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Maine's Libertarians, Greens working together on many issues
Maine's Libertarians, Greens working together on many issues
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Two third-party political groups in Maine say they are working together on several aspects of their agendas about which they find common ground, including a shared opposition to mandatory vaccination and a desire to cut corporate welfare.
The Green Independent and Libertarian parties of Maine say in a recent joint statement they have "agreed to work together to promote pro-democratic policies and protect individual liberties." The statement includes 10 policy points, including "end regime change wars" and "teach and enforce our Bill of Rights," including new training for law enforcement officers.
The two parties say they are "united in our desire for honesty and integrity in our political system." They say they also "encourage other state parties, and our national parties to follow suit by engaging in mutually respectful dialogue."
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Portland school board votes to double pre-kindergarten program over 5 years
Portland school board votes to double pre-kindergarten program over 5 years
The expanded program is expected to cost $3 million and offer full-day classes to about 260 children, which is about half of the 4-year-olds in the city.
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The Soul Stirrer with embodied faith in action, Pat LaMarche on the Green New Deal
The Soul Stirrer with embodied faith in action, Pat LaMarche on the Green New Deal
Podcast with two-time former Maine Green candidate for governor Pat LaMarche:
Where Greens And Libertarians Can Agree – OpEd
Where Greens And Libertarians Can Agree – OpEd
By Adam Dick
On Saturday, officers of the Maine state Green Independent and Libertarian parties held a press conference announcing the parties’ ten areas of agreement.
The two parties note in a joint statement that the ten areas of agreement are related to the parties’ effort to work together in areas where they agree. The ten areas of agreement regard pursuing a more peaceful foreign policy, greater respect for individual rights, a more open elections process, and an end to corporate welfare. ...
The Maine parties’ announcement is reminiscent of a press conference Ron Paul held in September of 2008 at the National Press Club with independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney, and Constitution Party presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin as his guests. At that press conference, the third party and independent candidates announced their agreement with a policy statement dealing with foreign policy, individual rights, presidential powers, the national debt, the Federal Reserve, and corporate welfare.
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https://www.eurasiareview.com/12022019-where-greens-and-libertarians-can-agree-oped/
Nature’s Calling
Nature’s Calling
The Cathance River Nature Preserve provides a wooded wonderland for the 55+ set to make an exhilarating fresh start.
Sponsored Content: By Highland Green
When Rob Potvin retired from a career in construction management at age 53, he wasted no time sitting still. He and his wife, Kathleen, sailed from Nova Scotia to Maryland. Then they sold their house, stored their stuff, and traveled the country towing an Airstream, in search of a new home. ...
After a three-year search, they bought a home in Highland Green, a 55+ active adult community in Topsham, in large part because it backs up to the Cathance River Nature Preserve, a 230-acre expanse of forest, grassy meadows, and 5 miles of trails. ...
The preserve is the result of a unique compromise forged two decades ago between Highland Green’s developer, John Wasileski, and conservation-minded neighbors who were skeptical when the development was first proposed. Highland Green, originally envisioned as a 700-acre community with an 18-hole golf course and more than 600 homes, drew opposition from a group of residents called Topsham’s Future. The group, led by John Rensenbrink, a Bowdoin professor who founded the U.S. Green Party, worried Highland Green would wipe out a treasured hiking and paddling haven and ruin the rural character of the area.
Their concerns resonated with Wasileski, a former environmental studies minor at McGill University who had worked for the National Audubon Society early in his career. He and Rensenbrink brokered a compromise for a scaled-down version of Highland Green that included fewer homes, a nine-hole golf course, and a 230-acre preserve, to be protected and managed in perpetuity by the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. Together, Wasileski and Rensenbrink created the nonprofit Cathance River Education Alliance (CREA) to promote ecological education and stewardship on site. It was a landmark deal, says Angela Twitchell, Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust’s executive director. ...
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Brooksville residents give telecom reps an earful
Brooksville residents give telecom reps an earful
January 30, 2019 by Maxwell Hauptman
BROOKSVILLE — On a rainy Thursday evening, residents of Brooksville turned out to make sure that they were heard by Consolidated Communications and the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
As it happens, being heard has been a bit of a problem in the town.
