Corporate Contribution Ban
Introduction
Corporations use political contributions to tip the playing field in their favor. That's not fair. It’s not good for the economy and it’s not good for democracy.
Mainers deserve the confidence that their representatives listen to them, not corporate special interests.
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The data
Below, we have represented our data in various ways that highlight what candidates, Caucus PACs, Leadership PACs, and Party Committees receive from all sources versus commercial and corporate sources.
This data shows what recipients have received based on political party from commerical sources.
*Note: It is up to the political parties to self-report these numbers.
Why it matters
More than a third of money raised by legislator-controlled PACs comes from corporate sources. The majority of spending in the 2020 election cycle, including referendums, came from corporate sources, including some from foreign-owned companies.
It’s not all grim: 55% of legislative candidates used Clean Elections in 2020, which means they cannot take contributions from corporations and PACs. And more than 39,0000 Maine voters gave $5 Clean Elections qualifying contributions.
However, money in politics goes beyond just spending in an election cycle. It can affect legislation and progress on a number of issues that come up in a legislative session. You can check out two of our webinars that discuss how money in politics shape tax policy (which affects your life) and environmental policy (which also affects your life.)
Federal law and 22 other states prohibit corporate contributions to candidates. Maine is lagging behind. It’s time for us to show leadership again.
Learn more
Money in Politics Report #16: Corporate Contributions
Since the landmark Citizens United decision in 2010, politicians and activists alike have denounced the rise of big money — and corporate money — in American politics. Corporate influence in the electoral process can overpower the voices of voters and warp the legislative process.
Conversation on Health Care & Democracy
Perhaps no single topic has proven more difficult to address at the state and national level than health care. Few issues have such a direct impact on millions of families and individuals. And at 18% of our national GDP, no other issue presents comparable financial stakes. As a result, health care industry forces have an abiding presence in government at all levels, and participate in campaign funding for races in Maine and across the country.
Are wealthy and powerful corporations and organizations able to bend health care policy to favor their interests? Is public policy in this vital area subject to the popular will, or do lobbyists, contributors, and other powerful forces stand between the people and the solutions they desire?
Join this discussion with leading professionals in the field to discuss Power, Health Care, and Democracy. Former State Representative John Brautigam will moderate an impressive guest panel:
- Hon. Geoff Gratwick – Physician and former Senate Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee
- Dr. Phil Caper – Physician and board member of Maine Allcare
- Kate Sykes – Former investigative reporter and universal health care advocate
Corporate Contribution Ban Info Session: Looking to get involved in limiting the influence of money in Maine politics? Check out this info session about our Corporate Contribution Ban, a bill to prohibit corporations from donating to campaigns, leadership PACs, and caucus PACs in Maine. We discuss what the bill aims to achieve, what is included in the bill, and what steps you can take to help advocate for it to pass this legislative session.
Corporate Contributions: 2020 was a huge election year, and that meant corporations were giving money to candidates and PACs. We know that spending during the election cycle surpassed $14 billion, which is twice the amount spent in the 2016 election. In this webinar, we broke down our report on corporate contributions, keeping an eye on how corporate interests continue to shape Maine politics.
How Money in Politics Affect You: Offering an introduction to online research tools available to the public, we discussed how corporate interests shape our lives. We also touched on candidates, political committees, issue committees, party committees, lobbyists — the whole gambit.
Foreign Contributions
Maine Citizens for Clean Elections also supports a ban on foreign contributions in Maine politics. There are growing concerns about foreign involvement in our democratic process in Maine, and there are multiple bills this session addressing this problem.
This concern is based on the belief that our system of self-government should place political control in the hands of the sovereign people, and concerns that foreign interests will meddle with that process to leverage their influence or achieve results they cannot win through diplomacy.
Current federal law prohibits the involvement of foreign nationals in candidate campaigns, but it does not prohibit their involvement in issue and ballot question campaigns. Also, federal law does not address a variety of foreign financial interests beyond “foreign nationals” that may seek to influence our elections.
It is important that we work to insulate our elections from foreign influence, and these bills represent important steps towards returning Maine elections to Mainers.
Representative Kyle Bailey has sponsored a bill (LD 479) that will both tighten the restrictions on foreign contributions in candidate campaigns and prohibit most of the foreign money flowing into issue campaigns. Senator Rick Bennett has a bill (LD 194) that is focused on contributions from foreign governments and corporations that they control or heavily influence. And Representative Walter Riseman (LD 641) has a bill focused on contributions in issue campaigns from corporations with a controlling stockholder who is foreign.
It is imperative that we insulate our democracy – both issue campaigns and candidate campaigns – from direct interference from contributors whose national loyalty is to another country.
We warmly welcome people from other countries to visit Maine and become Mainers, and we also welcome investors from abroad to share ownership in our large corporations. But we need a strong guardrail to protect our campaign finance system from the undue influence of large financial expenditures made by mulit-national corporations whose interests lie elsewhere. We will support the strongest possible bill among those considered this year.
Email your legislator
Use this form to lookup and contact your Maine legislators. It only takes a few minutes! Urge them to support banning corporate contributions in our elections. You can use the sample letter provided in this form or feel free to alter the letter to include your own statement.
Get involved
There are several roles you can play as a volunteer. Reach out to us to learn how you can get involved based on your interests! Just email at info@mainecleanelections.org.
There are also a few actions you can do right now:
- Write a Letter to the Editor.
- Contact your legislator.
- Join our biweekly Money in Politics Zoom call. Email us to get the details.