Latest / Newsradio WGAN / Rebecca Grover- Maine Turnpike Authority

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Rebecca Grover- Maine Turnpike Authority · Newsradio WGAN

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  It's time for the second hour of the WJN Morning News, first
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  hours in the books. I'm Aaron Chadbourne, sitting in
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  for Matt Gangnon on this Memorial Day.
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  Thanks for being with us. 879-9426, our number.
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  Joining us now on the line is Rebecca Grover with the Main
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  Turnpike Authority to help us understand what's going on in
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  the roads this rainy Memorial Day.
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  Rebecca, welcome to WJN Morning News.
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  Good morning. Thanks for having me.
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  So First things first, what did we see over the weekend?
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  Are we? I mean, I was walking in
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  downtown Portland and every where I went this weekend there
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  were a long lines. The tourists are here.
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  What have we seen in terms of traffic numbers and how does it
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  compare to past years? Well, that's great to hear that
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  Portland was busy on Friday. We were at the Kennebunk
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  Northbound Service Plaza welcoming folks as they came to
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  Maine. You know, often times that's the
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  first place they get to, you know, step out of the car in
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  Maine and only to say it was great fun talking to folks about
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  where they were headed. A lot of people were headed up
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  to Acadia and just a lot of different, some camps and some
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  towns I had never even heard of. So it was busy on Friday in the
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  late afternoon time frame around 3:00 to 4:00 and then Saturday
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  was busiest at noon time, just like our prediction said.
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  But it's been a pretty not a very remarkable traffic time
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  frame, which is great. I mean, traffic has been busy,
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  but not anything, no slowdowns, very few accidents or any
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  incidents out there on the Turnpike so far, which is great.
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  That's what we want to hear. I think the rain, you know, may
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  kind of spread out when people were leaving to head home.
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  But we predict that the busiest times will be, you know, that
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  later this afternoon, which unfortunately I think is when
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  the sun may, may actually make an appearance.
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  So what should people expect in terms of today?
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  What do we typically see and how might the rain impact that?
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  Yeah. So I think probably some folks,
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  I haven't gotten yesterday's numbers yet, so I don't know if
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  if it was higher yesterday, but I think probably some folks,
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  folks may have headed out yesterday.
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  Today we would expect again heaviest traffic southbound
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  afternoon. I do think that, you know, in
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  this day of people being able to work from home and shorter work
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  weeks and things like that, that the typical weekend isn't as
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  typical as it used to be. Memorial Day, holiday weekend,
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  that honor goes to Labor Day in the 4th of July.
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  So I think it will be busy out there, but I don't think it
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  would be, it's not going to be, you know, a lot of slowdowns or
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  anything like that. The weather made you have an
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  impact. You know, of course, use your
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  headlights, make sure that anything that you have secure.
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  We don't want things flying off and and having our crews have to
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  go out and pick them up out of the road.
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  Yeah, I was on 295 yesterday and there were there's big risk of
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  hydroplaning just given how much rain had fallen.
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  Are we seeing any uptick in accidents or anything over the
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  course of this weekend or have things been?
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  Pretty quiet, No, I spoke with our traffic communication center
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  last night and they said no, very no accidents.
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  There was one notice that went out at 5:30 this morning, but it
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  was cleared by, you know, 615 or something like that.
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  So no, this it's been so far. I hate to don't want to say
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  anything, but so far it's been been a pretty safe weekend out
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  there. Good.
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  Well, we obviously want everyone to stay safe and be safe.
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  And I think you point out well that people need to watch as
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  they're driving for any first responders, police, people
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  pulled over on the side. We want to make sure that you're
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  safe, that you're pulling over, that you're creating room and
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  you're leaving yourself extra time to travel just because
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  there is that extra traffic. And with the rain it could take
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  longer. And we want everyone to make it
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  home safely. Exactly.
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  And, you know, we want visitors to Maine who maybe have not been
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  here before, might not be as familiar with the roads as you
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  are if you are commuting or driving around, just to, you
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  know, give people a little extra courtesy and patience.
