Sat, 11/02/2024 - 9:22pm

Sarah Hardy

It’s been brought to my attention that my State Representative Reagan Paul, of Winterport, has in her first term traveled nationally to attend several conferences and trainings sponsored by global corporations and religious extremists.

I think if she is going to use Maine as a laboratory to attempt to implement extreme policies, then my fellow constituents in District 37 deserve to know more about these activities, and their sponsors, too.

Representative Paul is a state chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). ALEC, which gives corporations access to state lawmakers in exchange for annual dues and sponsorships, has proven to be a powerful force for implementing a right-wing and pro-corporate agenda throughout the country.

At ALEC’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, last year, Paul described how she got ideas for pushing development of nuclear power plants in Maine from attending an energy task force headed by Washington, D.C., coal and gas lobbyist Joe Trotter, who is paid by fossil fuel companies to oppose renewable energy.

Reagan Paul also attended the 2023 national conference of the Wallbuilders’ Pro-Family Legislative Network. Wallbuilders is a Texas-based Christian Nationalist organization founded by pseudo-historian David Barton that uses reinterpretation of historical and biblical records to oppose to the separation of church and state and LGBTQ+ rights.

Like ALEC, Wallbuilders bring together religious fundamentalist legislators and provides them with policy templates to impose its unpopular religious views on the public. Paul even makes an appearance in the Wallbuilders fundraising video.

Just last month, Paul flew to the Texas-Mexico border to attend an event sponsored by the Washington,D.C.,-based anti-immigrant group Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR).

The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies FAIR as a hate group with ties to white supremacist groups. I don’t know how Rep. Paul proposes to address federal immigration policy as a state representative, but it does make you wonder if she has grander political aspirations.

As Ms. Paul said in her ALEC interview video, she is representing what’s been a historically Democratic district. I certainly wish she would spend more time listening to her voters back here in Maine than flying around the country being a poster child for national extremist groups.

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