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maine
In Tiny State of Maine, a Big Election Day Win Against Dark Money in Politics
"Our greatest hope is to restore people's faith in our democracy and increase participation across the board," said the chair of the campaign behind the measure likely bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Nov 06, 2024
As billionaire-backed Republicans dominated U.S. elections on Tuesday, voters in Maine—among the top 10 states in terms of smallest populations—overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure to limit political spending, an initiative that could reach the country's top court.
Maine Question 1 targets super political action committees (PACs), dark money groups that, for the most part, are barred from directly contributing to or coordinating with a candidate but can raise and spend unlimited amounts of funds.
Question 1 asked Mainers, "Do you want to set a $5,000 limit for giving to political action committees that spend money independently to support or defeat candidates for office?"
WMTWreported earlier this year that "the $5,000 contributions cap would only apply to state races, not United States House or Senate races."
As of Wednesday afternoon, the measure had passed 531,573 to 186,707, or 74% to 26%, with 89% of the estimated vote reported, according toThe New York Times.
"When the Supreme Court affirms what Maine voters have done, it could end super PACs everywhere."
"We're grateful to the Maine people for once again leading the way to help fix our broken political system," said Cara McCormick, chair of Maine Citizens to End Super PACs, which collected signatures to get the citizen-initiated measure on the ballot.
"The Maine people deserve a system that is not only free from corruption, but also free from the appearance of corruption," McCormick added. "Our greatest hope is to restore people's faith in our democracy and increase participation across the board."
The campaign highlighted that "some of America's leading constitutional law experts—Laurence Tribe, Lawrence Lessig, Neal Katyal, Al Alschuler, and others—have argued that Question 1 is the most immediate pathway to ending super PACs, the biggest source of dark money in elections."
Welcoming the measure's passage, Lessig declared Wednesday that "this is a great gift from Maine to democracy in America."
"We expect this initiative will be challenged," he explained. "But when the Supreme Court affirms what Maine voters have done, it could end super PACs everywhere."
As Maine Morning Stardetailed Wednesday:
Since Buckley v. Valeo in 1976, the Supreme Court has allowed contributions to be regulated when there is a risk of "quid pro quo" corruption, essentially a favor for a favor. In the case of elections, if there is a risk someone could be making a donation to a candidate in exchange for a favor, only then can Congress regulate that contribution. In 2010, the Supreme Court extended this reasoning to corporations and unions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Campaign Act.
Three months later, in SpeechNow.org v. FEC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld that contributions to groups making independent expenditures can't corrupt or create the appearance of corruption. That decision essentially created the "super PAC," which can receive unlimited contributions but can’t contribute directly to candidates. Other lower federal and state courts followed suit, and the ruling was never reviewed by the Supreme Court.
The editorial boards of both the Bangor Daily News and Portland Press Herald backed the ballot measure, with the latter writing last month that "ours would be the first state in the nation since the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling in 2010 to move to limit contributions to PACs that can make independent expenditures."
"We believe that political spending has spiraled out of control, in many cases, and that the absence of any limit on PACs is inappropriate and leaves America's system of campaigning and voting vulnerable to the whims of bad actors," the board argued. "If Maine can play a leading role in bringing some order and fairness to political spending nationally, we should seize the chance."
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Maine Nonprofit Cancels $1.9 Million in Medical Debt for 1,500 People
"This is just a drop in the bucket," a campaigner said. "Now, it's up to our lawmakers to make healthcare affordable for everyone in our state and to eliminate medical debt."
Oct 24, 2024
Mainers For Working Families, an advocacy group, announced on Thursday that it had partnered with a larger nonprofit to relieve $1.85 million worth of medical debt for 1,508 low-income people who live in Maine.
MFWF furnished a donation of $12,740 to Undue Medical Debt, a 501(c)(3) group formed by former collections executives, which bought the $1.85 million in debts; such debt is sold at pennies on the dollar.
The recipients, spread all over Maine, were people who live four times below the Federal Poverty Level or for whom medical debt totals more than 5% of their annual income.
"We can't turn back the clock for these people, but we had to do something," Evan LeBrun, MFWF's executive director, said in a statement.
"This is just a drop in the bucket," he added. "Now, it's up to our lawmakers to make healthcare affordable for everyone in our state and to eliminate medical debt."
BREAKING: Mainers for Working Families is partnering with @unduemeddebt to purchase and forgive $1.8 million in medical debt for over 1,500 Mainers across the state. pic.twitter.com/gkf4QELoiA
— Mainers For Working Families (@ForMainers) October 24, 2024
MFWF has worked on healthcare affordability issues since 2021 and medical debt since last year, a representative told Common Dreams. The group recently released a series of videos on the topic based on interviews conducted around Maine.