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  Well, said Rebecca Grover with The Maine Turnpike Authority.
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  Thank you for joining us this Memorial Day morning.
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  We hope you have an enjoyable and safe holiday.
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  All right, awesome. Thanks for having me.
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  Thanks for all that you and your team do. 879-9426 is the number
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  here on the WGAN Morning News. I want to turn back to Maine
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  politics. And we started talking a little
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  bit about Graham Plattner. Obviously, in the news break,
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  we're talking about Janet Mills remaining on the ballot.
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  And I predicted this when she announced that she was
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  suspending her campaign. You always have to listen to the
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  language that people use. And when you say you're
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  suspending your campaign, it does leave it vague and
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  ambiguous and suggest that you're going to stop
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  campaigning. But she was never deliberate on
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  whether she would withdraw as a candidate.
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  She said that she decided it wasn't viable, but she's leaving
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  her name on the ballot and ballot's already printed.
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  So there's really nothing that's different.
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  And it she would have to inform the Secretary of State's office
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  she no longer wishes to be a candidate.
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  And then they would pose something at the polls to tell
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  people not to vote for her or not that if they vote for her,
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  it won't count. Why do you think she might have
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  decided to leave her name on the ballot to not submit that
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  notification? My bet is that it's because
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  there is a above zero chance that Graham Plattner has some
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  sort of major scandal that takes him down between the time that
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  she decided that she was no longer viable and Election Day.
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  And so her name remains there so that she's got an option in case
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  anything happens. As days go by, we're within
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  almost two weeks of primary day, I think it becomes less and less
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  likely that such a scandal would do it, especially as Democrats
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  tend to vote early. And so you're probably banking
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  those votes, making Graham Plattner the likely nominee.
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  But I do think it is interesting and telling you that Janet Mills
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  would do that. I did mention Bernie Sanders
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  here to promote Graham Platner, also promoting Troy Jackson.
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  Graham Platner endorsed Troy Jackson for Governor, said he's
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  ranking him first, and interestingly endorsed Shanna
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  Bellows and Hannah Pingree saying he's ranking them as
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  well, leaving out Doctor Shaw and Angus King the 3rd.
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  So now you're starting to see that people are worried that
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  Doctor Shaw is kind of rising and maybe he's not as
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  progressive and far left as someone like Graham Platner.
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  And then Graham Platner had this other stunt over the weekend
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  where he ran an ad on Nessen critical of the Boston Red Sox,
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  and it was particularly criticizing private equity
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  ownership of the Boston Red Sox. And this is interesting because
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  Nessen is also. Owned by.
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  The Red Sox, mostly. Yeah, the same finance group, I
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  think. It's 80% by the Red Sox and 20%
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  by the. Bruins John Henry has a majority
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  stake in Nessen. So there's this controversy that
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  pops up because Nessen like the commercial ran once and then
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  they pulled it from the air. They're now clarifying that it
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  wasn't due to the criticisms. And Graham planner was saying
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  that private equity is the root of all evil.
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  A very like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Steve from
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  Westbrook argument about private equity being the root of all
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  evil. And if they buy stuff and and
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  and and by the way, the I I I think if you listen to John
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  Tomasi here with Matt, like they've been critical of the how
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  private equity ownership maybe hasn't been the best motivating
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  factor for the Red Sox and their ability to win.
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  But so grant planner I think did this on purpose.
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  But the reason they're saying that it can't get pulled down is
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  because it contained copyrighted material that didn't meet their
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  standards in order to air. And I bet that's true.
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  I bet they got it through once they, you know, flagged it, they
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  took it down. I also wouldn't be surprised if
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  planners campaign, as smart as they are, did that on purpose
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  because they wanted to create this controversy that they got
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  pulled off of Nessin, that they were critical of private equity,
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  they were critical of them, and that they got taken down.
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  That is a great campaign tactic and it's smart because you don't
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  actually have to spend the money.
