Jackson statement on the release of clean elections funds

AUGUSTA —On Tuesday, Gov. LePage announced he would not appeal a court ruling by Maine Superior Court Justice William Stokes requiring his administration to release an estimated $1 million in taxpayer dollars to clean elections candidates. While this does not solve the error in the state budget that is preventing the Maine Ethics Commission from releasing additional funds from the clean elections fund after July 1, it does mean that eligible Maine candidates will receive a portion of the funds they are owed.

In response to the court ruling and the governor’s subsequent actions, Senate Democratic Leader Troy Jackson of Allagash released the following statement:

“Maine’s clean elections program is vital to keeping corporate greed and special interests at bay in elections across the state. It’s why the program remains popular more than 20 years after voters approved it at the ballot box.

 

While it’s great that the LePage administration has agreed to comply with the law and release the funds, the Legislature still must deal with the typo preventing the release of the remaining funds. Over the past few months, House Republicans have offered us all kinds of bad deals to fix this mess but every time we came close to a deal, they tried to push for more in an attempt to undermine Maine voters.

 

At the end of the day, the lawsuit reaffirms that Maine’s clean election law is pretty clear, typo or no typo. It’s time for Ken Fredette and his House Republican colleagues to follow the governor’s lead. We have no business making bad deals for Maine people.”

###