We Don't All Get To Vote On Creeping Fascism The Way Maine Does

Le Bouffon

How did a "sensible" state like Maine wind up with a deranged fascist and self-proclaimed teabagger like Paul LePage as governor? As they often do, the Democrats nominated an uninspiring, conflicted hack. Libby Mitchell did inspire one thing-- an independent opponent, Eliot Cutler. So while the two Democratic congressional incumbents, Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud, won easy reelection and drew 316,156 votes between them, that very same day, Libby Mitchell wound up with 109,387-- a stunning 19%. Cutler, the Independent, took 208,270 votes, 37%, and nearly won. But he didn't. LePaul beat him by 1%. Yes, Paul LePage, one of the most radical right governors-- on a par in terms of demented extremism with the Koch-owned Scott Walker (WI), Rick Scott (FL), Rick Snyder (MI), John Kasich (OH) and Rick Perry (TX)-- became governor of Maine with 38% of the vote, which he interpreted as a mandate to turn the state upside down and inaugurate a dangerous ALEC-dictated fascist agenda. Last week, in fact, the Boston Phoenix delineated LePage's Koch-connections.

If you're looking for a poster child for the corrupting influence of corporate money in politics, you'd have a hard time doing better than the American Legislative Exchange Council.

ALEC is one of the nation's most powerful and most secretive lobbying entities, and it focuses exclusively on state legislatures. Disguised as a non-partisan professional association for legislators, it is actually a corporate-funded mechanism to allow business interests to write their own bills without leaving fingerprints for the public and their elected representatives to see. ALEC hands out model laws to willing or naïve legislators-- including some in Maine-- which are drafted by secret task forces and approved by ALEC's corporate donors, who provide virtually all of its funding. Major donors include the infamous Koch Brothers, the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, and big drug and tobacco companies. The laws seek to deregulate industry, protect the powerful from responsibility for their misdeeds, or dismantle and privatize government. Hundreds of ALEC-written laws are passed in state houses every year, usually without anyone realizing who really wrote them.

Guess who is the new corporate chair of ALEC for the state of Maine?

Confidential documents from ALEC's annual meeting last month in New Orleans obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy reveal it is none other than Ann Robinson, a trusted advisor to Governor Paul LePage who simultaneously maintains her day job as a corporate lobbyist at Preti Flaherty Beliveau & Pachios. (Her legislative co-chair is Senator Richard Rosen, Republican of Bucksport.)

Robinson was the author of the governor's infamous "Phase I" regulatory reform agenda, which sought to roll all of Maine's environmental laws back to weaker federal standards, restore the endocrine disruptor Bisphenol-A to baby's bottles and sippy cups, gut product-recycling legislation, and rezone 30 percent of the Maine North Woods for development (see "LePage's Secret Puppeteers," February 11, by Colin Woodard). We later obtained documents showing she did so by cutting and pasting language provided by major North Woods landholders, the producers of many currently recycled products, the pulp and paper industry, and her colleagues at Preti (which represents PhRMA, Medco, Merck, the Toy Industry Association of America, and other interested parties; see "The LePage Files," July 22, by Colin Woodard). She's the governor's first choice to fill a vacancy on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network (which he tried to de-fund; see "Governor to Nominate Favored Lobbyist to MPBN Board," August 19, by Colin Woodard) and already sits on the committee that vets his potential judicial nominees.

Long ago the extreme right-- whether monarchists, plutocrats or fascists-- identified democracy itself as a mortal enemy. And the right has never stopped trying to undermine it. As soon as Lepage was inaugurated he got to work, ALEC agenda in hand, on overturning Maine's democratic traditions and, more important, laws. Fascists all over the country are doing what they can to abolish the legal framework for universal suffrage. Ari Berman covered much of the story in Rolling Stone last week, although he concentrated more on Ohio and Florida when it came to discussing cutting back on early voting.

After the recount debacle in Florida in 2000, allowing voters to cast their ballots early emerged as a popular bipartisan reform. Early voting not only meant shorter lines on Election Day, it has helped boost turnout in a number of states-- the true measure of a successful democracy. "I think it's great," Jeb Bush said in 2004. "It's another reform we added that has helped provide access to the polls and provide a convenience. And we're going to have a high voter turnout here, and I think that's wonderful."

But Republican support for early voting vanished after Obama utilized it as a key part of his strategy in 2008. Nearly 30 percent of the electorate voted early that year, and they favored Obama over McCain by 10 points. The strategy proved especially effective in Florida, where blacks outnumbered whites by two to one among early voters, and in Ohio, where Obama received fewer votes than McCain on Election Day but ended up winning by 263,000 ballots, thanks to his advantage among early voters in urban areas like Cleveland and Columbus.

That may explain why both Florida and Ohio-- which now have conservative Republican governors-- have dramatically curtailed early voting for 2012. Next year, early voting will be cut from 14 to eight days in Florida and from 35 to 11 days in Ohio, with limited hours on weekends. In addition, both states banned voting on the Sunday before the election-- a day when black churches historically mobilize their constituents. Once again, there appears to be nothing to justify the changes other than pure politics. "There is no evidence that any form of convenience voting has led to higher levels of fraud," reports the Early Voting Information Center at Reed College.

Maine, most of it tucked away between Québec and New Brunswick, often gets overlooked-- something that has allowed LePage to operate somewhat undercover with his schemes, at least in the eyes of most Americans. Most Mainers, on the other hand, are very much aware of what he's been up to. And in a few weeks the state has a handy little referendum coming on LePage's hard swing towards fascism-- or at least one aspect of it: the state's cherished same day voter registration law. The Rolling Stone was already out by the time the Bangor Daily News reported this blockbuster:

Maine’s secretary of state has certified enough petition signatures to ensure a statewide people’s veto referendum in November that asks voters to support or reject a new law banning Election Day voter registration.

Charlie Summers made the announcement late Thursday afternoon, exactly 30 days after Protect Maine Votes, a coalition of progressive advocacy groups, submitted more than 80,000 signatures for consideration.

About 70,000 of those signatures were validated, well above the 57,277 required of the campaign by state law.

“More than a thousand volunteers worked tirelessly to protect a system that has worked well for more than 38 years,” said Mark Gray, campaign manager for Protect Maine Votes. “There’s no reason to change it.”

Per state law, the people’s veto question will be listed first on the ballot, and it will read: “Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?”

In June, the Republican-controlled House and Senate voted largely along party lines to pass LD 1376, An Act To Preserve the Integrity of the Voter Registration and Election Process. Supporters said the aim was to improve the voting process and alleviate stress on municipal election clerks, although some, including Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster, said it would reduce voter fraud.

Supporters of same-day voter registration, however, said voter fraud is not a problem and the 38-year-old law allowing Election Day registration simply makes it easier for Mainers to vote.

“During this tough economy, a lot of people in Maine have to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet,” said Barbara McDade, president of the League of Women Voters of Maine, one of the coalition members. “Election Day registration makes it possible for many hardworking Mainers to participate. Voting is fundamental to our democracy. We shouldn’t create new ways to make participation harder.”

I bet you can figure out on your own why this is the post I chose to kick off today's 9/11 remembrances... right? But if anyone can figure out where so-called "moderate" U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe stands on this, please let me know. I bet there are a lot of people in Maine who would like to know.