AUGUSTA — State senators agreed Tuesday to pump another $4.7 million into the Maine Clean Election Fund to ensure there will be enough next year to cover legislative and gubernatorial candidates who choose to participate in the program. By an 18-16 vote, senators declined to go along with Republican Majority Leader Garrett Mason’s assertion that […]
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Posted inLetters
Beyond deplorable
Just when America thought that this dirtiest of campaigns was finally over, out came the youthful disenchanted, filling the streets and rioting under the name of protesting. Carrying signs declaring that “Love trumps Hate” while rioting and destroying at the same time is beyond deplorable. It is unbelievable and shows the glaring hypocrisy of the […]
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Posted inLetters
A need for better candidates
It is almost time to vote for a new president and I am not sure if either of the candidates will do a good job and live up to the “oath of office.” I have been voting since 1964 and only twice was I sure that I was voting for the person who would do […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Stavros Mendros has major role in citizen-initiated campaigns
LEWISTON — Monday is the deadline for citizen-initiated campaigns to submit signatures to the Secretary of State’s office to qualify for the November ballot. Of the active petitions, half hired Olympic Consulting in Lewiston to send field workers out to collect signatures, a pay-for-signature process that came under fire earlier this week when workers accused […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Maine Small Business Coalition joins campaign finance reform push
LEWISTON — A group of local business owners threw their support Thursday to a statewide ballot effort aimed at reforming Maine’s campaign finance and political advertising disclosure laws. All are members of the Maine Small Business Coalition, which represents more than 4,000 small businesses from across the state. They said the coalition supports a yes […]
Posted inMaine
Group seeks to end corporate influence in elections, makes case before Legislature
AUGUSTA — A group hoping to reel in the influence of corporate money in politics and overturn a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling brought its message to the State House on Thursday. The group, We the People Maine, part of a national grassroots movement pushing to amend the U.S. Constitution to ensure that corporations are […]
Posted inMaine
Bill seeks to tax PAC-to-PAC transfers in Maine
AUGUSTA — The top Republican in the state Senate is offering a bill that would charge political action committees in Maine a fee for transferring large amounts of money between one another. The bill, LD 1192, offered by state Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, is the latest in a list of about a dozen bills […]
Posted inMaine
Lawmakers seek reform for Maine’s Clean Election law
AUGUSTA — A stack of bills aimed at cleaning up Maine’s Clean Election finance law holds the potential to rankle political leaders on both sides of the aisle. State Rep. Justin Chenette, D-Saco, said he knows leadership is displeased with his efforts to stop candidates who are seeking state office from also running political action […]
Posted inMaine
Auburn independent attacks PAC spending on ‘clean election’ candidates
AUBURN — An independent candidate running for the Maine Legislature attacked one of his opponents and four other Democratic candidates in a full-page advertisement Monday, stating the group was “dirty, rotten, crooked” and “cheaters” by benefiting from outside money while running as Clean Election candidates. The print advertisement, which was published on Page C2 of […]
Posted inMaine
Bellows challenges Collins’ U.S. Senate voting record
AUGUSTA — Shenna Bellows, the Democratic challenger trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, unleashed another round of criticism of Collins’ votes on a range of issues during a news conference at the State House on Thursday. Bellows, the former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, went after Collins for […]