Needless to say I am angry! I can even say I told you so. I have said from day one that when Maine Gov. Baldacci announced a secret, complex deal of land swaps and negotiations to acquire 6,000 acres of land around Katahdin Lake, it was a mistake and that it would take years before the taxpayers of Maine would fully realize what a bumbling, inept and probably corrupt administration the governor is running.

The Bangor Daily News this morning is carrying an article that says that 8,000 acres adjacent to the Katahdin Lake parcel that was promised as part of the deal to keep hunters, snowmobilers and others opposed to the loss of open lands happy, has all but fallen through. This is just another in a series of findings that continues to prove the slimy dealings of this governor and the lies and deceit used to make the Baxter land swap come about for a select group of elitists.

The 8,000 acres sits just east of the Katahdin Lake parcel. The citizens were told by the Baldacci administration that they had all but secured the purchase of this 8,000 acres to insure that this land would remain public and open to all. This purchase would also assure access to the 6,000 acre Katahdin parcel that was divided into two pieces – about 4,000 around the lake held as a wildlife preserve and the northern portion of around 2,000 deeded over to the Bureau of Parks and Lands.

If you will recall, the land swap deal left the 2,000 acre parcel virtually inaccessible mostly because of surrounding lands owned by Roxanne Quimby, who is buying up large parcels of land in that area and closing them off to most recreational use. Baldacci, not wanting the deal to fall through, made another ridiculous promise. He promised to spend $200,000 more dollars of taxpayer’s money to build a road to nowhere.

This road would be constructed to connect public access roads to private roads to cross private lands that would access the 2,000-acre northern parcel. There were never any guarantees made or right of ways negotiated so to maintain future access to this land. The owners of the land these private roads crossed were quite public in saying they would not sell or give any deeded right of way across their lands.

The entire Baxter land swap deal was a scam. It was negotiated in secret and then those behind the deal rushed it through forcing the legislature to make a decision based on lies, deceit an incomplete information. A two-thirds majority vote from the legislature was needed to approve the sale of 7,500 acres of public lands to complete the deal.

Part of the negotiating process was the promise that this 8,000 acre parcel would be bought from Gardner Land Co., the same company that owned the Katahdin Lake parcel, to continue to provide public lands in that area for hunting, fishing, ATV riding, snowmobiling, etc.

Maine’s option to buy the 8,000 expires today and Gardner has virtually laughed in the face of the Baldacci administration in rejecting a selling price of $6 million – the appraised value. According to the Bangor Daily News, Gardner Land Co. has other interested buyers willing to far exceed that $6 million.

In all of the articles I have written about the Baxter land swap, most of them over at my Maine Outdoors Today blog, I have refrained from saying much about Gardner Land Co. I am a businessman and have been for years. I respect and honor those who look after what they deem as being the best interest of their company. I still hold that to be true.

What the Baldacci administration has failed to do is recognize and understand who they have been dealing with. In all the dealings they had with Gardner, had they not come to understand that Gardner’s interest is that of Gardner and not whether Maine gets what it wants?

Most Maine citizens were not fully made aware of the particulars of the deal made with Gardner, probably by design. Maine people aren’t stupid and had they known or been told honestly exactly all the details, I believe this deal would never have come about.

Gardner Land Co. gave up 6,000 acres of land surrounding Katahdin Lake. In exchange for that, they received approximately 21,000 acres of forested lands, of which 7,500 acres was prime timber lands well managed by the state of Maine. That’s over 3 times the amount of land they gave up. In addition to this, most Mainer’s don’t know that Baldacci promised Gardner Land Co. several thousand cord of wood they could cut from Maine Public Lands if they would extend the deadline of the land deal.

To complicate matters even further, it is believed by many, myself included, that Roxanne Quimby was negotiating to buy the 20,000-plus acre tract just south of the Katahdin Lake piece. Although it has yet to be proven, I believe that those negotiating the secret land swap knew of Quimby’s intentions and withheld that information from the Maine Legislature.

What angers me about this announcement of the sale falling through are some of the comments being made.

“This was a surprise to me and I’m sure it was to the department too,” said Sen. John Nutting, an Androscoggin County Democrat and co-chairman of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee.

“We’ve told the Gardners that we are very disappointed,” Patrick McGowan, commissioner of the Department of Conservation, told members of a legislative committee that helped negotiate the Katahdin Lake deal last year.

Maybe they should have listened. Maybe they shouldn’t have rushed into this deal for the simple sake of fulfilling Baxter’s dream. Maybe they shouldn’t have done this all in secret. Maybe they shouldn’t have withheld information and lied to the Maine people. But in all honesty, I don’t think they care. They got what they were after. They got the Katahdin Lake piece. The rest is immaterial.

So, now what? The citizens of Maine realized $5.5 million dollars from the sale of the 7,500 acres of land it sold as part of the Katahdin Lake deal. Where is that money now? Nobody knows for sure. I have tried unsuccessfully to get someone in Augusta to tell me where that money is and how it is going to be used to replace the lost lands.

On one hand, we can’t blame Gardner Land Co. for desiring the best price they can get for their land. I don’t know any of the details surrounding the negotiations that have been taking place between the state of Maine and Gardner. In dealing in good faith, we would have to assume that Gardner informed the state it had other interested buyers that were willing to pay more than appraised value for the land. Did they and did Maine sit on their hands doing nothing? Can and should Maine match the prices and pay Gardner what they want? Can it be done legally? Maine has a guideline to not pay more than appraised value for lands. Whether that is law is unclear to me.

So is this a simple matter of selling land to the highest bidder? Do you think Gardner has some moral obligation to sell the land to Maine at appraised value because of the good deal they were given in the swap? Is there more to this deal and if so, who knew?

It is disgusting to think that my mind has taken me to be suspect in anything and everything this administration has done regarding the Baxter land swap. I think most of those suspicions are justified.

Of course the one name that jumps into the equation of potential buyers of this parcel is Roxanne Quimby. She owns several thousand acres all around that piece and it would only make sense that she would buy it. If so, it further shows how Maine people got stiffed by Baldacci again.

Many of you will think I’ve lost my mind but there is a distinct possibility that this 8,000 acres was just another part of a preplanned scheme by Baldacci, Quimby, Baxter Park Authority and countless others. It just reeks of foul play.

I believe that it is time for a complete investigation by the state of Maine into the dealings surrounding this land swap starting right from the beginning. No one would listen. I was laughed at and ridiculed. I was told I didn’t know what I was talking about and that I was paranoid and just didn’t like Baldacci.

Perhaps some of that is true but at least an equal part of it is proving I was right. I said before that as time goes on, we will find out more and more about the corrupt dealings that took place. Is there more?

Tom Remington

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