Maine’s senatorial race is attracting millions of dollars. We will hear a lot about which candidate will best serve the interests of Maine and its inhabitants. Voters who take a few minutes to think about it will figure out that this election is not attracting cash tsunamis because people all over the United States are eager to see Maine well served by its U.S. senator. There are two questions which concern the donors: 1) Will the Republicans keep their majority in this United States Senate. 2) Which party will select the federal judges who increasingly determine national policies.
The enormous flow of money is producing the customary reflexive hand-wringing. A November 1 editorial by the Portland Press Herald, “Legal election spending is the real scandal,” is a typical example.
The editorial contrasted the trivial reporting error for which Democratic senatorial candidate Sarah Gideon has been fined $500, to the millions of dollars spent by national interest groups, corporations, and wealthy individuals. They see the real scandal as the way this titanic cash flow drowns out “the voices of the people who live here.” This is a valid concern.
Mainers for Health and Parental Rights is the clearest and strongest example of real live Maine people making their voices heard. Readers wishing to hear these voices will find them at https://www.veto798maine.com/.
This organization describes Veto 798 Maine as a “grassroots effort led by Maine parents on behalf of all Maine children and families.” It aims to overturn LD798, “a bill that was pushed through the legislature by Big Pharma despite overwhelming opposition from the citizens of Maine, and then quietly signed into law by Governor Mills in May of 2019.”
The website, which gives access to the organization’s September 18 press conference gives viewers a chance to see if its supporters resemble authentic Mainers. There’s no sign of religious zealots dreading vaccination as a satanic ritual. I saw no nervous paranoiacs scanning the skies for black helicopters. (And I know a paranoiac when I see one; some of my fiercest enemies are paranoiacs.)
The press conference celebrated delivery of the 95,871 signatures collected by 800 volunteers in just three months. How was that even possible? By way of explanation Laura Libby, was introduced by Cara Stevens a co-chair of the drive. Laura collected over 4,000 names all by herself. Her explanation for her fierce zeal? She believes LD798 as “gross government overreach.” She saw displaced informed consent for medical decisions, displaced by severe punishment for disobedience, parental rights disregarded, religious freedom erased, and philosophical objections disregarded.
They speakers at the press conference emphatically denied that they were anti-vaccine per se, Cara Stevens and Laura Libby pointing out that their children had received vaccinations.
The people’s veto of LD798 will appear on the March ballot, allowing plenty of time for debate and clarification. People who really yearn for a debate which engages authentic Mainers, a.k.a., “regular people” will want to pay attention.
John Frary of Farmington, the GOP candidate for U.S. Congress in 2008, is a retired history professor, an emeritus Board Member of Maine Taxpayers United, a Maine Citizen’s Coalition Board member, and publisher of FraryHomeCompanion.com. He can be reached at jfrary8070@aol.com
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