The hearing was the result of a 10-person complaint filed by residents alleging poor landline service, including outages of weeks to a month, as well as generally poor broadband internet service. ...
“If it takes a 10-person complaint just to get a response from the company, that’s not acceptable,” said Brooksville resident Ralph Chapman. “If the company knows there’s a problem in the system, I don’t think it’s useful to use this 10-person complaint as a mechanism to get the reasonable service that you’re required to provide.” ...
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https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/more-headlines/brooksville-residents-give-telecom-reps-an-earful/
Former Green Party candidate takes aim: Democrats not 'the party of diversity'
Former Green Party candidate takes aim: Democrats not 'the party of diversity'
A former Green Party candidate for president took aim at both parties Tuesday, as critics denounced Howard Schultz's potential third-party presidential campaign as a spoiler for Democrats.
Former 2012 and 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, in an appearance on Fox News, said both parties are "working for corporate masters and the fossil fuel giants, and the big banks, and Wall Street, and the war machine. That is not my opinion, that Democrats are the party of diversity. Voters deserve more choices." ...
Ranked-choice voting, which Maine used for a federal election for the first time in 2018, allows voters to rank their preferred candidates. If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest first choices is eliminated and voters who liked that candidate the best have their ballots instantly counted for their second choice, which ensures a voter can select a third-party candidate without fearing that candidate will take a vote away from for whichever major-party candidate aligns with that voter's views.
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Scientist, not lawyer, needed at DEP
Scientist, not lawyer, needed at DEP
Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection needs to be run by a scientist with environmental science expertise. Effective environmental protection is essential to Maine’s largest industry, tourism, as well as its natural resource-based industries of fishing, forestry and agriculture.
Maine’s Attorney General’s office has statutory authority to represent all governmental entities, including agencies, in legal matters, whether as plaintiffs or defendants. Duplication of the AG’s legal expertise is unnecessary within the DEP.
Importantly, we need to begin to restore citizens’ trust in government by data-driven decisions that honor the best nonpolitical, nonpartisan knowledge available. Also, repair of the diminished morale of the department’s able staff can be led by science-based, rather than the previous political-ideology-based, management.
Recent experience within the DEP’s rulemaking on metal mining issues shows major rule changes made without scientific justification and an embarrassing lack of understanding of the technical complexities of the issues. The legislative policy committee demonstrated its inability to access scientific expertise in its rush to enact current law that violates the laws of physics with regard to groundwater contamination. Having scientific expertise at the head of the DEP does not guarantee good policy, but continuing in the mode of scientific ignorance cannot be helpful.
Legislators on the policy committee that makes recommendations on confirmation, and state senators who will vote on such confirmation, should quickly encourage our new governor to withdraw Jerry Reid’s nomination as DEP Commissioner (without prejudice) and replace it with an expert scientist.
Ralph Chapman
Brooksville
Originally published as a letter to the editor:
Ralph Chapman reflects on eight years in the Maine House
Ralph Chapman reflects on eight years in the Maine House
by Anne Berleant
A scientist and a legislator elected to four consecutive terms in the Maine House, Brooksville resident Ralph Chapman ended his final days representing District 133—Blue Hill, Brooklin, Brooksville, Castine, Sedgwick and Surry—as a member of the Green Independent Party after leaving the Democratic Party in mid-2017. ...
“I’m in a healing mode,” he added with a smile.
Basically, the legislature was “more corrupt than expected” when he first walked into the State House in Augusta. He fell out with his caucus early. “I didn’t accept loyalty as the primary mode of operation, and since I refused to be told how to vote, I was outcast. It’s a loyalty-based bullying culture, which was a disappointment and a source of frustration.” ...
One issue Chapman hoped to address was metal mining. A resident of Brooksville, home to the ongoing Superfund site at the former Callahan Mine, and a neighbor to Blue Hill, site of the former Kerramerican Mine, Chapman worked to pass legislation that would prohibit groundwater contamination from metal mining.
“The reason why I ran for office was to bring the tools of science to bear. That was a spectacular failure with regards to the metal mining issue,” he said. Both Democrats and Republicans “chose to ignore the science and pass legislation to allow permanent, unremediable groundwater contamination of toxic heavy metals and acids, thereby opening the state to the same problems it’s had with [Callahan and Kerramerican] mines.”
