiting the members of the main house as they enter the auditorium.

They're led by House Speaker Rachel Talbot.

Ross.

She's the first black person ever to hold that position in Maine.

In fact, the legislature, it's the most diverse in history.

Five people of color serving in the 131st including two Somali Americans.

And it sounds like they're coming out right now.

That's right.

We can see them coming into the room.

Here we are, of course, in the Augusta Civic Center.

The biggest venue in the Augusta area.

Steve, this is essentially a joint session of the Maine legislature, right?

Correct.

The Maine Constitution requires that people elected or appointed to certain positions in state government take an oath of office.

And in many instances, that oath is administered by the governor.

But when the governor is sworn in for their first or second term, they take their oaths before the House and Senate, before a joint session of the legislature.

And tonight, that oath will be administered by Democratic Senate President Troy Jackson of Allagash.

All of this is prescribed in the Maine Constitution, even the day of the inauguration itself.

That is why we are here today on January 4th.

2023 because it is the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday in January, just as the Constitution requires.

Yeah.

And Steve, speaking of these lawmakers, we have already had news today that the governor, she just signed that emergency heating relief bill.

That's right.

The bill you mentioned was actually introduced on swearing in day for legislators back in early December.

It was the first time in nearly three decades that such a bill had been proposed and votes were taken on swearing in day.

The outcome did not go the governor's way on that particular day because Senate Republicans blocked the measure.

But to cross the aisle today and that bill passed, the governor signed it almost immediately, within hours of it, relieving the legislature.

And I won't get into too many details, but that political battle and everything surrounding it really was I think, illustrative of the battles that came in the election and may maybe foreshadowing what we'll see in the upcoming session as well.

And again, we're watching lawmakers walking into the existing civic center taking their seat, Steve.

As we look here, is this the main members of Maine House of Representatives before us right now?

Correct?

Correct.

And it'll take a while because that's the largest body.

151 members.

The Senate has 35 members.

So it will take a little while to seat these folks.

And then where we see Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot Ross at the podium it looks as though she is waiting for her members to gather in and take their places before speaking.

Rachel Talbot, Ross, of course, making history as Robby noted, as the first black speaker of the House of May of the House of Representatives in Maine, She'll be joined later on the stage by Senate President Troy Jackson.

Steve, there's a lot to take on right away in this legislature, isn't there?

Yeah, there really is.

I mean, you know, in some instances, you know, the major issues that are affecting this, legislatures are effectively crisises.

In fact, I can't think of a time in the past decade that multiple big problems were so dominant so early in a legislative session.

I mean, the heating bill you mentioned a few moments ago was a response to one of those crises.

And that's the concern that some Maine residents won't be able to heat their homes amid soaring energy costs.

And that's why the governor introduced that emergency bill last month and then asked lawmakers to pass.

It immediately took some time, but they finally got there today.

There's also major problems in the judicial branch There are staff shortages and case backlogs stemming from the pandemic.

There's also a huge problem that involves the state's constitutionally required responsibility to provide legal counsel for low income defendants.

That will be need to be resolved as well.

There are a couple of bills already in that attempt to do that.

And, you know, mean meanwhile, the governor has to propose the House a two year budget.

The chair is pleased to recognize the Honorable Troy D. Jackson, president of the maine senate and the honorable members of the maine senate Rachel Talbot, Ross, as you just heard, introducing the members of the Maine Senate, a smaller body won't take this long to seat this group.

Again, this is ceremony procession.

We see this every four years.

We see it every year, really at the state of the state address.

Steve not usually televised.

That's right.

And never at the civic center.

Usually in the statehouse.

That's correct.

Yeah.

But anyway, as I was saying, John, just, you know, think the two year budget would be a major obstacle for not just the governor, but for all the everybody involved.

And that's coming up pretty shortly.

Within a month At the podium, Senate President Troy Jackson just as Speaker of the House Rachel Talbot roasted before waiting for the members of the Senate to be situated before calling his body to order.

Is that the right way to say it, Steve?

Colin calling them to order?

I hope so.

No, it is.

That's correct.

Video come to order.

A chair recognizes the senator from Cumberland.

Senator Carney, Mr. Chairman, I present mentioned order and move its passage.

Senator government.

Senator Carney presents a conventional or must-pass secretary.

Read the order.

Order that a committee be appointed to wait upon the honorable associate justices of the Supreme Judicial Court.

The Chief Justice and justices of the Maine Superior Court.

The Chief Judge and judges of the District Court.

The Chief Judge of the District Court and the federal judges inviting them to attend the convention which was convened for the purpose of administering to the Honorable Janet Trafton Mills, Governor elect the oath required by the Constitution to qualify her to enter upon the discharge of her official duties his pleasure.

A convention.

This orders eve passage to vote.

The general point the following the center of Cumberland centric irony the Senator from York, Senator Bailey, Senator Penobscot, Senator Lyford, the representative from Portland, represent Moonen, representing South Portland Representative Gail Rickett, the representing from Cumberland represent Moriarty, representative from Biddeford, rather than Sheehan represent from Auburn, representing Lee, representing Falmouth, representing Coon Representative from Skowhegan represented Hoyer representing Paris, representing Andrew's representative hand and represent Hagan.

Getting a sense of some of the ceremony that goes on, there's going to be a lot of Steve back and forth, a lot of reading of names, people being sent to fetch other people and escort them into the building.

That's correct.

Nothing that really should we say?

I was going to be a surprise.

No going to be news.

This is the ceremony that happens every four years.

You see a group of legislators off now to find others to bring into the room Robbie Feinberg, we're here at the inauguration of what Louis called governor elect Janet Mills, even though she has been governor for four years.

That for today, for right now is the preferred term until the swearing in.

This is a very different a a very different situation than four years ago.

If you think about the last time this group of people was sitting in this room for this reason, there was there had been no pandemic.

Yeah, it is astonishingly different.

I mean, you think about virtually every part of government.

And Steve, you have clearly seen this as well.

I mean, I think of education.

I think of health care.

I think of labor and the economy.

Everything has been changed.

It's funny because I think things don't look all that different necessarily than they did four years ago.

But clearly, the state of Maine, we have felt that difference over these past four years.

That's right.

Yeah.

There was a massive disruption for about two and a half years.

In state government.

In fact, this facility, the Augusta Civic Center, served as the legislature for a time in 20, 21 because they were trying to do social distancing and that sort of thing.

And so they actually convened here less frequently than they often do in the statehouse during a normal session because they didn't want to bring everybody here all the time.

But they did do a number of session days here until vaccines became widely available and they felt like we could meet in person again.

Steve, what is the legislature look like compared to the legislature four years ago when Governor Mills was first sworn in?

Well, it's not that much different, to be honest.

You know, right now, of the 35 members in the Senate, 22 are Democrats, 13 are Republicans in the House.

It is I don't have those numbers in front of me.

But Democrats still have a majority.

And there were no gains from the election.

The election for Republicans, they you know, they had some high hopes of gaining some ground in the legislature, but they don't they did not do that.

Democrats have what is often referred to as a trifecta.

They control the House.

They control the Senate, and they control the governor's office.

