Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Worried about big box developers? Call the Governor ASAP.

Memo from a friend:
LD 1481 passed on Monday night in both the House and Senate. The amendment passed by the House a couple of weeks ago had already been stripped, and the Bill passed in a very restrictive form. With this Bill as law citizens would have only 75 days to challenge a development proposal through citizen referendum.

LD 1481 now goes to the Governor. He needs calls from citizens. 287-3531

The Attorney General recently indicated in a memo that the Bill likely constitutes an unfunded mandate because it could require towns to spend money to speed up their referendum process to meet the restrictive time frame imposed by 1481. However the mandate was not attached to the Bill.

The Governor has grounds to veto it, but he needs to hear from you.
Even if you have already called the governor, please call again TODAY. 287-3531. Mention:
  1. The burden on towns when the State tells towns how to manage their referendum process, traditionally decided through LOCAL CONTROL.
  2. Citizens will be stripped of their rights to determine the future of their own towns, while Big Box developers will be given a green light to make secret development deals that cannot be stopped by citizen petition after an unrealistic 75 days. And a public hearing is not even required by the bill!
This issue is critical to the future of Maine. Please call TODAY!!

287-3531 !!!
My friend likes exclamation points. But I agree . We need to call on this one.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

And here's a list of the State Senate Dems in WalMart's pocket:

Bromley of Cumberland
Damon of Hancock
Diamond of Cumberland
Hobbins of York
Martin of Aroostook -- surprise surprise
Nutting of Androscoggin
Perry of Penobscot
Schneider of Penobscot

Granted, they couldn't have stopped this locomotive, but two to one is an embarassment. It was much closer in the House.

Phoning now.
Thanks, alnadem.

Anonymous said...

And in the name of thoroughness, not generally my forte, the House traitors:

Barstow, Gorham
Beaudette, Biddeford
Blanchard, Old Town
Bliss, So. Portland
Brannigan, Portland
Clarck, Millinocket
Crosby, Topsham
Dugay, Cherryfield
Eberle, So. Portland
Fischer, Presque Isle
Fisher, Brewer
Gerzofsky, Brunswick
Hanley, Gardiner
Koffman, Bar Harbor
Moody, Manchester
Pilon, Saco
Sampson, Auburn
Valentino, Saco

18 is seven more than needed to tie up this vote. Grrrr. Also, four of the no-shows were Dems. WTF?

Alna Dem said...

thank you, ma'am. how'd you come up with this list, I'm wondering - is there a handy reference tool I could use, too, or do you just have an incredible grasp of state politics? :)

Anonymous said...

lol

I don't have an incredible grasp on anything just now. It's a good day when I have matching socks--thank heaven it's summer and I can stop thinking about that detail.

Hmm. Let me think. I did this all when I was so annoyed, I may have to recreate my state of pissoffedness to remember where I went that morning.

Oh yes, first I went and punched in the bill number in the upper right hand corner.

Then, though I didn't publish this, I went to the Maine Clean Elections page to see whether there was any correlation to private funding. The answer was no. This actually made me more annoyed and a little suspicious because if there wasn't a payoff for this vote, why the hell make it?

Anonymous said...

Ack. Effing Blogger. That comment previewed beautifully and now it's trash. Can you fix it oh, blog goddess? I'd be grateful as hell.

Alna Dem said...

alas our comments are fixed for all eternity, beyond even the reach of blog goddesses. but it looks good to me and the link works. and the research tips are much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Hey Alnadem,

I'm at a friend's house showing them where I got the info on this bill and, don your tinfoil please, it's no longer on the Maine Legislature site.

CUE: Twilight Zone theme

I did not invent these names and I retrieved it to make sure you could get there too.

Hmmmm.