Undue Medical Debt formed in 2014 following inspiration from debt cancellation projects undertaken by Occupy Wall Street participants, including activist-intellectuals such as Astra Taylor and David Graeber. The nonprofit, which drew donor attention after it was featured by comedian John Oliver on his HBO show in 2016, has now canceled nearly $15 billion in medical debt, according to its website. Oliver himself made a contribution to the group, which was previously known as R.I.P. Medical Debt.
Nationwide, nearly 100 million people are dealing with unpaid medical bills, according to federal data.
The push for change in the field of medical debt has yielded a series of small victories. Last year, the three major consumer report agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion—stopped including medical debts below $500 on their credit reports, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In June, the CFPB moved to ban all medical debt from credit reports, drawing praise from progressives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, has pushed medical debt cancellation in her current role and pledged, as part of her economic agenda, to work with states to states to cancel more debt if she wins in November.
A working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in April called into question the premise of Undue's work, finding that recipients of debt relief had no better credit scores or mental health than a control group. A co-author said the results had "disappointed" the researchers.
However, research has shown strong benefits to other forms of debt relief, and a 2023 survey conducted by Undue and other groups did show that medical debt negatively affected mental health for most people and caused 42% to delay further medical care.
Medical debt disproportionately affects people who are poor, Black, or disabled, according to Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker. About 3 million Americans have more than $10,000 in medical debt.
One is a woman named Kim, a resident of Old Town, Maine, whom MFWF interviewed in a recent video. She lives off of $26,200 per year and has roughly $2 million in debt, thanks to her fight with Addison's disease, a chronic endocrine disorder.
"I am really hoping that someone sees what is actually happening out there," she said. "God, I hope so."
Efforts to address the issue at the Maine state level have achieved mixed success. A modest reform bill that prevents debt accrual on medical debt did pass in Augusta in April.
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Maine's Largest City Becomes First on US East Coast to Back Israel Divestment
"We urge everyone to join this effort in their own communities," said the Maine Coalition for Palestine. "Our tax money should not be spent killing women and children in Palestine."
Sep 05, 2024
Lawmakers in Portland, Maine voted unanimously on Wednesday to divest public funds from "all entities complicit" in Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, making the city the first on the U.S. East Coast to take such a step.
Sponsored by the Maine Coalition for Palestine and the Maine chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the newly approved resolution contains a "divestment list" of more than 85 companies, from U.S.-based Chevron, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing to Israel-based Elbit Systems. The list also includes public entities such as Israel Bonds and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.
"The city of Portland recognizes the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and seeks to avoid economically supporting this crisis through the city's financial investments," the resolution states. "The city council urges that the city manager divest the city of Portland from all entities complicit in the current and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and occupation of Palestine, including, without limitation, all entities on the divestment list when it is feasible and carries no financial penalty to the city."
Additionally, the resolution "urges the city manager to not make any future directly held general fund investment in any entities complicit in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and occupation of Palestine."
The Maine Coalition for Palestine said Wednesday's vote makes Portland the fourth U.S. city to adopt an Israel divestment resolution. Two California cities—Hayward and Richmond—and Hamtramck, Michigan passed similar divestment resolutions earlier this year.
"Just as the people of the world spoke to end South African apartheid with economic pressure, we must do the same for Israeli apartheid and genocide."
In a statement, the Maine coalition called out the state's congressional delegation and the Biden administration for supporting Israel's destruction of Gaza, whose population is facing mass starvation and disease—including the reemergence of polio.
"Generations of families are being decimated by U.S. bombs supplied to Israel," the coalition said. "Maine Senators [Susan] Collins and [Angus] King, and Representative [Jared] Golden, accept significant campaign contributions from the Israel lobby, and they have refused to listen to their constituents' demands."
"Americans overwhelmingly want a cease-fire and an arms embargo," the group continued. "Divestment sends a clear message that current U.S. policy towards Palestinians is morally unacceptable and does not serve the interests of our country. We urge everyone to join this effort in their own communities. Our tax money should not be spent killing women and children in Palestine."
Sarah Snyder, a spokesperson for the Maine chapter of JVP, said that "as Jews in Portland, we have immense gratitude for the Portland City Council's resolution to divest municipal funds from the Israeli government and corporations complicit in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians."
"We are outraged and grief-stricken by the continued atrocities perpetrated by Israel," Snyder added, "and fully support our city heeding the call to divest. Just as the people of the world spoke to end South African apartheid with economic pressure, we must do the same for Israeli apartheid and genocide."
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