Over his four terms, Chapman said he witnessed civility decline in the legislature “as it has society wide,” and less bipartisan effort on one of the legislature’s biggest jobs: crafting and passing the state’s biennial budget. ...
Chapman encourages participation in state and local government in all forms, from voting to running for office.
“The leaders of our community might not necessarily be elected officials [but] are amongst us and all of them are the quiet, self-effacing behind-the-scenes, hardworking folks getting things done and inspiring others to get things done.”
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The Green Party of the United States, the First US Ecosocialist Party
The Green Party of the United States, the First US Ecosocialist Party
Clearly, since Bernie ran openly as a socialist, the word is coming back into use and out of the bogeyman closet at last! But people attach so many different meanings and connotations that it is best to articulate what may be its best use in 21st century USA. Among those trying to get a handle on it is the Green Party of the US, which recently in its revised platform declared in support of a socialism-in-process:
Some call this decentralized system “ecological socialism,” “communalism,” or “the cooperative commonwealth,” but whatever then terminology, we believe it will help end labor exploitation, environmental exploitation, and racial, gender, and wealth inequality and bring about economic and social justice due to the positive effects of democratic decision making. Production is best for people and planet when democratically owned and operated by those who do the work and those most affected by those decisions . . . not at the whim of centralized power structures of state administration or capitalist CEO’s and distant boards of directors.
I personally like the phrase “ecosocialism,” but not everyone does, so objections to it must be raised and addressed honestly. I can think of two principal related reasons why some object. First, when some people hear the word “socialism,” they still flash on the late-stage Soviet Union, as if that were the only possible model, but this response short-circuits thinking before it can get off the ground.
The second reason is related because it assumes that it will be too hard to overcome the first objection among other people, even if one is comfortable with the term. If we regard corporate globalism as the chief enemy of the people of the world, and as left activists, we must do so, then surely we ought not to be timid in using a term that unequivocally challenges that hegemony, namely socialism. However, it is incumbent upon us to clearly define what we mean by socialism, and not let false narratives be put in our mouths.
We need to invent a form of socialism that not only can replace the dominant feudal-like corporate structures we detest but just as importantly, be culturally acceptable to the general public. In the USA, of course, this is a challenge, but one we are capable of handling.
The Green Party platform description goes a long way toward clarifying our intent. Despite ideological resistance, even the strictest libertarian is not threatened by the existence of a cooperative health food store, or the municipally run library, though they can be termed socialist structures. Why? Because there is no government coercion!
But what if these cooperative enterprises were the dominant structures? What if we could have a referendum to yank the corporate charters of the most objectively malevolent mega-corporations—the ones that grossly offend the environment, human rights and practice extreme labor exploitation? What if we declared, as the ultimate collective sovereigns (remember “We, the People declare our own Constitution) that these offenders had not more than one year to sell off inventory and dismantle themselves or their Boards of Directors would be arrested for such crimes as poisoning the air, soil, and water, along with various fraudulent representations, and their corporate assets seized?
If the products and services provided were truly needed, they could be produced under terms consistent with ecosocialist values. We need to re-activate the original intent definition of socialism to mean “control by the working class” including those currently not employed—all those who have nothing to sell but their labor. This involves expropriating the expropriators. It does not mean, of course, killing them off or wholesale imprisoning them, although some cases must undergo careful evaluation in that regard. The word “socialism” is a defiant repudiation of the rule of capital which now has a stranglehold not only on “the” economy (as if there could only be one!) but on all three branches of this government, and of the pervasive culture of commercialism.
Some will object, with good reason, “What about all the employees who are displaced? They would rather work under exploitative conditions that have no income at all!” Of course, we need to plan ahead to provide at least equal if not better compensation from the moment of dissolution. We can do this!
There is work to be done until everyone has sufficient housing, food and water, energy supply, health services, and educational opportunities. Once we have achieved this, then we need to apply this test to the rest of the world—no end to the need for labor, once we reject the notion that only when a profit is to be made by the capitalist class, shall there be a demand for labor! Bad premise! It is a matter of re-allocation of resources away from a war economy and mega-profits fora few to humane objectives. It will be the responsibility of a Green eco-socialist government to facilitate this transition.