And they will continue to do that, at least through the end of 20, 24, because the legislature serves two terms.

Governor, obviously is there for another four years.

So, yeah, Steve, we've only seen one real vote, you know, the bill that passed today.

But did that signify anything to you about how folks may vote or what things might look like in the legislature?

It may.

I mean, I think that's a big question.

And I think a lot of that will depend on Republican legislators and what they want to do.

I mean, they're kind of in a difficult spot right now after the election.

Like I said, they had high hopes of gaining majorities or at least gaining one chamber.

They had hoped to take the governor's office.

None of that happened.

And so, you know, they're trying to find their way right now.

And even on that first heating bill vote back in December, House Republicans, the majority or most of them went along with that and passing it went along Jared.

And I said, Senator Carney and Mr. Chairman, we have delivered the message with which we were charged and are pleased to report that the honorable members of the judiciary will attend forthwith.

Chair, here's the message and thanks the messenger expecting the members of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to be escorted into the room right now.

A different chief justice than four years ago.

That was Lee softly back then.

And now Valerie Stanfill is softly now headed the university of Maine Law School.

And, boy, another place that we're facing a crisis, Maine's court system.

Yeah, it's a huge problem.

There's a backlog of cases in the system.

As I mentioned earlier, the indigent legal defense, which is a defense, constitutionally required defense that for low for low income people who are criminally charged, that system is in deep, deep crisis.

The lawyers that take defense attorneys are not showing up.

Maine as the only state in the country that relies exclusively on private attorneys to provide that service.

And right now, they're not doing it.

They're not they're not signing up for that.

There's some concern that maybe the state is not compensating those attorneys enough.

There's a push to increase their budget.

And that may or may not happen, I'm not sure.

But I think there are some people who believe there's a structural problem with the indigent legal defense system and that any kind of problem that, you know, any kind of solution must look at a structural change as opposed to just throwing money and paying attorneys more our the an hourly rate that's higher than it is right now.

And I want to amend what I said earlier I said members of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, yes, of course, those were in the lead.

But it appears that Maine's entire judiciary is, as it has been escorted in right now, And Steve, it's not just the indigent legal defense.

Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill was on Maine calling earlier this month, said the entire court system running behind, exacerbated by the pandemic already under water.

Many it differs by county, but generally.

60% behind.

That's right.

I mean, I think just through the criminal justice system and judicial system, there are a lot of problems to be addressed.

I mean, we know that in Cumberland County, for example, they're not able to house people who have been convicted in some cases or are awaiting trial.

And so those people are being turned away.

And that's a problem, too.

So the convention chief, Rena Newell, the past party tribal nation and pleasant point chief Nichols of the past 40 tribal nation Princeton and Chief Clarissa Samad.

As to the holding of seats I'd also like to recognize senator presidents and former speakers Senate President Libby Mitchell Center Speaker John Martin's speaker Mike Sacks of Speaker Hannah Pingree Speaker Glenn Cummins and speaker Ryan Fecteau with convention please gives applause to the dignitaries chairs pleased to welcome to the joint convention members of the clergy.

Rabbi Eric Ashe of Temple Beth El in Augusta and right Reverend Thomas James Brown, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine.

Jenny, just wanted to say real quick, I didn't have the numbers at the ready on the house but it's 82 Democrats, 67 Republicans and two independents.

All right.

And and presiding right now, Senate President Troy Jackson.

Steve, an interesting story there.

Though.

He was the Senate president in the last legislative session.

His race was closer than it had been in years past.

And more expensive.

$1,000,000 was spent on that race, including candidate spending, as well as outside groups which could spend unlimited amount of money He prevailed in that contest and he might be one of the few Democrats who can.

And so but that was just but one example, I think, of just how prolific the spending has become in legislative races writ large, not just in Maine, but across the country.

A lot of big issues are being forced down into state legislatures.

Maine is no different from that trend.

In fact, you could argue that they've been leading it in a lot of ways.

But Democrats have actually invested a lot of money in making sure that they can hold the majorities here.

And they've done that at least in the last few years.

Members of the cabinet being led in Rob Feinberg.

One of those is Education Secretary Pender making and talking about.

She came into this job four years ago hoping to do something about high stakes testing and thinking about educating all students equally.

And instead, she was faced with everything being turned upside down by the pandemic.

Yeah, no, it's it's so true.

There was school closures that we, you know, never really seen anything quite like that before.

And that has changed everything within schools.

I mean, the big focus right now that you hear coming from her department and coming from lots of schools is is the you know, test scores being low and needing to to work on that.

So that's really been the effort and the front there.

Secretary of State Senate bellows behind her, Attorney General Aaron Frye, Steve take over.

I see Matt Dunlap, state auditor oh, Henry.

Back to the state treasurer and state treasurer Henry Beck.

That's right.

Coming into the room right now.

I'm sorry we we don't have as clear of you as we right.

And one unique tidbit about the constitutional officers, the attorney general, state treasurer and secretary of state is that the legislature lacks those positions.

That's unique in the United States.

Most states that those are popularly elected positions were appointed by a governor.

So.

Well, Steve, I think about just the appointment than the reappointment of auditor Matt Dunlap as well.

That kind of speaks to that as well.

And just kind of the the odd ways that things can work here.

That's right.

And he because, of course, Matt Dunlap was a secretary of state for so many years.

People know him via that role.

And he there was a change because he was termed out of that role two years ago.

And now he's back as a state auditor.

The joint and family members of the governor elect Well, there you have it.

The Mills family, a prominent family in Maine, Dora Mills, former DHHS commissioner and now an executive Maine house behind her, her brother, Peter Mills, longtime state senator.

Steve, take take over from there.

Well, what's interesting, I think, about the Mills family is that they are they often acts as a bit of a kitchen cabinet for the governor.

She consults with them on a lot of big issues.

She gets their advice and talks them quite frequently.

And, you know, I'm not sure how much their input is involved in decision making necessarily.

And I think I think the governor is pretty independent that way.

But she does, you know, take their counsel and in the family both Republicans and Democrats, right?

Yeah, that's right.

She happens to be a Democrat.

But Peter, for example, was a Republican, Peter Mills.

He's now with the Maine Turnpike Turnpike Authority.

That's right.

But longtime state senator and and a former candidate for governor of Maine yet.

That's right.

In fact, he in 2010 he ran and was among many Republicans who were defeated by that the party's nominee that year which was Paul LePage went on to win the governorship that year and he ran this past year as well in Lost.

So again if you're just joining us we are at the Augusta Civic Center Mr. Chairman, I present a convention order and move its passage.

The center Advanced Organ Center Tondo presents its convention order, moves passage.

The secretary will read the order.

And what we are seeing is a lot of the ceremony that goes along with this event, which is not for a legislator, are inconvenient Janet Mills ready to administer to her the members of the legislature being appointed to enter upon the discharge escort duties and receive such communications parties into the room.

I believe that there's a convention.

This order received passage.

The vote chair will appoint the following senator from out of Chicago and Senator Dondo, the senator from Oxford, Senator Bennett, the senator from Cumberland.

Senator Daughtry.

The Senator from Satyagraha.

Senator Daschle.

The Senator from Rustic.

