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Showing posts with the label taxpayer funding

Maine State Enterprises VS The Micro- Economy

I launched our kickstarter project in the midst of more disturbing news in Maine. Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Steve Woods wants to relocate  the inhabitants of 109 towns that the have been insolvent for 10 years, citing that the affluent urban communities get 93 percent of the investment dollars in Maine and that "more than 100 Maine communities that cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year to sustain while making very little contribution to the wealth and capacity of our state. ” Mr Brooks is the CEO of TideSmart Global - a company that benefited from the Obama Stimulus funds that financed TideSmarts campus . I haven't been able to find the amount in stimulus funds granted to TideSmart but I found the map of Maine on recovery.org which gives a visual picture of which communities received stimulus dollars, clearly showing that the recipients are very highly concentrated in Southern Maine and in the locations were Mr Woods wants to relocate urban populations in wh...

Maine Biz Uses Claims Made by Government Chartered Non-Profit Corporation To Support Legislature's Side in Bond Debate

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...

Maine Public Must Take The Reigns In A Substantively Resourced Bond Debatee

This editorial ‘Conservation Priorities’ response makes some important points that are not often discussed in our Maine main stream media. It describes the land trust interests which have been acquiring land on a tax exempt status as a united network of corporatons, and ties the effect of the tax exempt status to the economic burden of rural communities. Quote: For the past 30 years, preservationists have aggressively pursued land acquisition — sometimes at the expense of the taxpayer, sometimes with the support of private funding. The $126 million borrowed by Maine taxpayers, to be repaid by future generations, has been used to acquire 530,000 acres of the total 1.8 million, or roughly 30 percent. The remaining 70 percent was acquired through collaborative efforts with Maine’s land trust community. With Governor LePage's veto of the research & development  bonds and refusal to sign off on the other bonds, igniting a debate between those who claim that the bonds...