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| 📷 From left, Betty Johnson, Diane Denk, David Bright and Rick Bennett are sworn in as Maine's presidential electors at the State House in Augusta on Dec. 19, 2016. The four electors cast three ballots for Democrat Hillary Clinton and one for Republican Donald Trump. (BDN photo by Gabor Degre) |
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🗳️ A Republican joins in on yet another Democratic popular vote initiative.
◉ The 2023 bill that would have Maine join the national movement to replace the Electoral College with a national popular vote for president was released this week with an interesting list of sponsors.
◉ Rep. Art Bell, D-Yarmouth, is leading the initiative with a list of cosponsors that includes Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, and Sen. Matt Pouliot, R-Augusta. It seeks to allocate Maine's presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote when states controlling the majority of electors make similar moves.
◉ The Maine Senate passed a similar bill in 2019, but it died in the House. The involvement of top Democrats means it could make it back to the floor this year. Pouliot's involvement is also interesting, given that Republicans generally oppose this shift. He is also squaring off with Democrats on voter ID this year.
👤 The $1 billion hydropower corridor goes before a jury.
◉ A rare jury trial will decide the next step of the legal wrangling on the stalled Central Maine Power Co. corridor, which was rejected by voters in 2021.
◉ The main issue at play will be whether the corridor's builders had "vested rights" in the project before it was halted, something that could decide how far the power of voters extends to properly permitted developments. CMP and its allies have mostly won in court so far, but it has been a slog.
◉ Jury selection comes this morning, followed by opening arguments. The trial is scheduled to last most of this week in Business and Consumer Court in Portland. Any result will likely be appealed to Maine's high court. |
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What we're reading
💉 Bangor is collecting more needles than it gives out, but there are more complaints about dirty ones than ever.
✂️ A former Maine lawmaker known for a quixotic secession effort died at 89.
🕵️ Here's how Maine is helping unravel the mysteries of long COVID.
📉 The state's seafood harvest has dropped 120 million pounds since 2012.
🟦 The recent neo-Nazi rally in Portland underlines rising antisemitism here, the Maine Monitor reports. |
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