Senator Stewart.

Senator from Oxford.

Senator Chi, the representative for Freeport rather than Sax represent from Waterford represent mill.

It this is the representative from Gorham or Observatory, and the representative from Winter Harbor represented Rockingham, represented from New Gloucester Representative Rada sure would ask that committee formed to discharge duties.

Sergeant Arms will escort the committee all right.

Again, a delegation being sent this time to go find the governor and escort the governor and this will be a few minutes, though.

We are at the Augusta Civic Center live here on Maine Public Television.

And we are watching the ceremony that precedes the inauguration of a governor.

Governor Janet Mills.

71st governor of the state of Maine.

But the 75th excuse me, the 71st governor, but the 75th gubernatorial term because for governor serve two nonconsecutive terms Ravi, people here are hereby invitation free open to the public.

But you had to she's talking about you had to say that you wanted to you wanted to come.

Yeah.

There was a yeah.

A little bit of uh, you just had to sign right up but yeah, a little bit of security here.

It looks like it's pretty filled out though.

There's quite a lot of folks here in the audience right now.

Yeah.

And one of the people who we, we didn't get to earlier, but I thought it might be worth talking about as well is on that supreme judicial court as well.

There is Rick Lawrence.

He's one of the most recently appointed members nominated and confirmed by Governor Mills.

Another historic move there.

He's the first black justice on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

So as we talk about this, again, it's an historic night for for that reason as well.

We are seeing, you know, first mean black House speaker and also they mean the first Maine Supreme Court justice who was black as well.

That's right.

Because a lot of firsts in this legislature and the first a lot of firsts when the governor was inaugurated four years ago.

She was the first woman elected governor in the state of Maine.

So that was a historic event.

And this is a while there.

These folks are not being honored tonight.

Their presence here is obviously part of a lot of history that's been made in the last four years.

It's funny you say that, Steve.

Do you remember her line four years ago where she said something to the effect of first person or first ever from Farmington, Franklin County know.

And so it felt like it was going to be a line about her being the first woman.

But it was she turned that in laughter from everybody.

The the inauguration is in a period right now of pomp and circumstance.

Pretty soon, though, that's going to change.

There is going to be entertainment on stage we expect Dave Mallet, we expect Maine's poet laureate Julie Bosma.

We expect the person to girls choir as well.

Who else will be coming?

And then Richard Blanco, another poet now from Maine as well.

That's right.

Steve Miller is with us, of course, he's the state house chief correspondent and covers the people we're looking at right now every single day.

Steve, let's talk about Governor Mills ability to in this second set, in the second term to accomplish what she wants to.

Right.

I mean, so Democrats have held a trifecta in state government since 2019 and they're guaranteed to have that another one at least through the end of 2024.

Now one might think that the legislative Democrats are going to get everything that they want and that Governor Mills will get the same but that's really not how it works.

There are divisions among Democrats on key issues and those divisions have been acute between the governor and legislators and legislative leaders in particular tribe tribal sovereignty.

Democrats in the legislature have supported it, Governor Mills as opposed it.

So some progressive legislators want to see sweeping criminal justice reforms with Governor Mills.

As a former prosecutor, and as such has opposed something that.

Senator or Donald.

Mr. Chairman, we have delivered the message with which we were charged and are pleased to report that the governor elect will attend forthwith hears the message and thanks the messenger again, some of the ceremony you're talking about, we expect Governor Mills to enter soon.

Steve, finish your thought.

Yeah.

I mean, I think on taxation, for example, there are Democrats who want to raise taxes on high earners.

So they their Governor Mills, of course, wearing white, the color of oh, we just saw a peek of her back there.

But she disappeared.

But we did see she's wearing white.

The color of the suffragettes and being big seabrooks.

It's a thing a that's for those of you just joining us on Maine Public Radio, this is Jennifer Rooks with Steve Miller and rob feinberg.

We are joining you live from the Augusta Civic Center where governor janet mills inauguration is underway.

Governor Mills, governor elect Mills, which is formally her title for the next few minutes, is right now entering the Augusta Civic Center, wearing a white blazer, white slacks and bean boots and you hear the applause behind us.

This is the governor entering the room for her second inauguration.

Steve, you said this is our thing being boots.

It is.

I've noticed a lot of elected officials in particular have donned the green boots with suits and as the governor elect is showing us right now, the same thing.

So I noticed that there's been a trend over the last few years.

And Steve, do you have any sense of what the governor elect is planning to talk about in her speech later on in Texas?

Well, generally, Robby, I mean, the inauguration speeches that I've covered have been marked more by broad aspiration or themes and less by policy details that might be required to get there.

And I don't expect tonight will be that much different from Governor Mills.

I mean, four years ago, the governor used a lot of rhetorical flourishes and even some poetry to essentially outline her goals for her first term.

She briefly referenced that she was the first woman elected governor of Maine but didn't dwell on it.

And she talked about building Maine's workforce, funding public education, the opioid crisis and so forth.

And I think those are those issues are still issues.

So we'll hear about that tonight, too.

I think the presentation in Portland colors by the Maine National Guard, followed by staff Sergeant Crystal Rider, who will sing the national anthem For those of you joining us by radio, we are seeing right now the color guard entered the Augusta Civic Center and we expect very soon to hear the national anthem.

But again, the color guard entering the Augusta Civic Center live.

Oh, say, can you see by that uncertainty light.

What so proudly we had.

I don't have that twilight's last gleaming.

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the fruitless fight or the ramparts we watched was looking gallantly streaming and the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say, does that star spangled then yet way or the legend of the hand those who love the brave national anthem behind her, an honor guard of the Maine National Guard, the color guard representing the branches of the Maine National Guard.

Senate President Troy Jackson presiding over this the inauguration of Governor Janet Mills.

Governor elect Janet Mills.

That's right.

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand as you are able for the invocation being offered by Rabbi Erica Ashe of Temple Bethel in Augusta.

He name I told you my name.

Shove it up him.

Damn Yahad.

How good and how pleasant it is for us to be gathered together this evening.

When we were last in the space four years ago, none of us could have imagined the challenges we would face individually.

And collectively.

Over the last four years, we have been reminded that our actions impact the lives of others.

We are all in the same boat.

But in the midst of the challenges we faced, we saw Mainers, including our governor, rise to the occasion with courage determination and resilience.

He name I told you my name, shove it up him damn yard.

How good and how pleasant it is.

How miraculous for us to be together this evening.

Here, let us not take that gift for granted during dark days and dark times.

Hopes sustains us.

Rabbi Stephanie Cullen teaches that hope is a participatory virtue.

Hope requires us to work actively to make the world better rather than sit back and wait for the change to happen.

I pray in the Jewish tradition, although he knew how important of Avvertito, our God and God of our ancestors may, we work to create the mean we wish to see.

We ask your blessings upon our governor.

May the one who blessed Shifra and poor with the fortitude to keep working for what was right, even in bleak times.

Bless her with the resilience and perseverance as she leads us into the future.

May the one who blessed Leah with gratitude best bless her with the ability to see not only what is left to do, but the amazing work that has already been accomplished.