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  All you have to do is produce the commercial and pay to air at
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  once and that's it because then you have what's called free and
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  earned media. It's earned mentions, it's being
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  talked about, and the power of that story is worth more than
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  just having run that ad on Nessen where you only have the
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  Nessen viewers seeing it now. It'll go mainstream, would be
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  talked about everywhere. And what does that tell you?
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  It tells you that Graham Plattner is trying to escape the
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  narratives about his online posting, the way in which Susan
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  Collins and the Republicans attacking him are starting to
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  get out front to try to define him before he can divine himself
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  to the main audience. And he's trying to be known for
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  something else, something different.
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  He's trying to escape the mold. He's trying to be critical.
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  He's trying to show different ways in which he relates to the
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  lives of everyday Americans. When Heather from Wyndham was on
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  the phone earlier, she was commenting on when she's talking
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  to people, when she's going door to door and canvassing for
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  candidates, how she's seeing that there are people that are
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  hurting. Well, if you're someone who's
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  hurting, who do you relate to? Do you relate to the gruff, deep
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  voiced man who talks about the Red Sox and understands how they
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  lose and can explain and blame his, you know, a certain
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  political ideology about how he's kind of the solution for
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  all of that? Or do you trust someone like
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  Susan Collins who, you know, has been in Washington a long time,
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  who you know, speaks very well and positively and talks about
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  her contributions to Maine? Well, for someone that's in pain
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  or being armed or or perceives that the deck is stacked against
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  you, that appeal of someone like Graham Plattner, who seems to be
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  relevant and on the topics that they care about might strike
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  closer to home than someone like Susan Collins, who talks about
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  the major results she's been delivering for the state of
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  Maine, but might not be couching it in as specific and personal
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  terms to the everyday things. I think this is a huge
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  opportunity for Susan Collins. I think the more that Susan
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  Collins can, you know, flood the zone with different items and
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  projects that she's personally helped with or gotten done,
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  projects she's gotten funded, I think that's a huge opportunity.
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  Not just, you know, one commercial that runs for two
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  months about 1 project one time. But there have been hundreds, if
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  not thousands of opportunities where Susan Collins has
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  delivered for the state of Maine that she needs to highlight and
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  highlight in new and innovative ways.
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  Taking advantage of new media and employing tactics like this
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  tactic that Platner's using where, you know, you can trick
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  the media into covering this, you know, basically stunt that
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  you're pulling with the Red Sox to try to who's he trying to
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  reach? He's trying to reach undecided
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  voters. People that are watching the Red
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  Sox game and tuning in there, yeah, they're probably seeing
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  all the same commercials we're all seeing, but they're they're
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  not looking. When you're watching the Red Sox
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  game, you're watching the Bruins.
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  You're not looking for politics. You're not watching Meet the
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  Press in 60 minutes. You're watching a game, and
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  that's likely where the normal undecided voters who don't
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  always pay close attention to politics are spending their
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  time. I would say during the
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  commercial breaks, that's when people are getting up to use the
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  restroom. Grab a beer, grab, grab some
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  popcorn or whatever you're eating.
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  I. Tend to mute the commercials
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  too, because they still gets extra loud like when you're in
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  when you're watching a game, you don't want to really hear, you
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  know, I'm Graham Plattner and and, and Susan Collins done it
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  up. But if you can like reach that
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  audience because now you're talking about something that
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  they're talking about and you're reaching them on a message they
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  care about. It's something that Donald Trump
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  did in his election. It's something AOC has done mom
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  Donnie has done. I think now Grant planner is
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  doing. I think it's really smart
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  political maneuvering. And I think the Collins campaign
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  like they need to be paying attention and they need to be
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  pulling out every stop to to meet and surpass what Grand
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  Plattner is able to do. 879-9426 We're going to take a quick
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  break. When we come back, we'll take
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  your calls, talk about any of today's top issues.
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  There's some updates on the war in Iran and we'll get to those.
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  And at 7:30, we'll have Chuck Ellis, host of the Muddy Waters
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  podcast, chair of the Cumberland County Republicans will be in
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  studio. We're going to talk about the
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  Republican field for governor, kind of how ranked choice voting
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  is playing into that whole calculation.
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  So we'll do that.