Maine is in the midst of the most expensive U.S. Senate race in state history. The flood of money from ultra-wealthy donors and special interests, many from outside the state, is drowning out the voices of Maine voters and giving undue power to an unaccountable elite.
In 2013, Republicans, Independents, and Democrats in the Maine Legislature passed SP 548, a resolution calling on Congress to do its part to stop the waves of outside money pouring into local elections by way of a Constitutional amendment. In the seven years since that powerful resolution was approved, Congress hasn’t acted on it.
Recently, three of the Maine lawmakers who helped pass SP 548—Diane Russell (Democrat), Ed Youngblood (Republican), and Dick Woodbury (Independent)—co-wrote an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News, calling for Mainers to stand up and renew the call for a Constitutional amendment.
“[L]et’s Stand with Maine,” they wrote. “From York to Aroostook County, a group of Mainers of all different perspectives, political views and walks of life are organizing to stand with Maine and say enough is enough: outside money is concerned not with the wellbeing of Mainers but the wellbeing of entrenched power and special interests, taking advantage of loose campaign finance laws.”
Stand with Maine, a Maine-led campaign of American Promise, is bringing this coalition together to funnel growing frustration with pay-to-play politics into productive action that will advance the cross-partisan amendment. Through grassroots organizing, Mainers can encourage their elected leaders to support the resolution calling for an amendment and grow support for this critical solution.
“Protecting the integrity of our elections enjoys broad, cross-partisan support,” they wrote. “Now we have to prove we mean it and make sure that 2020 is the last race where we see this enormously corrupting influence of money. Regardless of who wins in 2020 and goes to Washington, we need our representatives to work across partisan divides to pass a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and return it to Maine for ratification.”