May the one who blessed Deborah, the prophetess with insight and wisdom, bless her with the ability to listen carefully, decide wisely, and speak truthfully.

And may the one who blessed Hannah with hope for the future bless her with a sense of hope and a spirit of joy.

In the years to come.

We close with the words of the priestly blessing taken from the book of Members.

May God make you like our ancient foremothers.

Have you, as you have blessed us and our state through your work, you have erotica, Adonai.

The issue, Marafa.

May God bless you and protect you in the years to come.

As you have honored us with your insightful leadership, your air Adonai of a letter of you who Nneka May God deal compassionately and graciously with you.

And as you have granted us peace of mind through your work over these last four years, you saw Adonai open up a letter via Semmler hast.

Shalom.

May God show you kindness and give you the greatest of all gifts that of shalom.

Of peace and wholeness.

Amen.

So and that invitation from Rabbi Erica Ash of Temple Beth El from right here in Augusta.

Please remain standing for the pipe and drum, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance Governor elect Janet Mills speaking her grandkids on stage which be led by members of Governor Mills family.

Her daughter Liesl and her granddaughters, Noel, who wait can see her, is ready.

I pledge allegiance to the flag.

The United States of America and to the republic, which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Oh, don't look, I love the tiara.

It's.

It's a big event.

And why not wear your tiara?

Senate President Troy Jackson back at the podium now.

For those of you listening on radio, We believe that the actual swearing in is next Again, we are live from the Augusta Civic Center at the inauguration of Governor elect Janet Mills.

We just heard the Pledge of Allegiance led by her grandchildren.

We expect a poem by poet laureate Julia Bosma soon and also performance.

More performances We've got that bus into National Girls Choir coming up.

We've also got Dave Malik, you know, decades, you know, really folk classics who also be coming up as well.

And then another poet, Richard Blanco.

We'll also be hearing from appropriate to have poetry at Governor Mills inauguration and as she herself writes poetry.

Right.

And Julia Bosma also teaches at the University of Maine at Farmington Mills hometown Senate President Troy Jackson in a morning coat dressed in tails It's my pleasure to introduce Julia Bose Bosma poet laureate, to read an original word created for the inauguration to join convention Hey, Governor, this is a poem from Maine for our land for our people and for our strength.

This home we carry What if home begins as simply as a pocket with light flaming the trees toward mourning and the familiar rocking weight home swinging at our side as we go about the chores?

Home knocks our leg into the rhythm of our footsteps, lulling bruising us to a terrain we have already memorized.

Cartography we now know without knowing, like the curve of a lover's temple how it fits flush to our palm each run in the woods trail each concrete crack in the sidewalk, every expanse of field or lake below snow, granite, screeching the mountain crests granite spurring the coastline to chains of cliff and island our strength indistinguishable from our beauty, our beauty rooted to our hardness rooted to this glacial till and soil beneath our feet.

Chop wood, they tell us when times are hard carry water.

And so we do.

And some days it seems we do nothing but carry.

Have been carrying such a long time.

And the pocket in our hands is plastic.

Probably reddened knuckles around a cracked grip, or the bucket is galvanized steel or the bucket is spun aluminum.

But before that it was wood, and before that it was animal hide or it was birch bark, or it was not a bucket at all.

But a basket woven strips of the brown ash tree or the reed as shandygaff its earthy scent carried across the Atlantic from Somalia to weave again a new carrion home held in the knowledge of hands teaching new hands.

For in this vessel we carry cinders ashes, which are the spent remains of yesterday's fire, but also the memory of its warmth.

And in this bucket are the words of our ancestors the stories our ancestors told in their languages, which may be We never learn to speak, though we carry the recollection in this pocket, along with the harms done to or by them carry it inside the silences we did learn, carry it with dirt and rocks with manure, wood chips, sawdust, rivets and welding rods with a ship's manifest or a changed name, a broken treaty mulch or wilting root ripped weeds.

Carry with grain for the chickens with grain for the pigs, with salted herring to bait the lobster traps.

Carry with all the ghosts and bones of our history with them.

Maps history has made of our ghosts and our bones carry in this pocket.

With the sweet scent of frost burned apples with the clear cold sugar, the maple trees bleed in the spring with the water of the Penobscot, the Saint John, the Canterbury, the Androscoggin with peonies cut and glistening nectar.

Their heavy blossoms, both home and food for the ants, carry along with some root vegetable we have dug fresh from the earth, planted and tended with our own two hands.

Potatoes or carrots, perhaps or the foraged green pungency of rabbits or fiddle heads.

Some gift we are carrying now up this steep hill or along the street as a promise to our children or their children carrying to eat or to store through another winter, carrying separately each of us, but all at the same time carrying still across each new day until our caring becomes a chorus, a Lincoln, a lifting, a gathering This offering we share with those we love, our arms outstretched to one another, as we say here I have brought you a taste of our home yet, and that is Maine's poet laureate Julia Boersma.

She is a poet, a farmer, and also the library director in King Field.

We're expecting some more performances coming up in just a bit.

My pleasure.

To welcome Parson to Multinational Girls Chorus to perform for the joint convention Robbie, this is going to be special, isn't it?

Yeah.

This is the person, two national multinational girls choir.

This is made up of a chorus specifically of young immigrant women from more than a dozen countries from around the world.

They have performed from all over the U.S. National Cathedral, even the United Nations.

So I'm sure this is going to be, yeah, just really powerful and led by Colin Powell.

I'm there.

You see him in the foreground with his guitar This group really has really made a name for itself and brought a smile to faces all over the and I'm sure I'm going to like my I love that.

I'm sure I'm gonna know that's how much I love America.

Right now.

I got a nice, nice shiny design and nice right.

And I'm just excited.

I like that.

I don't really I I that I'm I'm not I guess I guess that in spite of everything I know I.

When I'm doing, I look around and I 9999 11.

And we had the audience clapping.

They're joining in with the first since the multinational girls choir.

Right there.

You could clearly see Governor elect Mills.

You saw Senate President Jackson there also clapping along with that.

Yeah.

And you saw the choir and and their founder, Con Fulham, right there coming up.

We've still got a few more performances.

We're expecting more poetry from from from Richard Blanco.

Yes.

Richard Blanco.

Richard Blanco, the fifth presidential inaugural poet and Maine resident to read original word creative inauguration of the joint convention Richard Blanco grew up in Miami but has lived in Bethel for a long time.

He is an engineer by training and also of course, read the inaugural poet for Barack Obama.

Incredibly popular presence in Maine.

Beloved poet laureate Good evening, everyone.

It's our sincere pleasure and privilege to be with all of here with you tonight to celebrate Governor Mills, 2.0 but as many of you know, Governor Mills loves poetry.

And is an amazing poet in her own right, which made writing this poem 20 times more terrifying.

The writing the poem for Obama's 2013 enoggera ation.

But on the other hand, he made me write three poems govern meals only made me write one so well.

See it sincerely.

I've had the pleasure of sharing Governor Miller's love for poetry, but also her love for the immense beauty of our state.

And how I've been on well, I've been on heights with her.

I can't keep up with her life.

As you can tell from the L.L.Bean Boots I mean, pointing out trees and birds and light.

