Group hopes to rid Maine elections of foreign government money

An effort to forestall overseas governments from spending cash on state referendum campaigns took one other step ahead Tuesday.

The group Defend Maine Elections turned in additional than 80,000 signatures to the Secretary of State in hopes of inserting the difficulty on the November 2023 poll.

“It’s unconscionable that overseas governments are at the moment permitted to dump hundreds of thousands of {dollars} into referendum campaigns, the very instrument with which Maine voters can immediately have an effect on state legislation,” Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) stated in an announcement.

Bennett stated the poll initiative seeks to shut a loophole that enables overseas governments to spend cash on referendum campaigns except prohibited by state legislation. Overseas governments can’t contribute to candidate campaigns.

As well as, the poll query directs Maine’s congressional delegation to advance a Constitutional modification to set marketing campaign fundraising and spending limits in Maine and throughout the nation.

“Voters in my district, and certainly across the state, are sick and uninterested in having their voices silenced by hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in darkish cash political advertisements every election cycle,” Sen. Nicole Grohoski (D-Ellsworth) stated. “The present stage of spending, which will increase yearly, is toxic to our democracy — this initiative is the antidote that Maine voters are asking for.”

Defend Maine Elections’ prime funder is American Promise Inc., a Massachusetts-based group based by Boston legal professional Jeff Clements.