Sweet was the only Democrat who used Maine's taxpayer-funded election system, which won't be available to her on the federal level. She ran with a progressive agenda including single-payer health care, an hourly minimum wage of $15 and gun control.
Gideon has drawn the most attention for reimbursed contributions to federal causes, but the commission focused on two $250 payments to the House Democratic Campaign Committee and now-U.S. Rep. Jared Golden's state-level political committee in 2016 that were originally made under Gideon's name but were reimbursed by the political committee.
Contributing in someone else's name is illegal on the state and federal levels. A Gideon spokesperson expressed support for the decision, saying the commission "continued its tradition of fairness" and supported Gideon's attorney's position that the violations were minor.
Brakey: No position found.
King: Yes. Supported bill requiring state independent redistricting commissions.
Ringelstein: Yes. Create independent redistricting commissions.
Voting Rights: Support voting rules that prioritize preventing the possibility of fraud, even if limit access?
Brakey: Yes. Co-sponsored bill requiring government or college-issued photo ID.
King: No. Co-sponsored voting rights bill also including automatic voter registration.
Ringelstein: No. Supports automatic voter registration, Election Day registration, & fully restoring Voting Rights Act.
Mills: No. Allowing untold, undisclosed money into our politics is corrosive to democracy. Overturn Citizens United.
Moody: No position found.
Brakey: No position found.
King: Yes. Supported bill requiring state independent redistricting commissions.
Ringelstein: Yes. Create independent redistricting commissions.
Voting Rights: Support voting rules that prioritize preventing the possibility of fraud, even if limit access?
Brakey: Yes. Co-sponsored bill requiring government or college-issued photo ID.
King: No. Co-sponsored voting rights bill also including automatic voter registration.
Ringelstein: No. Supports automatic voter registration, Election Day registration, & fully restoring Voting Rights Act.
Eric Brakey: No position on Citizens United. Supported legislation to send Maine's Clean Election Act back to the voters.
Angus King: Yes, including online ads. Co-sponsored DISCLOSE Act. Pass amendment to overturn Citizens United.
Ringelstein: Yes, including online ads. Pass amendment to overturn Citizens United.
A: support
The best way to break this dysfunctional cycle is to limit the terms of our elected officials in Washington: 12 years in the House of Representatives and 12 years in the Senate are reasonable periods of time to get the People's work done. Term limits will encourage elected officials to do what's right instead of what's politically advantageous to get re-elected.
15 state legislatures, including Maine's, and 8 of our 10 largest cities impose term limits on their senior elected officials. It's time Washington does the same.
The plan directs the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices to investigate campaign claims following a complaint by a candidate. The panel would have to make a public statement if the claim is deemed false.
Backers of the effort, which LePage's office says is the governor's "attempt to bring civility to the process," told lawmakers that having such a check in place will encourage candidates to make fewer false claims about their opponents.
"Should there be no restraint, no limit or no consequence for lying?" said one legislator. But the ACLU of Maine said the proposal violates the constitution, arguing that courts have found that even false statements deserve First Amendment protection.
LePage's office said it believes that the lack of penalties if a claim is deemed false would allow the proposal to stand up constitutionally.
Saying that she would like to be the Elizabeth Warren of civil liberties she states, "You will always know where I stand and I will always listen to your opinions."
A: I oppose all efforts to restrict access to the ballot box, and have been appalled to see the changes taking place across the country, moving us away from increased citizen participation in our democracy. I also believe that greater voter participation is achieved by providing voters with a political process that belongs to all of us, not just the two political parties. Our electoral process should give us broad and good choices among candidates--choices that appeal not only to the few of us who stand on the left and right ends of the spectrum, but also to most of us who occupy the center. Voters can have the kind of choices that they want and deserve, and consensus at the end of the electoral process, if we have run-offs, open primaries, or ranked choice voting. Fewer and fewer Americans identify themselves as a Republic or Democrat these days and fewer people vote in party primaries.
COLLINS: This is truly outrageous. And it contributes to the profound distrust that the American people have in government. It is absolutely chilling that the IRS was singling out conservative groups for extra review. And I think that it's very disappointing that the president hasn't personally condemned this and spoken out. His spokesman has said it should be investigated, but the president needs to make crystal clear that this is totally unacceptable in America.
Q: The White House blames a small group of IRS agents.
COLLINS: I just don't buy that this was a couple rogue IRS employees. After all, groups with "progressive" in their names were not targeted similarly. If it had been just a small group of employees, then high level IRS supervisors would have rushed to make this public, and fired the employees involved.
Only two weeks ago, Secretary of State Charlie Summers put out an official press release reminding Maine voters of the need to vote in the June primary along with information about filing an absentee ballot. Summers says he was only following a fairly perfunctory notice that has been issued by his predecessors--both GOP and Democratic. This year's Republican ballot will be a little different than those past notices, though, because Summers will be listed on it as a Republican candidate for the US Senate nomination. Democrats criticized Summers for what they said was skating dangerously close to a conflict of interest even as the secretary officially launched his Senate campaign.
But Summers was unfazed. "I can certainly come up with a scenario where if that press release didn't go out, I would be criticized for not putting it out," Summers said
Legislative section to be removed:This subsection may not be construed to prevent a student at any institution of learning from qualifying as a voter in the municipality where the student resides while attending that institution.
New legislative section: A student is not a resident of a municipality where the student resides if the student lives in housing owned by an institution of learning while attending the institution unless the student lived in that municipality prior to attending the institution.
Legislative outcome: House voted 90-49-11 "Ought Not to Pass"; Rep. Mills voted YEA.
A: Yes
Q: For PAC contributions?
A: Yes.
Q: For Corporate contributions?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying and ensuring accuracy of votes??
A: Yes.
A: No.
Q: PAC?
A: No.
Q: Corporate?
A: No.
Q: Political Parties?
A: No.
Q: Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support partial funding from state taxes for state level political campaigns?
A: No.
Q: Do you support voting on-line?
A: No.
A: Yes.
Q: PAC?
A: Yes.
Q: Corporate?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
A: Yes. King adds, "I hope to increase education funding, subject to revenue limitations."
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| 2020 Presidential contenders on Government Reform: | |||
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Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO) V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE) Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC) Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT) Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN) Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ) Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Rep.John Delaney (D-MD) Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA) Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT) CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA) Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Marianne Williamson (D-CA) CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY) 2020 Third Party Candidates: Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI) CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Howie Hawkins (G-NY) Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) |
Republicans running for President:
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY) Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL) Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY) 2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates: Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA) Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC) Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK) Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO) Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA) Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL) Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA) Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX) Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA) Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA) Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA) | ||
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