It's made me fall in love with Maine in a whole other way.

And so in some ways, this poem is inspired by her love for this state's beauty, as well as mine.

And the fact that I think she governs in some ways knowing that power of nature that we all feel for this state and all of us who live here what governs us the Congress of our mountains, in which I trust upholding eons of nature's unwritten laws enacted across my eyes every door, and the counsel of our clouds that advise me on how to reshape myself yet remain myself.

The committees of our valleys, wildflowers, whose colors advise my sometimes colorless us life.

I never tire of listening to the incessant debate of our waves crashing against the granite rebuttal of our coasts.

Neither ever wins.

Neither needs to teaching me what is the balance of power the presidential stance of our pine trees that keep me loyal to our statutes of beauty.

Reaching for the sky the seagulls and hawks I caucus with who show me how to harness the shifting winds so that I can see everything.

Everything Even through the fog of our hardest times.

At times I think of myself afloat alone, like our own islands, yet complete and self reliant every dusk our sovereign sun bestows across my heart its golden medal, honoring the light that beach through us all at night I stare at the blank page of our moon, reminding me to never stop signing my dreams.

Petitions for a more just world I cast my vote among the twinkling senate of our stars that assemble to pass on to us our need to love as one.

We the native who thrived here long before the foreign who sailed here, we from away, and those that have yet to arrive.

We are past our present our future.

We meaning all of us who understand that what governs us is more than just ourselves.

And walk away from Bethel right there, performing an original work for the inauguration and doing a little dance as well on stage Richard Blanco of Bethel.

The inauguration, presided by Senate leader Troy Jackson de Mallet to perform for the joint convention to welcome Luke and Will the Mallett Brothers.

Yeah, it's a pleasure to be here.

Sometimes you just don't feel like trying too many politicians playing too many hungry babies crying to win.

You're round and bullets flying.

Too much time spent in a struggle.

Too many little kids in trouble.

Too many cities go to work.

Too many people walking double.

This can't be our destination.

This could be better next time because transit trains from station behind.

All of us are facing the brand new generation.

This could be a celebration.

Now, and now situation is changing fast.

Too much plastic, too much trash, too many smokestacks spewing out, too many people with no passion.

Too much words and not enough water to many abandoned sons and daughters.

Too many lost in those fields, too many pull down shady things this can be your destination.

This could be better next time.

The most recent train from station B, I have no reservation.

Take the brand new generation.

This could be silver bricks.

No, no, no.

All this time I hear this for pavement.

Still nine or even seven.

Also showing that this site is Iran's support for same band store.

Suppose we retired poor old town vote bearing in one goes.

There also is becoming natural the way we mean things down easy being green.

We're all running from church.

But instead of us playing the whole concept, Evangelist Green is saying in the shape your destination this could be better next time.

The set of the big horse race trains and leaving from station the I've got no reservations in brand new generation there's big celebration now.

Now now too many people looking down.

Too many closed up factory towns.

Too much hype, rubbish, propaganda, Too much sadness in this land.

The dreams once could all come true.

I don't doubt over here.

You tell me what you're gonna do.

Tell me what you're gonna do.

Now, this can be your destination.

This will be better.

Nation times big horse racing trains from station the I had to know this brand new generation.

Just a piece of space age celebrations.

Big celebration.

As we celebrate, we celebrate our just lovely Dave Mallet, singer songwriter Dave Mallet performing with his sons Luke and Will, otherwise known as the Mallett Brothers.

We are here at the inauguration of Governor elect Janet Mills at the Augusta Civic Center.

Senate President Troy Jackson presiding, and that is scheduled at least to be the final performance before the actual oath.

And if our notes are right, Janet Mills grandchildren will come back on stage and hold the Bible forward.

This is not yet a half century Jackson go way back if they do.

And this is, of course, prescribed in the Constitution that the Senate president, Troy Jackson in this case administers the oath to the governor, no different grandchildren than those who let us govern.

Well, in the pledge of governor, please raise your right hand.

Repeat after me.

I state your name.

I Janet Trafton Mills.

Do swear do swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and this state, that I will support the Constitution of this state and the United States or the right I said I would support the Constitution of the United States and of this state.

Yes, we're going to get this right.

So long as I shall continue as a citizen thereof.

So long as I shall continue as citizen thereof.

So help me God.

So help me God.

I state your name Janet Trafton Mills do swear to swear that I will faithfully discharge.

That I will faithfully discharge to the best of my abilities.

To the best of my abilities.

The duties incumbent on me as governor of the great state of Maine.

The duties incumbent on me as governor of the great state of Maine.

According to the Constitution, according to the Constitution and the laws of this state and the laws of the state.

So help me God.

So help me God.

And Governor Janet Mills starts her second term.

Officially, you don't have to call her governor elect any longer.

And we're getting a standing ovation here in the Civic Center, people standing up across across several different rows you can hear.

All right.

Four years ago, history, the animals elected the first female governor of the state of Maine.

Now first woman to be reelected as governor of the state of Maine.

That's right.

In a race that was expected to be close, Steve, but really was not in the end.

It was not more than she defeated former Republican Governor Paul LePage by more than 13 percentage points, which I don't think anybody saw coming, including Governor Mills.

She felt pretty good heading into Election Day, but not that good.

The secretary of State, Shenna Bellows, will come forward and read the proclamation It is my solemn duty, my distinct privilege, one of the great honors of my life to present this proclamation, the words of last 200 years and governors sworn in over the last 200 years, given under my hand this fourth day of January in the year, 2023 to the joint convention, the votes given on the eighth day of November last in the cities, towns and plantations of the state of Maine for governor, the returns of which have been made to the office of Secretary of State, having been examined and counted by the legislature, which has declared that a plurality thereof was given to Janet Trafton Mills, that she is duly elected and that she having in the presence of the two branches of the Legislature in convention, assembled, taken and subscribed the oath required by the Constitution to qualify her to discharge the duties of that office.

I therefore declare and make known to all persons who are in the exercise of any public trust in this state, as well as all good citizens there of the Janet Trafton Mills as Governor and Commander in Chief of the State of Maine, and that due obedience should be rendered to all her acts and commands as such.

God save the great state of Maine Secretary of State Senator Bellows issuing a proclamation declaring Janet Mills, Governor of the State of Maine.

Everybody got a giggle out of the due obedience.

Part of that is my privilege and honor to present the honorable governor of the great state of Maine, Janet Trafton Mills It's kind of interesting, Jen, to watch Senate President Troy Jackson and Governor Mills interact on the stage because they've had disagreements in the past.

Troy Jackson to be the first person to admit that and very bitter disagreements on policy at times.

But I think that that's actually fostered a bit of a friendship.

You can kind of see it just the way they interact.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Oh, please be seated.

My goodness.

Mr. President.

Madam Secretary of State, Madam Speaker.

Madam Chief Justice.

I like the way this is going to It is.

And and members of the 131st Maine legislature members of the Cabinet, Rabbi Ash, Bishop Brown and distinguished guests.

It is a profound honor and a privilege to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution and to assume again the mantle of governor of the great state of Maine.

I am deeply humbled and by the trust the people of Maine have placed in me.

