AUGUSTA, Maine - The Maine Legislature has rejected a citizen initiated bill that would increase transparency in campaign finance reporting and expand public financing for candidates to better compete in elections.
Andrew Bossie is executive director of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, the group that collected the signatures to force consideration of the proposal.
"We are on this path because the Legislature failed to keep Clean Elections strong in two consecutive sessions before now," he says. "That's why more than a thousand Mainers mobilized to collect more than 86,000 signatures."
With lawmakers rejecting the proposal, voters will now decide the issue at referendum. Bossie expects the November vote will be hard fought, with special interest groups seeking to defeat the measure. He says the group is organizing a grass roots effort to mobilize support for the proposal.