Will we allow private business? Indeed, for this is where we see the rewards of innovation via entrepreneurial energy and the motivation to invent. But these enterprises need to be run within the context of reasonable ecological and human rights parameters and at a scale consistent with local supervision. Instead of positive socialist features within the context of an overall capitalist economy (e.g. the Scandinavian countries), we do just the opposite! We allow creative small businesses to operate within the context of a decentralized cooperative economy. Not everyone wants the responsibility to be an owner or manager and will be satisfied to work for an entrepreneur, under humane and generous working conditions. We need to terminate conglomerates by outlawing one company owning another company, though it may be permissible for one family to own more than one small business.
Needless to say, as part of this radical change, we need to break up the huge media complex that dominates news coverage that increasingly is hardly respected, and appropriately so! We have to encourage honest journalism that feels no need to self-censor due to the need to conform to the value system of upper levels of corporate management, including CIA infiltration (note: Operation Mockingbird).
I look forward to an honest commitment to Truth, which is the daughter of Reality, no matter where she leads. Truth matters, but Reality does not care what people merely “believe.” It just is! If people in media positions are free to and encouraged to act with honor, we can get the truth. With truth we can pursue justice; and with justice, peace among all peoples becomes a realistic objective. All in favor, say “Aye!”
Jon Olsen is co-chair of the Maine Green Independent Party. He is a long time peace and justice activist and a Green Party member for 30 years. A graduate of Bates College in Maine with a degree in philosophy, he went to the University of Hawai’i for a Master’s Degree in the same field. He returned to Maine in 2001, serving twice on the Steering committee of the Maine Green Independent Party. He has conducted town caucuses and gathered signatures for Green Party gubernatorial candidates. His recent book, Liberate Hawai’i, describes the legal and historical research done by Hawaiian scholar-activists. The book documents the illegal claim of the US to the sovereignty of Hawai’I and demonstrates its fraudulent nature as well. Olsen draws a parallel with the similar fraudulent attempt by the late USSR to do the same to Lithuania.
This article is based on an article originally published in Vol. 34, Winter/Spring 2017, Green Horizons Magazine, GREEN PARTY and SOCIALISM—Engagement, but Marriage? by Jon Olsen. Note: The actual title of the article was mistitled as “But Marriage?” should have been “But is there a Marriage?”
How lawmakers who don’t belong to a party see their role in Maine’s new Legislature
How lawmakers who don’t belong to a party see their role in Maine’s new Legislature
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Good morning from Augusta, where the newly seated Maine House of Representatives includes five people who don’t identify as either Democrat or Republican.
It’s the largest number of independents elected to the House in more than a century. ...
Party defections in the previous Legislature stripped the Democrats of a clear majority and gave independents and the lone Green Independent Party member more leverage with floor votes....
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Portland school chief gets 3-year contract extension
Portland school chief gets 3-year contract extension
PORTLAND — When the School Board hired Xavier Botana three years ago to lead the city’s schools, members said they were looking for steady leadership. ...
The board recently renewed Botana’s contract for another three years. The new contract runs through June 30, 2022, at the same annual salary of $148,000. ...
In a School Department press release, outgoing School Board Chairwoman Anna Trevorrow praised Botana for the development and implementation of the district’s new strategic plan, called the Portland Promise, and said “we look forward to continuing to work toward its goals under his leadership.”
Overall, Trevorrow said, the board has been “very pleased with the superintendent’s performance” and said the School Board spent several months evaluating the job he was doing....
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http://www.theforecaster.net/portland-school-chief-gets-3-year-contract-extension-2/
Giroux hired as Standish manager
Giroux hired as Standish manager
By Jane Vaughan
STANDISH — The Town Council voted 6-1 to approve the appointment of Bill Giroux to the position of town manager Tuesday, Nov. 13. ...
Councilor Peter Starostecki was the only council member who voted against Giroux’s appointment.
“I don’t have a problem with Bill. I think that he has the skillset to do a very good job, and I think he will serve Standish very well as long as this old boys club doesn’t get their teeth into them,” Starostecki said in an interview Wednesday.
