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The 2005
legislative session has been a demanding one for Maine Citizens
for Clean Elections (MCCE). Dozens of bills were introduced
regarding Clean Elections, both good and bad. Our point person
in Augusta, Doug Clopp worked tirelessly to shepherd the good
bills through and defeat the bad ones.
The biggest
victory of the year was the restoration of $2.4 million to the
Clean Election Fund. This will ensure that there will be
sufficient funds in the event that multiple candidates run for
Governor in 2006 under the Clean Election program. Considering
the tightness of the state budget, this represents a major
victory. Our desire, which will be the final legitimizing moment
for the Maine Clean Election Act, is to have our next Governor
elected using public financing. We hope that Maine will have the
second Governor in the nation, after Janet Napolitano of
Arizona, to be elected without taking any money from wealthy
special interests. We urge you all to call upon any and all
announced candidates for Governor to follow the lead of nearly
80% of our state legislators and participate in Maine’s
landmark system.
The most
threatening bill of the session was one to repeal Clean
Elections. The bill’s minority report was amended in committee
to put the repeal out to the voters to decide whether or not to
eliminate the Maine Clean Election Act. However, once the bill
made it to the House floor, it was defeated by a resounding vote
of 103 to 33 (15 were absent). In the Senate, they did not even
take a roll call, and it went under the hammer in that body.
MCCE
achieved 95% of our legislative agenda to protect and improve
Clean Elections. We worked to close the slate card exemption
loophole that was exploited in the last election, and we also
helped close the frontloading loophole. Electronic reporting of
campaign finance disclosure reports by parties and PACs was also
enacted, which will free up Ethics Commission staff to spend
more time assisting Clean Election candidates. Another reform
will require campaign finance disclosure for recount expenses so
we know who is financing a recount effort.
Considerable
dialogue regarding PAC reform advanced significantly in the
legislature this year. The level of discussion about this issue
was raised higher than ever before. A bill remains in committee
as a vehicle for reform next session. A proposal by House
Majority Leader Glenn Cummings, LD 822, which was endorsed by
MCCE, hopefully will be part of any package that is enacted.
Maine is still the only state in New England with no
restrictions on PAC contributions.
Several
Maine women are featured in a new brochure published by
Northeast Action entitled “Women. Legislators. Leaders. Women
speak out in support of Clean Elections”. This brochure is
being distributed nationally and features Senate President Beth
Edmonds, Senator Christine Savage, and Representative Marilyn
Canavan. It also features three women legislators from Arizona.
If you are interested in a free copy, please contact us at
780-8657 x5.
Some good
news from the other Portland (Oregon) is that they recently
approved a Clean Election system for their municipal elections,
marking the first major city with a full public funding option
for local campaigns and hopefully will lead to the state
enacting a similar measure. In Connecticut, both houses of their
legislature passed versions of a Clean Election system, and the
Republican Governor has expressed support for the idea. This
issue may be resolved favorably during an upcoming special
session in their legislature. Clean Elections supporters in
Hawaii are also encouraged by this year’s movement with their
bill, and hope to enact it next year.
Maine is
also continuing to be a leader nationally in promoting Clean
Elections through the Ambassador program. We work closely with
Public Campaign, the national organization working on public
financing of campaigns in bringing legislators from Maine to
speak with their peers in other legislatures around the nation.
Updates on
Clean Elections can now be found more regularly on the Maine
Citizen Leadership Fund’s blog at www.mainecitizen.org/blog.
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