Preserving The American Political Philosophy

• KEY FINDINGS PULLING THE STRINGS : Maine's digital education agenda is being guided behind the scenes by out-of-state companies that stand to profit on the changes.- quote from Colin Woodrtds Award Winning Report meriting a full page ad in the Portland Press Herald I have been doing my own investigative reporting on the "investigative report" on digital education in Maine, for which my nephew Colin Woodard- who writes for the Portland Press Herald received an George Polk Award for investigative reporting: This is my latest post on AS Maine Goes- where I am recording my investigation in segments . As Maine Goes is the best alternate media that Maine has- it is an internet discussion forum: In Colin's report , the claim is made that The American Legislative Exchange Council - the conservative organization-submitted bills to the legislature “motivated by their bottom line”. The only reference I have found thus far as to the what the legislative bi

   L.R. 492, is a  bill the LePage administration submitted recently to clarify the law exempting some aviation companies from paying property taxes. The language of the bill is not yet public, but George Gervais, Gov. Paul LePage 's commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, said Wednesday that it is designed to ensure that the law exempting aviation uses is applied consistently. LePage administration wades into Brunswick tax fight  -Steve Mistle   Portland press Herald What Governor Lepage and the state's  Department of Economic and Community Development  are proposing is is a violation of the Home Rule Amendment of the Maine State Constitution, providing that property taxes are included in the charters of municipal corporations. There cannot be anything more clearly " local and municipal in character" than property taxes- which are based on property located within the municipality and are justified as payment for servi

  From  the charter for the Finance Authority of Maine  The above statement is found in the charter for the Finance Authority of Maine. It is a most astounding statement because it constitutes a legislative decree about the character of certain individuals and associations which practically ordains them into sainthood. By legislative decree, individuals and associations which privately benefit through the activities of the Finance Authority of Maine are motivated by only the purest of motives to serve the "public benefit" - whatever that may be, and whenever the powers that be, want it to be it.  Any private benefits that confer upon themselves, as a public-private relationship, is a pure chance of circumstance. Which type of government defines human character by legislative decree? Not that created by the founders of the United States Constitution. The Federalist Papers recorded the thought process which became the United States Constitution. Publius first examin

Maine Biz has an article on the Governor's Veto and uses the Maine Development Foundation as one of their sources on behalf of the legislature. This is my online comment to that article. MTI- Maine Technological Institute is BOTH government and non-profit. It is a non-profit corporation chartered by special act of legislation in violation of the Maine State Constitution, which our legislature routinely ignores as it continues to entrench a network of special corporations chartered by special acts of legislation. Article IV, Part Third Section 14 of the Maine State Constitution prohibits the legislature from chartering corporations by special act of legislation with an exception for municipal purposes and - an almost never applicable exception - for something that can't be done any other way. Article IV Part Third Section 14 of the Maine State constitution then goes on to say that all corporations, however formed , are subject to general law. However corporate records a

In mid- February Maine's Governor LePage gave a radio address explaining why he declined to approve bonds promise by quasi governmental agencies These are a few quotes from LePage's Radio Address  $19,448! If you are one of Maine’s 653,000 tax filers, this is your share of the Maine’s $12.7 billion in public debt. If you do not remember approving nearly $13 billion in bonds, you did not necessarily miss an election. More than 95% of Maine’s debt was never approved by voters as required by our Constitution! As a voter and taxpayer you have only had a say on about $500 million in general obligation bond questions on the ballot. The remainder of our taxpayer-backed obligations is the result of promises made, but never paid for and decisions made by quasi-governmental authorities you have never heard of.  ....Most of the remaining obligations backed up by Maine’s taxpayers were issued by boards or authorities you probably have never heard of. The debt was issued without your appro

As some who might read this may know, the journalist and author, Colin Woodard , is a relative of mine. Colin wrote an article, Brewing Up A Storm, on the Republican Party's new platform for the September 2010 Downeast Magazine. I posed the following comment in repsonse. Defining Terms If the term centrist is supposed to mean a point in between the small size of government favored by our founding fathers and those who believe in a larger government providing certain entitlements for the people, then it raises the question why the term ”centrist” applies to the entrenched political system in this state, which has collectively advanced state capitalism over the past fifteen years, including this year’s recent passage of LD1, which unconstitutionally charters a mutual funds investment corporation .LD1 was sponsored by none other than Peter Mills, who is calling those who want to return to the state and federal constitution “far right extremist”. In the creation of investment corpora

Letter submittted to the Boothbay Register May 2, 2010- I am glad to say that this letter is published in the issue coming out on May 05, 2010. This article was also published on The Augusta Insider. When The Augusta Insider "merged" with Pine Tree Politics all articles examinining state capitalism in Maine were no longer available. A Call For a People's Veto. Dear Editor, I recently submitted a letter, which was also sent to Senator Trahan , who did not respond. This letter concerned the use of taxpayer funding by the Small Enterprise Growth Fund and the proposed LD1 and LD1666 . LD 1666 was rejected by the appropriations committee but subsumed into LD1 and then passed unanimously by both the House and the Senate and signed into law by Governor Baldacci. The Maine Chamber of Commerce describes LD1 as “An Act To Stimulate Capital Investment for Innovative Businesses in Maine” . LD1 is marketed by the Small Enterprise Growth Fund with the following words “This program c