The dispute between Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens INC and the Town of Boothbay entered a new chapter as 2017 came to an end. Lawyers for CMBG filed a lawsuit on Dec. 20 in U.S. District Court in Portland, claiming the Town of Boothbay denied CMBG its constitutional right to due process. The Coastal Gardens Inc thereby places the dispute in a constitutional context, which is where it needs to be, but for other reasons than those for which the Garden's lawyers have filed suit. I submit, as a citizen of Maine, that if the Maine Constitution is honored, the town ordinances cannot give special treatment to one type of organization over another, based on whether the developer is codified as an educational facility, a museum, a big box store, or whatever. The premise of my argument is found in the preamble of the Maine Constitutions which articulates the objects of government, one of which is to "promote our common welfare". The adjective "common", as us
Examining the Fundamental transformation of the American political system that originated in the political philosophy preserved by Publius in The Federalist Papers. This blog was originally published as Main Street Economy and focused on legislation passed in the state of Maine "inspired" by similar laws passed by other states which collectively constitutes a fundamental transformation of the American political philosophy within state incubators.