All posts by Michael Cianchette

Michael Cianchette

About Michael Cianchette

Michael Cianchette was the chief counsel to Gov. Paul LePage from 2012-2013 and deputy counsel from 2011-2012. A Navy reservist, he was deployed to Afghanistan from 2013-2014 as a trainer and adviser to the Afghan National Police. He is an alumnus of the Leadership Maine program and holds a BA in economics and political science from Boston College along with a JD and an MBA from Suffolk University. He works as in-house counsel and financial manager for a number of affiliated companies in southern Maine.

Job one for new lawmakers is to get more young people to Maine

Dear Members of the 129th Maine Legislature, On Wednesday, Dec. 5, you will raise your right hand and swear an oath to the Constitutions of the United States and Maine. Then, it’s official. You will hold the office to which you were elected. And the real work will begin. Maine is in an interesting place. […]

Can we make the next election better?

Are you ready for the next election? No, I’m not talking about 2020 and the chaos of a presidential year. To all of our chagrin, that will start far too soon. Rather, the next election is the “secret” race for Maine’s constitutional offices. We’re an outlier in the United States. Our attorney general, secretary of […]

Democrats won, but voters still hate taxes

For all the (not incorrect) talk about “blue waves” and “Republican rebukes” in the election results, there is one undertow which has been under-reported: Voters still hate taxes. In Maine, one of the biggest winners on Nov. 6 was not Angus King. Or Chellie Pingree. Or Janet Mills. It was the “No on 1” campaign, […]

How service in Afghanistan reminded me that voting is awesome

With the exception of the 2nd Congressional District, the election is now over in Maine. Plenty has been — and will be — written about the “meaning” of the results. But whatever meaning people derive from the results, we are about to witness one of the most miraculous aspects of American democracy: a peaceful transition […]

Divide the government and get things done

“As Maine goes …” The famous saying may have new meaning. Democrats will probably take the U.S. House of Representatives and hold the Maine House. Both here and in Washington, the Senate will be balanced on a knife’s edge. And the executive branch is definitely going to be led by a Republican in D.C., while […]

Stand with Maine’s next governor and vote “no” on Question 1

What if I told you I got Terry Hayes, Janet Mills, and Paul LePage to all agree on something? It would have to be pretty non-controversial, right? Something like “Maine should have good roads.” Let’s say we got Shawn Moody, John Baldacci, former Maine Supreme Court Chief Justice Dan Wathen, Alan Caron, and former Secretary […]

Is Shawn Moody stronger than compound interest?

What is the most powerful force in the universe? If you’re a Harry Potter aficionado, you might say “love.” Understandable, as it saved his life from the villain of the series. If you’re a physicist, you’d probably go with the “strong nuclear” force. It holds atoms together, literally creating the material world. Or, if you […]

Calm down and be civil before someone gets killed

I’m worried someone is going to get killed. While that may sound like hyperbole, it is not intended to be. It seems we are reaching a political moment where the American melting pot is in danger of boiling over. It leaves us with one of two options: either the steam builds up and violently erupts, […]

Want to get back at Donald Trump? Simplify the tax code.

You have to give The New York Times credit. Their 13,000-word expose on the inner workings of the Trump family business is fascinating. How much of it is true is a different question. And the boundary between bias and objectivity is unclear; much of the piece uses words with loaded connotations, such as describing certain […]

Money can’t buy love or the Blaine House

Well, Janet Mills is winning. Not necessarily the Blaine House. The limited polling shows a neck-and-neck race, while the lawn sign battle points to a clear Shawn Moody victory. But she is winning the money race. Through this week’s campaign finance reports, the Maine attorney general and Democratic candidate for governor has raised over $1.8 […]