You know - those wretched ads and phone calls and worse consequences of too much money spent in elections. 

In 1996, Maine voters, by means of a citizen-initiated ballot referendum took steps to remedy this by passing Maine’s first-in-the-nation Clean Election Act.  This program allows candidates for the Maine Legislature to choose to receive a modest fixed amount of public money to finance their campaigns if they agree not to raise or spend any private money, including their own.  The intent is to reduce money spent by candidates’ campaigns, allow them time to talk to potential constituents about issues instead of fundraising and free them from the risk of influence from special interests or individuals who might otherwise be financing their campaigns. 

This system worked very well judging by the number of legislative candidates of all parties who have chosen it, a number that reached a high of 81% in 2006 and 2008.  Then a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down a part of the law that provided Clean Election candidates additional funds in races where they were heavily outspent by privately funded opposition.  Since that decision, the number of Clean Election candidates has dropped to just over 50% in the current election season. 

The bottom line is we need to remedy this. A remedy is a significant part of a new nonpartisan citizen-initiated ballot referendum that along with other provisions will bring more security to the Clean Election Fund and more transparency and accountability in our elections, all measures to put more control into the hands of voting citizens and less into the hands of the funders.  For example, if passed at the polls in November 2015, this referendum will require the names of the top three funders of third party “independent” entities to be cited in ads these entities pay for.  This is where most of the spending goes these days, and since the Citizens United decision, it is overwhelming. 

A link to the text of the bill and its 14-item summary is on the homepage of www.knoxmainedemocrats.org under the heading “ME Clean Elections.”

The upcoming November 4 polls are the best opportunity for supporters to collect petition signatures to put these measures to strengthen Maine’s Clean Election Act and other campaign finance reforms on the ballot as a statewide referendum in November 2015.   

The lead organization for this petition drive is Maine Citizens for Clean Elections.  Their website, www.mainecleanelections.org has background and analysis and links for volunteers to sign up for shifts at the polls across the state to collect signatures on November 4^th. Eight hundred volunteers will be in 205 polling places.  All of Knox County will be covered.  More volunteers will mean more shifts can be covered around the state.  Supervision and training will be provided. 

Please check this out and help if you can.  This is not a hard sell.  People get it.  Polling shows super majority support for these reforms from voters of all political affiliations. Be sure to look for the petitions when you vote at the polls November 4.

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If you would like to help elect Democrats this fall, please come in or phone our Knox County Democratic Headquarters at 594-3901.  We are in the Harbor Plaza at 235 Camden Street (Route 1) in Rockland.  Regular hours are Monday-Friday 9-6; Saturday 9-3.  Come in and get signs, buttons, candidate literature and other material.  Check out the Tag Sale and the Great Campaign Season Travel Raffle, too.

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Authorized and paid for by the Knox County Democratic Committee, Stu Thro, treasurer

P.O. Box 452, Rockland, ME 04841