2002 Fredericton Encaenia - Ceremony A
King, Angus S., Jr.
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
Orator: Patterson, Stephen E.
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 2002
ANGUS KING JR.
to be Doctor of Letters
In honoring Governor King of Maine, the University of New Brunswick celebrates its relationship with our neighboring state. We have taught students from Maine, enjoyed a warm relationship with the University of Maine, exchanged students with the Orono campus, shared research interests in environmental issues and borderlands history, and we have welcomed Maine business people, educators, and politicians to our campus. Senators Margaret Chase Smith and Edmund Muskie received honorary degrees here. Today it is our great privilege to welcome Governor Angus King. His presence allows us to renew our ties with a valued neighbor, and equally to sing the praises of a unique political leader.
Governor King is a politician without a party. As an Independent, he ran against Democratic and Republican contenders in the election of 1994, and succeeded in his very first bid for public office. In 1998, he was re-elected by a landslide, and is today one of only two independent governors in the country. Political pundits have grumbled about his folksy manner and his non-confrontational style, preferring perhaps the cut and thrust of partisan rhetoric and the thrill of party combat. A Bangor newspaper called him the Mr. Rogers of politics. But no matter: Governor King has scored where it counts most, with the people. He has been as effective as he has been popular. He originally won the public trust by exposing, in plain and simple language, the accounting tricks being used to hide the real financial condition of the state. In his belief, accountability mattered, and it has continued to matter. Just this month, in a characteristic move, he issued an executive order to inform the public of shortfalls in the annual revenue projections, and the steps he was taking to freeze new hirings and limit departmental spending. His style has been to be completely up-front with the people, with good news or bad, and his approach has won him enormous respect.
Governor King is a lawyer by profession. He graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Law School, and he practised law in Skowhegan as a young man before accepting a job in Washington. He served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics in the early 1970s, and then returned to Maine to practise in a leading law firm in Brunswick. At the same time, he began to develop a public profile as the affable host of "Maine Watch," a television show produced by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. His always polite but probing questions of state politicians and others over a period of more than eighteen years undoubtedly left a deep impression on Maine voters. They could see that here was an intelligent man of integrity and conviction, deeply attached to Maine and the things that make Maine unique, and fully conversant on the challenges facing the state.
In the early 1980s, he began to develop a particular interest in one of those challenges: energy use and conservation in a state that valued, and profited from, a clean and largely unspoiled environment. He joined an alternative energy development company, serving as its vice-president and general counsel. In 1989, he established his own company, Northeast Energy Management Inc., specializing in energy-related projects for major commercial and industrial operations. When earlier this month he addressed a conference of Canadian premiers and New England governors interested in the future of cross-border energy development, he spoke as an expert with substantial experience in the field. Diversification is the key, he said, to unanimous approval.
Governor King practises what he preaches. Last month, he went on an environmental tour, talking to school kids about what they could do to conserve energy and resources, and meeting with civic officials to see what they were doing to raise public awareness of environmental issues. There is no pomp or stuffiness when this governor visits; he arrives in casual clothes and strolls about in the mud or the rain. When he vacations, he takes his wife and children camping in Maine's state parks or wilderness areas. When he needs to get away from the telephone completely, he climbs on his 1998 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and heads for the freedom of the open road. Little wonder that this no-nonsense governor, with no party and no inflated rhetoric, has struck a chord with a weary public, eager for something new in politics. Something new that reminds them very much of something very old: good manners, down-home gentleness and common sense, and a practical feel for what most needs doing. In a changing world of globalized markets and new trans-national political structures, perhaps the people of Maine have discovered a promising new direction in politics, or rediscovered one of the founding principles of the American republican experiment. It is "res publica," the principle of the public good.
It is our honor to present Governor Angus King Jr., environmentalist, political innovator, man of the people, and our good neighbor.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 4
ANGUS KING JR.
to be Doctor of Letters
In honoring Governor King of Maine, the University of New Brunswick celebrates its relationship with our neighboring state. We have taught students from Maine, enjoyed a warm relationship with the University of Maine, exchanged students with the Orono campus, shared research interests in environmental issues and borderlands history, and we have welcomed Maine business people, educators, and politicians to our campus. Senators Margaret Chase Smith and Edmund Muskie received honorary degrees here. Today it is our great privilege to welcome Governor Angus King. His presence allows us to renew our ties with a valued neighbor, and equally to sing the praises of a unique political leader.
Governor King is a politician without a party. As an Independent, he ran against Democratic and Republican contenders in the election of 1994, and succeeded in his very first bid for public office. In 1998, he was re-elected by a landslide, and is today one of only two independent governors in the country. Political pundits have grumbled about his folksy manner and his non-confrontational style, preferring perhaps the cut and thrust of partisan rhetoric and the thrill of party combat. A Bangor newspaper called him the Mr. Rogers of politics. But no matter: Governor King has scored where it counts most, with the people. He has been as effective as he has been popular. He originally won the public trust by exposing, in plain and simple language, the accounting tricks being used to hide the real financial condition of the state. In his belief, accountability mattered, and it has continued to matter. Just this month, in a characteristic move, he issued an executive order to inform the public of shortfalls in the annual revenue projections, and the steps he was taking to freeze new hirings and limit departmental spending. His style has been to be completely up-front with the people, with good news or bad, and his approach has won him enormous respect.
Governor King is a lawyer by profession. He graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Virginia Law School, and he practised law in Skowhegan as a young man before accepting a job in Washington. He served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Alcoholism and Narcotics in the early 1970s, and then returned to Maine to practise in a leading law firm in Brunswick. At the same time, he began to develop a public profile as the affable host of "Maine Watch," a television show produced by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. His always polite but probing questions of state politicians and others over a period of more than eighteen years undoubtedly left a deep impression on Maine voters. They could see that here was an intelligent man of integrity and conviction, deeply attached to Maine and the things that make Maine unique, and fully conversant on the challenges facing the state.
In the early 1980s, he began to develop a particular interest in one of those challenges: energy use and conservation in a state that valued, and profited from, a clean and largely unspoiled environment. He joined an alternative energy development company, serving as its vice-president and general counsel. In 1989, he established his own company, Northeast Energy Management Inc., specializing in energy-related projects for major commercial and industrial operations. When earlier this month he addressed a conference of Canadian premiers and New England governors interested in the future of cross-border energy development, he spoke as an expert with substantial experience in the field. Diversification is the key, he said, to unanimous approval.
Governor King practises what he preaches. Last month, he went on an environmental tour, talking to school kids about what they could do to conserve energy and resources, and meeting with civic officials to see what they were doing to raise public awareness of environmental issues. There is no pomp or stuffiness when this governor visits; he arrives in casual clothes and strolls about in the mud or the rain. When he vacations, he takes his wife and children camping in Maine's state parks or wilderness areas. When he needs to get away from the telephone completely, he climbs on his 1998 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and heads for the freedom of the open road. Little wonder that this no-nonsense governor, with no party and no inflated rhetoric, has struck a chord with a weary public, eager for something new in politics. Something new that reminds them very much of something very old: good manners, down-home gentleness and common sense, and a practical feel for what most needs doing. In a changing world of globalized markets and new trans-national political structures, perhaps the people of Maine have discovered a promising new direction in politics, or rediscovered one of the founding principles of the American republican experiment. It is "res publica," the principle of the public good.
It is our honor to present Governor Angus King Jr., environmentalist, political innovator, man of the people, and our good neighbor.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 4
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