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Maine Needs to follow South Carolina with Guidelines for what qualifies as “State Wide Interests”

Tweet This  http://goo.gl/v8sd33 Last Week Shawn Hannity aired a segment on eminent domain. The segment focused on row house homeowners in New Jersey who were being driven from their homes through the power of eminent domain in order to make way for a business development. The homeowners were not compensated well enough for their properties to afford a new home. In Maine we have a potential similar situation at The Brunswick Landing Maine’s Center for Innovation, chartered by special act of legislation under the name of The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Corporation. The charter states that it is a “municipal corporation” and an “instrumentality of the state”- a contradiction in legal terms if ever there was one. The charter also grants this newly chartered “instrumentality of the state” the power of eminent domain over adjacent property. Making the MRRA a “municipal corporation” was clearly an attempt to get around Article IV Part 3 rd Section 14 of the Maine State ...

An Encouraging Response for the Office of The Speaker of the House

On behalf of Speaker Nutting, thank you for writing to share your idea on maineisopenforbusiness.com.  Input like yours is an essential part of the legislative process on all of the issues we address in Augusta, and  we hope you will continue to share your thoughts and  ideas .  The Information you suggested could help voters make more informed decisions.  I will pass along your idea for consideration. Thank you again for writing.    Susan H. Wasserott Office of the Speaker of the House House of Representatives 2 State House Station Augusta, ME  04333-0002 207-287-1300     From: Website [mailto:lance.dutson@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, March 21, 2011 4:36 PM To: lance.dutson@gmail.com; Nutting, RepRobert Subject: Input Name: Mackenzie Andersen Town: East Boothbay Email address: mackenzie@andersenstudio.com Your Message:: In regards to bonds unauthorized by taxpayers that is currently in the news. Since ...

LD 204 Regulating Mid-coast Regional Development Authority Lacks Constitutional Authority

This is the entire Text of LD 204 . Vote to take place on March 8. If any one wants to send the letter presented below permission is granted. An Act Regarding the Membership of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority Board of Trustees Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §13083-I, sub-§2, ¶E,  as enacted by PL 2005, c. 599, §1, is amended to read: E.  A member appointed to the board of trustees may not hold an elected office in municipal, county or state government or be an employee who serves at the pleasure of a person who holds elected office in municipal, county or state government . summary This bill provides that a member appointed to the board of trustees of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority may not be an employee who serves at the pleasure of a person who holds elected office in municipal, county or state government. Dear Honorable Kevin L. Raye, Majority Floor Lea...

LD 204, a bill that seems specifically targeted at keeping Town Manager Gary Brown off the MRRA Board.

I received this in my email urging people to contact the people listed below to defeat what seems to be an attempt to exclude the Brunswick Town Manager from the Board of the Mid_coast Regional Development Association. Brunswick Republican Town Committee Minutes of the MAR 2011 Meeting Mar. 3, 2011 Brunswick Business Center 18 Pleasant St. Brunswick MINUTES: 1. Meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM. 2. Chair’s Report:             A . - Discussed LD 204, a bill that seems specifically targeted at keeping Town Manager Gary Brown off the MRRA Board.  This is strange, as a review of the makeup of redevelopment boards in other towns, most particularly the Loring and Pease base redevelopment boards, shows that the town councils where the bases were sited invariably had a permanent elected representative sitting on their respective boards.           ...

A Letter Of Evasion

T o date this is the only response that I have received from my letter addressed to Governor LePage with a copy sent to Attorney General Schneider. The only instances in which the response shows evidence that my letter was actually read is in the mention of the name of the Brunswick Landing Maine's Center for Innovation. in the first paragraph - and- in acknowledging that I am addressing a constitutional matter. However the grammatical structure of the first sentence  gives credence to the speculation that the letter is a form letter used as a response to multiple letters.  The letter says "Thank You for your letter requesting the "constitutionality of the Brunswick Landing  Maine's center for Innovation '" as though "constitutionality of the Brunswick Landing Maine's center for Innovation"  is imported content  in a mail merge process. More correctly I wrote a letter requesting that the Attorney General challenge the constitutionality of The B...

Governor LePage Addresses Mountainf of Taxation Unapproved by Maine Voters.

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 appr...

Letter to Lepage Requesting State Attorney General Challenge the Constitutionality of The Brunswick Landing Maine's Center For Innovation

INTRODUCTION: This letter was submitted twice on line. After receiving no response, I sent it certified mail and cc'd it to Attorney General William J. Schneide on March 23, 2011, also by certified mail. Dear Governor Lepage, Second Submission to make sure that it was received. Re: Challenging the constitutionality of corporations chartered by special act of legislation. Source: Maine State Constitution, Article IV, Part Third,Section 14 Dear Governor Le Page, You have asked the business community for input concerning regulations that inhibit business growth but there is gorilla in the room that no one talks about, which is the escalating structure of corporations chartered by special act of legislation, which have increased dramatically since 1990. As you know, having taken an oath to uphold the Maine State Constitution, Article IV, Part Third Section 14 of the Maine State constitution prohibits the charter of corporations by special act of legislation, with two exceptions. Altho...