Starostecki said the “old boys club” he referred to is made up of Councilors Greg Sirpis, Mike Delcourt and Kim Pomerleau.
“I’m not going to bend the knee to the old boys club and pretend that there’s a unified Town Council because it’s not unified whatsoever. It’s very fragmented,” he said. ...
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http://news.keepmecurrent.com/giroux-hired-as-standish-manager/
Chairwoman of Portland school board presses for universal pre-kindergarten
Chairwoman of Portland school board presses for universal pre-kindergarten
In her State of the Schools address, Anna Trevorrow recounts successes in the district and says expanded pre-K would 'help make a difference to all students.'
The chairwoman of the Portland Board of Public Education is calling on the City Council to engage in an ongoing community conversation about establishing universal pre-kindergarten in Maine’s largest city.
Anna Trevorrow made the comments Monday evening during a 30-minute State of the Schools address, during which she devoted much time to the district’s successes, including the opening of the new Amanda Rowe Elementary School and being the first in Maine to award a new state-certified Seal of Biliteracy that recognizes achievement in language learning. ...
... Trevorrow said test results show that economically advantaged students are competitive with their peers from other districts. ..
“It is essential that we invest strategically to improve student outcomes to make progress toward realizing our equity goal,” Trevorrow said. “One of the ways we can do that is through universal pre-kindergarten.”
Portland launched a pre-K program in 2011, but is not able to serve all students, Trevorrow said. ...
“Over the past year, the board has actively participated in a community conversation about increasing access to high quality pre-K,” Trevorrow said. “I’ll take this opportunity to ask the council to join us in that conversation and help us figure out how we can increase pre-K access – something that Portland can be proud of and that will help make a difference to all students down the road.”
Trevorrow also pointed to last year’s contentious budget process. ... That led to the loss of two class days, fewer electives in the middle schools and a reduction of more than $1 million in administrative support, Trevorrow said. ...
“This budget served to heighten awareness within the Portland community that we are facing, and will continue to face, complex funding dynamics,” Trevorrow said. “We must figure out how to not only support our current level of education, but to improve it, while at the same time being cognizant of Portland taxpayers.” ...
“Important decisions about our schools, our school boundaries and our investments may result from this analysis,” Trevorrow said. “However, I want to stress that no decisions have been made yet.”
Trevorrow also highlighted the district’s successful lawsuit that not only allowed Deering High School student Allan Monga, an asylum-seeker from Zambia, to compete in the national Poetry Out Loud contest, but prompted the National Endowment for the Arts to change its rules to allow non-citizens to compete.
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Sampson, McNamara and Reinhardt vie for House District 21
Candidates share viewpoints on array of issues
YORK COUNTY — Incumbent Republican Heidi Sampson of Alfred is challenged by small business owner, Democrat Kelcy McNamara of Alfred, and Green Independent Justin Reinhardt of Limerick to represent District 21, which includes the towns Alfred and Newfield and parts of Limerick, Parsonsfield and Shapleigh. . .Reinhardt currently serves on the Limerick budget committee. . .
Candidates were asked if they believe that access to guns is a key component in school gun violence incidents and mass shootings and if so, what should be done about it in Maine . . .
Reinhardt would like to take steps to amend gun violence while not infringing on the second amendment.
“I think that aside from stronger background checks and closing loop holes for gun shows for access, we should take simple measures to try to minimize the amount of lives a person can take in a short span of time. Limiting magazine sizes, are one of the simpler things we could do without infringing on the second amendment rights of gun ownership,” said Reinhardt.
Candidates were asked how they propose Maine address rising health care costs. . .
Reinhardt believes in a single-payer health care system.
“Maine should be leading the way for a single-payer health care system with or without the assistance of the federal government. MaineCare-for-all, to include mental, health, vision and dental,” said Reinhardt.
We asked candidates their plan to lure high paying jobs to Maine and retain younger workers. . .
Reinhardt believes in infrastructure and industrial hemp.