You know, President John F Kennedy once said, if more politicians knew poetry and more poets knew politics, I'm convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live.

I agree And I want to thank especially our own poet laureate, Julia Bosma, and Bethel resident and presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco.

And Maine's poet musician Dave Mallett for their very inspiring words Thank you too to the Franklin County Fiddlers.

And to suck, suck, suck, Alexis Singers and the patient person to choir, to multinational girls choir and including my young friends Shai and Natasha, who graced the same stage with their presence four years ago.

Welcome back.

You are more beautiful than ever.

I also want to draw your attention to the empty chair in the military section of the audience and to honor, to honor and recognize all main service members who have lost their lives in service to their country.

I would not be standing here today if it were not for my family as well.

My brothers Peter, Paul and David, my sister Dora, niece and nephew, my five daughters and five wonderful grandchildren.

And my husband Stan, gone eight years now, who rose every morning happily proclaiming the best is yet to come.

Traversing the state.

Many times over many months, I have learned more about the character of our people and the worth of our communities.

What we give and what we take and what we offer to each other.

I've toured clinics and hospitals, large and small schools, warehouses, stores, diners in both houses, lawyers libraries and factories.

Houses of worship of all faiths.

And I can report from the Can-Am at America's First Mile to Maine's first town.

The 370 year old Kittery from Friars Brew Pub in bucks for two bags mussels in Portland from Robbins Lumber and Sears, Mont.

To Louisiana Pacific and Holton from Geiger Brothers and Lewiston to New Balance, Sappi and Maine Grains in Somerset County from the lakes and slopes of western Maine to the University of New England, Athenahealth Jackson and Bigelow Labs The Furlan Center in Orono and the Rule Institute in Portland.

Great things are happening in the state of Maine.

And I can report as well that across the state, this one, Maine hope is very much alive Over the last years, you know, there was this something that caught our attention, especially during the pandemic, these large, luminous neon like sign ins that began popping up in cities across Maine.

Hopeful, they read in colorful cursive script, these signs became a symbol not just of survival, but of health renewal, new life.

The signs creator Charlie Hewitt said, quote, To be hopeful is not a gift.

It is a challenge.

It's a challenge.

And to be hopeful requires opening your eyes.

It requires making a decision.

Being part of something, unquote, Maine.

People know and embrace this.

Indeed, we experienced it these last few years.

And tonight, like Charlie Hughes, art deco signs a flashback to previous decades.

At this time, the James Webb telescope is taking us back through time and into the bowels of celestial history, like some magical mystery tour of the universe, drawing us both inward and outward through space and time, and unlocking mysteries of the past and foreshadowing of the future.

So I can't help but wonder if our forbearers a century ago had had a web telescope to view the world down through the top, down through time.

What might they think of where we are today?

Will they ever have imagined that the Lord rise would come to an end, that the narrow gauge railway would turn into a quiet footpath, that our granite quarries would be rendered obsolete by the invention of concrete Could they have foreseen?

Cell phones and flat screen TVs and computers of any size with words that are written and then disappear on a virtual page as though they had never once become thought Well, we do know one thing our forbearers were thinking about exactly 100 years ago.

Dora Bradbury Pinkham of Fort Kent, Maine, became the first woman to serve in this legislature.

Our it was big news.

Arthur J. Arthur G. Staples of the Loose and Evening Journal wrote about it.

He said, quote, It may happen that in after years, perhaps 2023, he said Some woman governor of Maine and some legislature, largely composed of women, may desire to know how the first woman legislator carried herself And he continued, so he said in the year 20, 23 100 years hence, Dora Pinkham is thus presented to you and Maine is ready for her sisters and quote Well, Arthur Staples.

Here we are I hope Dora Pinkham would be pleased to know that today half of our congressional delegation are women that a black woman from Portland is our Speaker of the House.

And that a woman whose own roots lie deep in Pinkham's Beloved County has now taken the oath for the second time to serve as governor of the state.

Today, a century after Dora Pinkham took the oath, our rivers no longer carry logs to sawmills.

Our food comes in slick packages from around the globe, and we meet with distant friends and coworkers on a screen the size of a writing pad.

But what about our descendants, those generations yet to come?

What might the telescope of the future reveal to them about who we are now and where we are going?

Will it be good?

Will they be proud of us?

Will the people of the future see how we fought disease, homelessness, crippling opioid use, and a fear of those who are different from us?

Will they appreciate that for their sake and ours, we began to rid our farms and waters of the forever chemicals known as PE fairs.

Will they see how we promoted health and education?

Celebrated arts and literature preserved our precious right to vote and conducted free and fair elections Will they see how we adapted and evolved during turbulent times, adjusted to technology and innovation?

How we explore new sources of energy, electricity, new modes of communication and travel?

I hope so, but perhaps they'll ask other questions, probing questions as well.

Like What was that daylight savings thing all about?

Who the heck was Elon Musk in?

What on earth was Twitter?

And what were all those tall gray structures that held something called an office Maybe they'll also ask, what took them so long to shelter the unhoused?

Why did it take years for them to build a house?

When we can 3D print a single home in an hour?

Why, they may ask, did they wrap everything in packaging material they could have?

And why did they dump waste in the ocean and bury it in the earth?

What were all those parking lots and those tarred roads crisscrossing the countryside?

They will ask And the gases emitted from structures of vehicles that clog the air and warm the planet and melted the ancient glaciers.

Why, they will ask, did the scourge of a drug epidemic rob them of so many precious lives?

Why didn't they have safe and loving places to care for all their children?

Why do they pay so much every time they went to a doctor or a pharmacist?

These questions, my friends may be asked in the future, but the answers will be shaped by our actions in the coming months and years.

Four years ago, I stood before you and promised to work for a healthier, more vibrant more welcoming state.

Who could have known 1463 days ago that this state this nation and countries across the globe would face a deadly pandemic reminiscent of the Spanish flu from 100 years ago?

One that would threaten the safety of every community, business, family and person.

One that would challenge us to reinvent how we learn work, play, travel, and communicate safely.

A phenomenon that would test the very core of our character who was during that time.

I heard from thousands of you emails, cards, letters, notes from people sharing their thoughts and their fears, including ones from children like ten year old Savannah, who wrote, quote, Dear Governor Mills, I hope this COVID doesn't affect our hearts being isolated from one another.

End quote.

Well, Savannah, we learned that neither a worldwide pandemic nor any other thing will ever isolate our hearts from one another.

But we are a caring people.

We in Maine are family, and we have found such strength within ourselves we didn't know we had.

Even as Dave Mallett puts it, with our backs against the wall and we have once now come through that horrific time better than nearly every other state in the nation.

With the good people of this Cabinet, with a brilliant leadership of Commissioner Lambrew and CDC Director Nirav Shah, and others we answered the call.

Now, experts nationally say that both our public health response and our economic recovery have been among the best in the country Four years ago, I committed to committed my new administration to taking us into the future, to welcoming new people to our state and welcoming back those who have left.

And so I'm pleased to report after a decades long exile exodus of young people from our state.

Maine now boasts the seventh highest in-migration rate in the country.

