The latest political action by Maine Heritage Policy Center - law suits filed again Maine Municipal Association and against state law allowing "Clean Money candidates" to obtain tax money because other candidates receive more financial support. It's supposed to be OUR money but the state Legislature can still take it. Maybe the federal courts will say differently. We can only hope at this point.
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For eight years The Maine Heritage Policy Center has been clear in its purpose: to fight for less government and more freedom, and to hold politicians and bureaucrats accountable to you, and every other Maine taxpayer.
We have done so under the Statehouse Dome in Augusta, at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., at the ballot box, through MaineOpenGov.org, and now, in the courts.
In June, MHPC's Center for Constitutional Government filed suit against the Maine Municipal Association - declared by the Maine Legislature in 1989 as an instrumentality of local government - for expending nearly $2 million in public funds to influence the outcome of five citizen initiatives between 2002 and 2009. The case is now pending in federal court.
The Maine Municipal Association is funded by our property tax dollars. A governmental entity cannot use our tax dollars for electioneering and political campaigns. It's morally wrong, and it's unconstitutional. Through the courts, MHPC will hold the Maine Municipal Association accountable for its illegal behavior. The law is on our side.
We have also joined a lawsuit filed just last week against Maine's Clean Elections Law for its provisions that infringe upon our First Amendment right to free speech.
The Maine Clean Elections Act, passed in 1995, provides taxpayer funding for Maine legislative and gubernatorial candidates who agree to limit how much money they raise and spend on their political campaigns. Under the law, state legislative candidates receive between $500 and $19,000 in initial funding, plus additional "matching funds" of up to $38,000 if they are outspent by their opponent and independent groups.
Under the law, you can contribute to a candidate who chooses to raise his or her own funds privately to run a political campaign. But if that individual candidate is running against a Clean Elections candidate, your contribution to the candidate you support is matched, dollar-for-dollar, with taxpayer funds, and deposited directly into your opponent's campaign coffers.
When your financial support of your favorite candidate results in your opponent receiving equal funding in the form of tax dollars without lifting a finger, your free speech rights are violated. It's unacceptable, it's unconstitutional, and it must be stopped.
The federal courts seem to agree. In the last month, two federal courts of appeals have prevented similar public funding schemes from operating in Connecticut and Florida. And in June the Supreme Court took the step of stopping an Arizona public funding scheme that used matching funds.
Now, the battle has come to Maine, and MHPC is on the front lines.
In addition to our ambitious agenda for 2010, and our lawsuit against the Maine Municipal Association for its illegal electioneering, MHPC must devote a significant amount of resources and staff time to ensure our free speech rights are protected not only in the court of law, but also in the court of public opinion.
Your support, in any amount, makes all the difference.
Will you please consider a contribution to The Maine Heritage Policy Center to support our work? Your gift today of $1,000, $500, $250, $100, $50 or even $25 will help us continue the fight for a smaller, smarter government that does not infringe upon your constitutional rights.
You can click here to make your tax-deductible contribution securely online today.
When government crosses the line, when your rights are trampled, when politicians continue to expand government, The Maine Heritage Policy Center acts. Your support makes what we do possible. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Tarren Bragdon
Chief Executive Officer
ABOUT MHPC
The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, nonpartisan research and educational organization based in Portland, Maine. The Maine Heritage Policy Center formulates and promotes free-market, conservative public policies in the areas of economic growth, fiscal matters, health care, education, constitutional law and government transparency - providing solutions that will benefit all the people of Maine. Contributions to MHPC are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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We seem to have one constant reader who, unfortunately, submits every comment in some foreign language. The characters appear to be Asian in nature, but regardless, they cannot be read by this writer who speaks and writes in ENGLISH. Since one cannot be sure that reader's remarks are not some hidden code to another reader, this blog will continue to delete them as soon as they are discovered.
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