“Rebuilding our infrastructure, and putting forth the first statewide, publicly-owned broadband services would be a great start to getting younger people more interested in coming to Maine for economic opportunities. As it stands no one is coming to Maine to work for wages that are unsustainable to the cost of living here. We could also start pushing for industrial hemp now that the Denate has passed legislation for it, and get all those mills that were so prevalent in Maine working again,” said Reinhardt.
We asked the candidates what makes them the right choice for voters in this election. . .
Reinhardt believes his Green Party status makes him the perfect choice for voters.
“I represent people, not corporate interests. If you want money out of politics then don’t give it a chance to participate. The Green Party is the only party that does not take corporate funding. In the Green Party we believe in putting people over profit, and making sure that we are environmentally conscious. I believe that we can do better than corporate handouts to war manufacturing, and I believe we are better than robbing those with the least among us to pay for those breaks to corporatism,” said Reinhardt.
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John Rensenbrink: How liberals and progressives in all parties can save our state
John Rensenbrink: How liberals and progressives in all parties can save our state
A repeat political disaster awaits our state on Nov. 6.
Once again we face the consequences of a flawed voting system. The race for governor will again be dogged by the spoiler card. With four people running, this means that liberal and progressive voters in all parties will split their votes among Democratic candidate Janet Mills, and two independents, Alan Caron and Terry Hayes, both of whom are progressives. This gives clear sailing to Shawn Moody, a Republican who touts the dead-end politics of Gov. Paul LePage. This also means that with four people running, the winner in all probability will not be able to govern with a majority of the people behind him or her.
So we liberals, progressives and non-LePage conservatives lose again even though we are in the majority. How long are we going to put up with this? Or do we just sigh, call it fate, and endure the ever-worsening status quo?
But there is a way forward. I especially urge the many liberal, progressive, and non-LePage conservative candidates for the state House and Senate to give dedicated priority in their campaigns to Ranked Choice Voting. Make it a major issue.
First, I urge them to declare their own strong support for RCV.
Second, I urge them to promise, when elected, to fight for the constitutional amendment to have the elections for Governor and State Legislature be governed by the provisions of RCV — just as the races for federal offices (U.S. Senate and House) are already so governed, starting this year.
Third, I urge them to assure their constituents that they hear and heed the establishment of RCV by a solid majority of the people of Maine in two referenda: the general election in November, 2016 and the primary election this past June.
True enough, these actions do not yet correct this year’s races for governor and state Legislature on Nov. 6. But they are a strong start for getting our legislature to pass a constitutional amendment for RCV next year to cover the races for governor and state legislature from now on.
There is also this: I know it’s asking a lot, but it would be widely and deeply appreciated if Alan Caron and Terry Hayes were to step aside and encourage voters to vote for Janet Mills, thus enabling her to win. Alan Caron has already hinted that he may do so if the polls reveal a very close race between Mills and Moody. If they do, they would and should be honored as saviors of the public good. We live in unprecedented times. We can, and must, pull together.
We in the Maine Green Independent Party are not running a candidate for governor this year, freeing us to vote for a candidate to our liking. The MGIP has not as yet taken an official position on the gubernatorial race, and I am speaking only for myself at this point. We are deeply concerned to bring to an end the very harmful policies of the present governor and Shawn Moody’s commitment to continue them.
John Rensenbrink is a Maine Green Independent Party and U.S. Green Party co-founder and adviser. He lives in Topsham.
ARTICLE CAN BE VIEWED WHERE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AT LINK BELOW:
Musicians get second chance to perform after racial incident in Carlisle
Musicians get second chance to perform after racial incident in Carlisle
Young musicians will get a second chance to perform in downtown Carlisle Thursday night after their appearance at First Friday became the focus of a racially charged post on Facebook. . .
“As a foundation that is dedicated to advocating for and assisting the community of writers, artists and musicians, it seemed like our job to rehire these musicians and invite the community to show support,” said Pat LaMarche of the Charles Bruce Foundation, a Carlisle foundation that supports the arts. . .
Chuck Adler, who is part of Da Merge, said police came to Create-a-palooza and talked to its owners after a neighbor called in to complain about the music. The police talked to the store owners and to the neighbor who complained, but no other action was taken.
The neighbor, identified on Facebook as Patti McCann, then wrote a Facebook post in which she used abbreviations for racial epithets to again complain about the music, and coarse language to describe the performers.