We're welcoming new people every day, and we continue to listen to the people of Maine You said you wanted a government that paid teachers better, that funded public schools, schools where children would learn on full stomachs, and a government that made the dream of higher education attainable for more people.

And so we fully funded the state's share of public education for the first time in history.

We provided universal free meals in the public schools we provided free community college to recent high school grads And we enacted one of the most generous student loan forgiveness programs in the country.

You said you wanted health insurance for more people.

So we expanded MaineCare to more than 100,000 people, as the voters told us to do.

And we've reduced the uninsured rate by more than any state in the country.

And we listened to to small businesses drowning in health insurance costs, and we lowered their premiums for the first time in decades.

You asked us to pay attention to what U.N. scientists have called a red code for humanity.

And the violent storms across the nation, damaging homes and farms and towns and fisheries and wildlife and everything our country holds dear.

So with renewable energy, weatherization, efficiency, alternative heating sources, and a focus on real resilience see, we have put Maine on a path towards carbon neutrality with a plan to protect our precious farms, shore lands and towns from the ravages of climate change.

You asked us to expand broadband, recognizing that it is the communications highway of the future, and that high speed Internet is as necessary to everything we do as water is to life.

So we created the Maine Connectivity Authority, and we've connected more than 48,000 households to the Internet.

And I've pledged that by the end of 20, 20 for every person in Maine who wants a good Internet connection, we'll have one You asked us to begin to repair the divisions between the state and tribal nations.

And so we enacted the highest water quality standards in the nation for rivers with sustenance fishing.

We expanded tribal court prosecution of domestic violence and we negotiated major new revenue service sources for the tribes.

You urged us to protect reproductive health care against the threat.

Now real that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v Wade.

And we did so.

We passed laws that discouraged protesters from blocking clinics that require public and private insurance coverage for abortion services and made those services available to women in rural as well as urban areas of the state.

You asked us then to preserve some of the special places of our state And so without borrowing, we reinvigorated the land for Maine's future program and acquired thousands of acres of working waterfront farmland and wildlife habitat for generations to enjoy in trust.

100 years hence, you asked us to fight against federal rulings that threatened our iconic lobster industry.

And we did.

Working with members of Congress, securing a regulatory pause as well as funding for new research to protect both the right whale and the lobster industry.

You asked us to manage our budgets prudently, and so state government has live within its means, and we have built up the rainy day fund to a record high to shelter us from the impacts of inflation and possible recession.

And we've continued to fix our highways and bridges worn by time and use in Maine's changing seasons without borrowing loads But our job is far from finished.

Today, a workforce shortage undermines our variable to get things done from teaching, policing, health care, farming to selling and manufacturing and selling goods.

Help wanted signs are everywhere.

And so we are expanding workforce training in high schools and community colleges.

We're making more childcare available for working parents, and we're partnering with towns and businesses to find better housing for workers and shelter for the unhoused.

And we're putting people to work You're asking us to strengthen and diversify our economy, recognizing that we're too dependent on other states and nations and too vulnerable to the volatile winds of worldwide geopolitics.

So we are investing in our fisheries, farms and forest products to produce more at home.

Seizing on our spirit of independence and self-reliance while seeking new markets abroad, you're asking us to diversify our energy sources and loosen the stranglehold that fossil fuel companies have on the wallets of Maine families and businesses.

So we are pursuing renewable sources of energy that will protect both our environment and your family's bottom line.

Instead of Big Oil's profits, You're asking us to address the crisis in housing.

So we issued.

First off, we issued the senior affordable housing bonds.

First thing.

Then we enacted the largest investment in housing in state history.

We renew the historic rehabilitation tax credit, and we have funded more than 1500 new residential units and adding hundreds more in the years to come.

We're working every day with cities and towns and developers to stand up emergency shelters and workforce housing in a way that fits the needs of every town.

You're asking us to do our best to stop the ravages of opioid addiction and the waste of human life and human aspirations.

From drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine.

And so we are in earnest providing treatment beds and recovery and prevention measures and distributing naloxone everywhere to save thousands of lives.

And we will make sure that every school and every community has an effective prevention program to stop the scourge of addiction before it begins You're asking us to make sure that every child in Maine is safe, acknowledging that these same drugs that are killing adults are endangering children too.

So we reactivated the children's cabinet.

Long dormant, we put more child protection workers on the street and we're adding resources for foster families in every effort that we can to keep our children safe.

But that work is never over.

We cannot and shall not rest until we eradicate the scourge of child abuse and neglect, drug overdose and domestic violence acts and injuries and deaths that tear at the very fabric of our society.

You're asking us as well to recognize that children's emotional health also suffered during the pandemic and that hospital emergency rooms and jails are not the right places to treat someone in a mental health crisis.

So we have opened Maine's first comprehensive crisis receiving center.

We're investing in residential care and community based treatment.

We're training up more professionals and expanding mental health crisis services statewide wide Ladies and gentlemen, over the next four years, it will be our challenge to address these issues head on.

To continue the march of progress we began four years ago and to be prepared for the challenges not yet known to us.

And in doing so, we envision a Maine main as a place where quality health care is unquestioned, where good education good education from pre-K through graduate school is available and affordable, where good paying jobs are offered in every corner of the state where children are safe and secure in their homes, and where anyone can go online from any place in Maine to shop, attend a class, conduct business sell something, get medical help, or simply send a message to a friend These are our goals.

Hopeful but real.

That hope is built of the hardiness of a people who endure long winters and muddy springs and hot summers and windy falls.

People who endure and survive and thrive above it all.

Hope is not an easy thing.

It's not mere wishful thinking.

It's just trying.

Not just trying to do what we did yesterday in the same old, same old way.

Hope is disruptive.

It is, after all, a four letter word.

It.

It challenges and changes the way we do things.

And it calls on us to advance and adapt while preserving everything we are as a people and all the values we hold dear.

And more than ever before, because of everything we have been through and because of everything we are.

Hope resides here in Maine.

Hope Hope is manifest in the actions you took this very day.

Actions inspired perhaps by one of humanity's great spiritual guides who said 20 years ago, four, I was hungry and you gave me food I was thirsty.

You gave me drink.

I was a stranger and you took me in naked and you clothed me for your actions.

Today, and housing, healing and helping those in need.

The people of Maine are deeply grateful.

You, the Maine legislature, have provided hope Hope is about finding new and innovative ways to solve problems.

Using the ingenuity and courage we rediscovered within ourselves these last few years.

And I see hope all across the state today.

There's hope in the work of University of Maine students devising new uses for wood and ways to harness the power of the raw winds of the Atlantic and methods to build homes with bio based materials from a giant printer.

There is hope in the aspirations of inventors and innovators at the Royal Institute.

Using artificial intelligence and data analytics to solve complex problems.

Hope in cities like Waterville, Biddeford in Westbrook, who are evolving from their industrial past, reinventing their downtowns, and attracting new families and new businesses every day hope in the faces of women shopkeepers in Lewiston and Portland selling fabrics, foods and spices from other countries.

These industrious mothers of soccer champions, daughters of another continent hope in the vision of enterprising artists, poets musicians, architects, writers and makers of crafts in every corner of this state.

