Legislator seeks to allow Mainers to remove their names from petitions

Whatever the petition is, I wonder if it shouldn't be illegal for those collecting signatures to misrepresent what people are signing...to directly lie. It isn't now. We have a large older population, and in some areas, a high level of non-English speaking people. Somehow, a direct lie seems wrong, and people's vetoes are worded confusingly.

I think anyone who disagrees with this bill by Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham should contact him and let him know. What a really bad, bad, bad idea!

I agree with tron. Most people know what they are signing to begin with and if they didn't do their research BEFORE signing, they really shouldn't be involved in political measures. Seriously, this is a really bad idea and I hope it fails to go through.

I can see it now, opponets of a measure urging their people to sign petitions only to petition to remove their names after petitions were submitted, hoping to drop the number below those necessary. Naw, read before you sign.

A registered voter who decides to sign a petition should know what they are signing in the first place. Allowing individuals to later cross out or otherwise remove their names would be detrimental to any citizens' initiative, and be a costly process for the State and ultimately the taxpayers. Allowing this might also encourage opponents of a petition to seek out petition signers for the purpose of getting the signers to recant. This might be viewed by some as an attack on their privacy. I hope all Lewiston Auburn legislators vote against this plan.

There wouldn't be a petition if an issue weren't controversial--and any time there is a controversial issue there will be people making misleading statements about it, or people making statements that those on the other side think misleading. I don't think the Secretary of State should have his time wasted. If the information on the printed petition is accurate, that should be good enough: read it before you sign it.

Albert A. DiMillo, Jr.

The proponents of LD 1495 (mostly Democrats) are the ones that are spreading lies about this "Tax Reform" law. For example, proponents claim that the estimated tax savings will be $57 million. This is not true. In a meeting with the Maine Revenue Services two weeks ago with both me and Senator Trahan, the MRS stated that the correct number for 2010 is $53.9 million not $57 million and said that they did not know where the Democrats get their $57 million figure. In addition, the MRS admitted that they are projecting that $5.7 million of the $53.9 million will not be paid out, because they assume that only 50% of the tax refunds to low income Mainers who normally do not file income tax returns will not file to get their tax refund. So the MRS number in 2010 is really $48.2 million. The MRS also stated that this number will decrease by at least another $17 million by 2013 due to the lost of indexing for inflation. So by 2013 the tax saving is down to about $31 million based on their estimate that assumes an unreasonably low inflation factor. Now the really good news is that the MRS estimated that a group of less than 5,000 taxpayers with income over $350,000 will in 2013 receive more than $34 million in tax cuts. So this group will be getting more than 100% of the net $31 million tax cut estimated by the MRS to be received in 2013. Which means the other 99.3% of Mainers will have a net tax increase of $3 million in 2013. When one uses a more realistic inflation factor, the MRS numbers get much worse. My estimate is that the tax increase to the 99.3% of Mainers is more likely to be about $15 - $20 million. To get the real facts go to mainedemocratstaxreform.org. I am a Democrat, but refuse to spread lies like other less ethical Democrats.