Augusta Insider: Maine Greens Ready To Rumble
The Augusta Insider has a great piece about the Maine Independent Green Party. It covers the proposed changes to the Clean Elections law in Maine being proposed by Democrats that would make it more difficult for lower budget campaigns to qualify.
“The argument that clean election funds should be reserved for “viable” candidates only, suggests that “viability” is determined by the ability to raise large sums of money,” said Green Party Chair Anna Trevorrow. “The concept behind clean elections funding has always been that candidates ought to compete based on their policy ideas and the values they represent. The new changes undermine that fundamental concept by mandating a monetary threshold for competitors.” Trevorrow went on to say that this is not just about the Green Party, but that the changes keep clean election funds from any candidate who is not most institutionalized.
It also talks about the Greens opposition to the Democrats “Tax Reform” bill, which was also opposed by the Republicans. In response, the Democrats accused former Green Elected John Eder of getting help from Republicans, and claimed that “…Greens in Portland have moved closer to the Republican Party.“ The Greens responded:
Anna Trevorrow said the Green Party opposes the tax reform because “flat taxes are by nature inequitable, and the Green Party believes that those most capable of paying back into the system ought to compensate to some degree for those less able.” Lynne Williams felt the removal of an increase to the real estate transfer tax left her no choice but to oppose the tax reform bill. Trevorrow and Williams both disagree with comments made by Democrats after the Greens came out in opposition to the tax reform. “The Dems had to dig deep to find this skewed accusation, and even at that, came up false.” said Trevorrow in reference to comments in a Maine Democrat press release.
Excellent article, read the entire piece here.
