Speak Up with Laurel Libby

Maddy Curtis is in her early twenties, a homesteader in training from Washington County, and she came to politics through history, not headlines. In this conversation, we talk about why no single election decides everything, finding common ground across deep divides, and what a grounded life looks like in modern Maine. What you'll hear: Why Maddy believes Maine is turning around over the long...

Maine spends $1.4 billion a year on MaineCare, one of every four dollars the state spends. When a provider overbills, the state often calls it an "improper payment"... even if there is fraud involved... and lets the provider pay it back out of future claims. Steve Robinson of The Maine Wire explains how that works, and the two rules Lead Maine is asking DHHS to put in place. In this epis...

What happens when a Maine mom who doesn't follow politics sits down with her state rep and just starts asking questions? Libby Fotter, a homeschooling mom of four daughters from Auburn, joins Laurel for a conversation that covers how the Maine Legislature actually works, from the inside, for anyone who has ever felt like Augusta was happening to them without their input. No political experienc...

Government surveillance... creepy, intrusive, and unconstitutional! Automated license plate readers are spreading quietly across Maine towns, scanning and logging every car that drives past, innocent travelers included. Laurel sits down with two leaders from the ACLU of Maine, Policy Director Michael Kebede and Policy Fellow Alicia Rea, to unpack how Flock cameras work, what they actually capture,...

Maine's June 9 primary will use Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV), and a lot of voters are still not sure how it works. Here's the solution! We recorded our in studio Lead Maine event, "Ranked Choice Voting Decoded," where Trent England, founder and executive director of Save Our States and co-chairman of the Stop Ranked-Choice Voting Coalition, and Maine GOP Executive Director Jason Sa...

The same week the Maine Legislature passed the data center moratorium (which would later be vetoed), American Energy Institute dropped a report showing $39 million in foreign funding behind the groups pushing for the policy. That's not a coincidence. Jason Isaac has spent years tracing the money behind America's energy debate, and what he's found connects your electricity bill, the attempted shutd...

Rohen Brown was 18 years old, running the last race of her high school career, when she stepped onto the Western Conference Championship podium in second place. The athlete in first was a male who had been competing in her races for years. Rohen is 19 now, studying political science at the University of Southern Maine, and serving as Lead Maine's first intern. This November, Maine voters will...

What happens when a doctor has time to actually know their patients? Dr. Zev Myerowitz has spent over a decade in Maine's healthcare policy debates. But his real argument is practical, built from years running one of New England's largest integrative musculoskeletal practices. In this conversation, Dr. Zev walks through the economics that broke primary care, why direct primary care clinics...

I met Parker Brownrigg on a flight. He's 26, grew up in Lewiston, graduated Maine Maritime, and paid off over $100,000 in student loans before his 27th birthday. He also can't buy a house in Maine. We talked about why ‒ and what it says about where our state is headed.

Mississippi policymakers prioritized science-based reading over the last decade and saw the nation's greatest gains in reading scores as measured by the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card. Meanwhile, Maine has been spending more and more on K-12 education, not empowering families, losing student enrollment, and falling to some of the worst N...

Amy Sussman is a wife, mother, longtime Mainer, and aunt of Max Hathaway, a victim of the tragic October 2023 shooting in Lewiston. Max was 35 at the time, a father of two with another on the way, and that day received his business degree from the University of Southern Maine. Amy has spent much of her free time tracking down how the money was spent that was raised for the Lewiston shooting victim...

Laurel brings on Jason Snead to discuss the absurdities of Ranked-Choice Voting, how the national movement for RCV has stalled (thankfully!), and what Mainers can do to push back on this extreme form of election manipulation in our state. Maine is one of only two states (with Alaska) that use RCV for any statewide elections. Jason Snead is the Executive Director of the Honest Elections Project. He...

Who spent all the money?? Dr. Vance Ginn joins Laurel for a discussion on the good, the bad, and the ugly of state budgets, what makes for real economic prosperity, and what Maine can learn from states that are cutting taxes and enabling people to flourish. Vance Ginn is a free-market economist, founder of Ginn Economic Consulting, and host of the Let People Prosper Show podcast. He served as chie...

Laurel and special guest, Mary Katharine Ham, discuss the issues that hit close to home, and how the government that's closest to us affects us the most. From the cost of energy to the state of education, the answer to the question, "How can we CHANGE the future?" has a surprising answer... tune in for the inaugural episode and simultaneous Lead Maine launch!

Join Laurel and Nick, Lead Maine's new Policy & Comms Director, for a preview of what's around the corner with our upcoming launch and beyond!