No Double-Dipping for Candidate Welfare Addicts

Posted on by Maine First Media

8/2/18, Maine First Media Staff Report,

The Maine Ethics Commission has decided it does not currently have the authority to allow Welfare for Politicians candidates to double dip.

For the past several weeks, the Ethics Commission had been considering the option of granting Welfare for Politician candidates to traditionally fundraise in addition to the funding they forced all working Mainers to donate to them.

The Commission sent out a notice to all candidates asking for opinions on if so-called, “Clean Elections” candidates should be allowed to traditionally fundraising while MCEA funding is held up by a budget error.

The Commission posed a second option where Welfare for Politicians candidates would be allowed to seek voluntary campaign contributions, but only after returning the public funding they’ve already received.

While the Commission wanted to hear from candidates on the take, conservative-populist non-profit organization, Maine First Project, believed it should be Maine workers the Commission heard from — since it is their money funding the failed “clean elections” program.

Maine First Project asked its supporters to email the Commission, and e-mail they did.

Nearly half of all the e-mails submitted to the Commission were from Maine First Project supporters.

Maine-first Representatives, Larry Lockman, Heather Sirocki, and Beth O’Connor all wrote in objecting to the Commission’s double-dip proposal. As did write-in Gubernatorial candidate Aaron Chadbourne (the only challenger in the Bid for the Blaine House to weigh-in).

Meanwhile, many Candidate Welfare Leftists e-mailed the Commission whining about fairness. In fact, many of these swamp addicts also opposed the Commissions proposal. They found the prospect of asking Mainers to contribute to their campaigns concerning and will accept no other option than forcing Mainers who hate them to fund their campaigns.

Then you have RINOs like Sen. Lisa Kiem, who was opposed to the proposal but hedged her bets saying she supports a fix for Candidate Welfare.

“Let me begin by stating that I find the current situation a prime example of poor governing,” Sen. Kiem opined. “Though I do not fully support taxpayer funding of campaigns, I believe the error should have been corrected and the merits of MCEA debated openly through focused legislation.”

Power-trip Rep. Seth Berry wrote-in in favor of double-dipping, but offered his approval while complaining that it still wasn’t fair.

If I were “cut loose” now to raise money traditionally, even with the Clean Elections funding, I would be at a severe
disadvantage relative to my opponent,” Rep. Berry whined. “Anything less than a robust and competitive ‘exit ramp’ for Clean Elections candidates would deny justice.”

At their last meeting, the Ethics Commission decided their best bet would be to let the courts handle the matter.

Meanwhile, here is an example of what some Candidate Welfare Leftists are doing with your money. Far-Left Democrat candidate Doug Bunker — who is running a Portland-centric against Maine-first hero Rep. Larry Lockman — is spending the Candidate Welfare funds he forced form you to buy him a new cell phone. He’s wasted $230 of your money on a brand new cell phone at Mainers’ expense and so-far $80 for his phone cards.

Sign up for Candidate Welfare and Mainers will buy you smartphones and laptops that you don’t have to return after the race.

Speaker of the Swamp, Rep. Sara Gideon, and RINO-in-Chief, Sen. Mike Thibodeau, are holding the state hostage in a never-ending legislative session until they can strike a deal to start their beloved Candidate Welfare crack flowing again.

Candidate Welfare is currently being held because of a drafting error in the budget.

The error came during the last-minute budget negotiations last July Swamp Speaker Gideon saved the budget for the final days of the session and then provided Representatives with little to no time to review before forcing a floor vote. The error prevented the Ethics Commission from distributing Candidate Welfare crack after June.

The Maine House of Representatives already passed a Candidate Welfare fix (LD 1912) — but not with enough votes to override a veto from Gov. Paul LePage. That’s why Senate President Thibodeau is holding the legislation in the Senate without a vote. If it were brought to a vote in the Senate, the fix would surely pass.

In return, Speaker Gideon is holding the Tax Conformity bill the Senate passed as leverage to get a deal for Candidate Welfare. The never-ending session will not reconvene until a deal is reached.

These are the games swamp creatures play with Mainers’ money. And they wonder why we call it the Swamp of Augusta.

Maine First Media has also reported on Candidate Welfare being used by Democrats as a possible money-laundering scheme, and State GOP officials trying to coerce new candidates into Welfare for Politicians.

Maine First Media will continue to follow this story as it develops.