Hope in the far reaches of the county and down east.

And in the shadows of our western mountains, where farmers, foresters, fishermen, hunters, store keepers and tourists co-exist.

And there is hope in the eyes.

Hope is well in the eyes of those with forehead, raging rivers, thick forests, steep mountains, and rough seas to seek refuge here in our country.

Refuge and work in our country, in our state, There is hope for the future, just as it was hoped that saw us through troubled times in the past.

The charge, the responsibility we take up today is to choose action over acquiescence and apathy, to make decisions grounded in experience with an eye to the future and always has to be part of something larger than ourselves.

And so on this solemn occasion, let us recommit to working together and acknowledging that health care is a human right and we will fight to preserve it.

That education is essential and we will provide it That climate change is real and we will combat it.

And that that a decent home is essential and we will build it And when the people of the future look back on us through their own James Webb telescope, they will see that we worked together during difficult times and good, that we settled our differences with civility, common sense and compassion.

That we took care of one another.

That we protected the air, water and land around us and built a state that survived and thrived long into the future.

And perhaps, too, we will see some things I believe will never change the way the surf of the mighty Atlantic pounded the granite shores of our state, the way curtain rises up in all its majesty in the western sky.

The way the basilica in Lewiston inspires the people of the mighty Androscoggin the way so many institutions of higher learning enrich and grace our towns and cities across the state.

And the way moxie tickles the throat as it goes down.

And the way the wild blueberry finds a place in every tasty meal 100 years from now, people not yet born will turn a telescope back in time and find in the Maine of 2020s, the 2020s, a place where government did everything it could to save the lives and livelihoods of its people, took nothing for granted but invested wisely to make Maine a clean, healthy and welcoming place where success is attainable.

And they will remember one sign, one word that guided our path, our actions in our dreams, hopeful it is the highest privilege of my life to serve as your governor during hard times, in good stormy seas and calmer waters as we weather the best and the worst of times together, tackling extraordinary problems through extraordinary times alongside you, the extraordinary people of Maine.

It is an honor to lead a people where everything good is possible and where we believe always deep in our hearts the best is yet to come.

Thank you A poetic inaugural address by Governor Janet Mills filter out themes of history and hope looking back 100 years and looking forward 100 years.

Steve Metzler, what struck you?

Well, I think what you just mentioned, first of all, I mean, I think she used the Webb telescope, which effectively allows us to see into the past and uses that as a sort of rhetorical device in her speech to basically say what will the people of the future think of us today when they see us?

And, you know, it's basically an incentive to improve our present And so that was the that was the theme that she used, the device that she used.

It was also part victory lap and a to do list, generally speaking.

There was a lot of taking off of accomplishments, but it acknowledgment that a lot more needs to be done.

Yeah, Senate President Troy Jackson presiding again, I believe will now introduce the benediction and be offered by the right Reverend Thomas James Brown, Bishop Episcopal Diocese of Maine, and holy God, whom we call by many names we give you.

Thanks for the people of Maine.

Who come together today with the strongest sense of hope for the future that you desire to give us Pour out the abundance of your blessing upon Janet, our governor sustain her and her family with joy and refreshment, which is essential to lead effectively Fill her with gratitude for all the blessings of life, as well as for those disappointments which lead her to rely on you alone.

Stir up in Janet.

Deep trust in Your Grace for calling her to a second term and strengthen her with an unending assurance that you have already given her everything she needs to fulfill the duties of this office.

May those who oppose her bless her when she is fair.

May those who come to Maine from other countries seeking refuge and promise.

Call her merciful me, the poor and marginalized, and those without to help her see in her.

A governor who creates opportunity may all who attend the health of the land and water and air bless our governor by saying she is our partner.

May children continue to understand themselves to be her teachers Above all, equip our governor and each of us in our 457 towns with regard for truth, humility, to serve, openness to listen and love for kindness for these personify Dirigo and therein rests our hope.

And the people of God said Amen.

And the Reverend Thomas Brown right there the benediction Senate President Troy Jackson once again at the lectern I get to leave you soon.

So I yeah, I did Governor of the great state of Maine, and Governor Janet Mills heads off the stage.

APPLAUSE from Senate President Troy Jackson right there.

She she waves to musicians of the audience, to the applause coming up that way.

As she exits the auditorium, she she says hello to officials right there with the new House Republican leader, Billy Bob Buckingham, right there who served on her inaugural committee I think it's safe to say that it is was a distinctively Maine inaugural celebration, Steve.

It sure was.

A lot of tributes to our natural resources, which is a very big concern and focus for the governor.

And and I think that that that she's using that in a frame of climate change as well.

Absolutely.

Steve, one of the big pieces of this that stood out to me as well, and I be curious to get your take on this was how much Governor Mills really dwelled.

And you mentioned the history of this, but really in the historic nature of her own role in this as well, she really dwelled on she talked about herself as the first female governor.

She talked about Rachel Talbot.

Ross is the first black speaker of the House in a way that I don't think she even necessarily did four years ago.

That strike you?

Yeah, did.

And in fact, she like I think I mentioned this earlier, but the governor in her inauguration speech four years ago really just referenced the historic nature of her governorship or her election to become governor.

And this time there was more of a sort of a pause and a recognition of not only her own ascension to the governorship, but also that other other women before her, including the black the first black speaker of the House, Rachel Talbot Ross, is speaking right now.

It was it was a little bit more of a look back than I had it expected.

But at the same time, I think that was viewed as sort of a jumping off point to say, look, we've got a lot more work to do.

We've accomplished a lot, but there's a lot more to be done.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And a remarkable quote from a newspaper, the Lewiston Paper of 100 years ago about the first legislature order.

I'm sure Janet Mills was thrilled to find that Steve Mishler not many firm commitments during this speech.

But there was one, and it had to do with high speed Internet.

Right.

And that's been a commitment all along.

I mean, the governor has really pursued broadband expansion in this state, signed a big bill last year to to get that done.

And I think that process is underway.

It's going through some bumps.

It's a little bit of a bumpy ride, but her goal is to make sure every person in this state has access to high speed Internet.

A lot of Republicans and Democrats support that goal.

So it's that's the one that they can all sort of agree on.

And I think you'll find that a lot of what she laid out tonight was absent of a lot of detail of how to get there.

But at the same time, I feel like a lot of that detail will be in her budget, in her state of the budget address, which will be coming in about a month.

In about a month.

Yeah.

Well, it's surprising that we didn't hear any more concrete policy goals.

Or is it just that you're saying we're going to hear that pretty soon?

No, I expected this.

So, you know, this is usually not the time to put you all to sleep with a lot of policy details.

Right.

It's more of a hopeful, aspirational type of message.

And also look back at the accomplishments that she had.

So not not a surprise that there wasn't details.

Those are forthcoming, I would expect.

All right.

Well, the 71st pres 71st governor of the state of Maine and reelected first woman governor reelected.

Her inauguration comes to an end as people leave the Augusta Civic Center.

We thank you for joining us on behalf of Robby Feinberg.

Steve, Metzler, the entire Maine Public Crew.

Thank you for joining us.

Thank you for joining us for the inauguration of Governor Janet Mills.