“When these racist comments were made public, I think it shocked just about everyone that someone could be so hurtful,” LaMarche said. . .
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Jim Fossel: A vote on power project may revive Greens
Jim Fossel: A vote on power project may revive Greens
The proposed transmission corridor through Maine could allow the environmentalist party to take the lead on a major new referendum.
There was a time when the Maine Green Independent Party was a major force in this state.
Though they never managed to win a major elective office like governor or member of Congress, their candidates regularly had a significant impact on those races. Jonathan Carter, who later ran for governor twice and secured official party status for the Greens, may have significantly altered the political history of Maine – and the nation – by running for Congress in 1992. Although he came nowhere near winning, he did secure nearly 9 percent of the vote, which may have tilted the scale in favor of the Republican incumbent, Olympia Snowe, over repeat challenger Pat McGowan.
If McGowan had won, the 1994 open-seat Senate race when incumbent George Mitchell retired might have been much more competitive.
The Maine Greens have also had an outsized impact on the national Green Party movement in the United States – which should be no surprise, as they were the first state Green Party in the nation. Though Maine Greens have never fielded a presidential candidate, Pat LaMarche was the party’s vice-presidential nominee in 2004, even if the ticket was outshone by Green-turned-independent Ralph Nader.
Unfortunately for the Greens, LaMarche’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign was the last time the party managed to get a candidate on the ballot for a major race. Since then, they’ve mostly made headlines as the largest opposition party in Portland, with a few state legislators here and there over the years.
Much of that early energy in the Maine Greens came from their willingness to use referendums to take on the state’s biggest industries. The state’s bottle law was first enacted as a citizen initiative, and we have Bigelow Mountain Preserve instead of a ski area thanks to a referendum. In other campaigns, environmental activists were less successful: They weren’t able to shut down Maine Yankee (at least, not directly); they could only delay the widening of the Maine Turnpike; and Carter’s efforts to enact a ban on clearcutting forests failed.
AdvertisementRegardless of whether they won or lost, they were able to get a whole host of proposals on the ballot that legislators in Augusta – from both parties – would have preferred to ignore completely. Most ballot measures haven’t been focused on environmental policy recently – instead, taxing and spending, civil rights and cultural issues have taken center stage.
The supporters of those referendums, though, owe much of their success to Maine Greens, who led the way in bringing issues to the ballot in earlier decades.
Another major environmental issue may be coming to the forefront of Maine politics soon, though: the battle over Central Maine Power’s proposed transmission corridor.
CMP’s project – which would involve construction of new transmission lines through Maine to help send hydroelectric power from Quebec to Massachusetts – is still in the planning stages, so don’t look for a vote on it this November. Nevertheless, it’s already become the focus of organized political campaigns from both sides – you’ve probably seen the signs popping up around the state.
It’s easy to imagine the issue appearing on the ballot at some point, however. No matter which way regulators end up deciding, opponents or proponents could decide to short-circuit that process by taking the issue directly to the people, as others have in the past. That explains why both sides are already spending money politicking, hoping to shape public opinion long before the proposal is up for a vote.
If it does end up in voters’ hands, there would be both peril and opportunity for Greens. In years past, fighting a major project from CMP might have seemed quixotic: The company not only wielded enormous influence in Augusta but also was popular with the public.
Lately, though, their star has begun to dim: Recent controversies, from storm response to billing errors, have hurt their image.
CMP has been emphasizing that the project will transport clean energy, so they may be trying to appeal to environmental activists.
Much of the opposition to the plan seems to be funded by power generators, but environmental advocacy groups and environmentally oriented companies – like, respectively, the Natural Resources Council of Maine and Patagonia – have joined with them.
This issue doesn’t have a clear-cut delineation between environmental groups and corporate interests, so it may be more challenging for Maine Greens ideologically. Still, it does offer them a chance to lead on an issue that will probably be debated for years to come, so it will be interesting to see how they get involved.
Jim Fossel, a conservative activist from Gardiner, worked for Sen. Susan Collins.
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https://www.pressherald.com/2018/09/23/jim-fossel-a-vote-on-power-project-may-revive-greens/
