POWER TO THE PEOPLE

I am a genuine admirer of Ralph Nader and it always does my heart good when a large number of lefties, populists, greenies, anarchists, hippies, punks, and other assorted variety of folks get together to discuss such topics as corporate corruption and betrayal, single-payer healthcare, living-wage campaigns, affordable housing, and other such common sense. There are roughly 40 thousand paid corporate lobbyists in Washington DC right now and almost every media outlet in the United States is owned by one of about six different multinational corporations — large-scale cultural events such as the “Democracy Rising” festival that took place in the Civic Center this past weekend really do provide a crucially needed forum for making available public information that is threatening or inconvenient to the official “corporate” line.

Of course, when all the rock and roll guitars are packed up and the famous people from away have gone back to away, there will still be plenty of good times and revolution left for us locals. Maine really is in many ways at the forefront of the battle between legitimate democratic reform and corporate greed. Last year our legislature passed a cutting edge bill that will force the big drug companies to collectively negotiate their prices — this law unites every consumer in Maine like a big fist against the greedy, bloated drug companies, with their billionaire CEOs, and it is a good first step towards making sure that we one day will have a world where the elderly and poor are not sometimes forced to choose between food and medicine.

The legislature also approved the preliminary steps for establishing a single-payer health-care system, though that important process has begun to stall, thanks to the combined efforts of Anthem’s many highly compensated lobbyists and to our governor, “Corporate” Angus King. Luckily, Mainers descend from the same people who held the ground and saved the day up on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, and we will not be easily deterred from achieving social justice and sensible, pragmatic administration of the public good. Right now, groups across the state like Maine People’s Alliance are going door to door, in the greatest democratic tradition, organizing their fellow citizens to demand that lawmakers remain true to their commitment to a humane, decent, and practical health-care system. Here in the city of Portland, groups like Portlanders Organized to Win Economic Rights have also been very active in the “single-payer” campaign, and they have taken a lead role in the local fight against predatory landlords and rents that are way out of proportion with the local wage scale.

Maine is also one of the first states in the nation to have passed a “clean elections” bill. Forget the McCain-Feingold nonsense, “clean elections” is one of the only reforms that can truly provide even a semblance of resistance to the overwhelming influence of corporate money on the political process. Because Maine passed clean elections, we now have the opportunity to actually elect a governor who is not entirely bought and paid for by corporate interests. I urge all my fellow Mainers to seriously consider voting for Jonathan Carter.

Do not believe members of the Baldacci Legion when they squawk at you about how Carter is just a “spoiler.” He is a real candidate with many very real, very intelligent and serious ideas about how to improve life and the common good in our beautiful state. In 1994, with almost no funding at all, Carter managed to win seven percent of the vote. Running this time with clean elections funding, Carter stands an outstanding chance of being elected. In a state as small as ours, he can get his message out, and getting his message out is all it will take to get him elected. On any issue that matters, Carter is the best candidate for the everyday, working person: He supports shifting the tax base away from the working families and back onto the wealthy, where it belongs. He believes that true democracy and economic development can only come from supporting small businesses and not multinational corporations. He believes that the only real way to improve our current crisis in health care is to take it away from the greedy insurance corporations, to join the rest of the civilized world by adopting a single-payer system. If the people in Minnesota could elect a professional wrestler like Jesse Ventura, then why can’t the people of Maine elect an intelligent, thoughtful, life-long activist and organizer like Jonathan Carter?

Here in Portland, voters in District 31 have the opportunity to elect John Eder to the Maine State Legislature. John is a hard-working social activist with a proven commitment to serving the public good. He is at the forefront of a small but growing number of energetic, dedicated, civic-minded people who live in Portland. At the local level, he has been very active in the fight to keep rents reasonable and to protect our children and elderly from the irresponsible use of pesticides. He’s no slicky-boy political hack — he tells the truth about issues and like all truth-tellers, he doesn’t worry about offending hypocrites. I have personally seen him out in the streets, confronting the greedy insurance CEOs at Anthem. Members of the World War II generation can be particularly proud of voting for John, for he is a throwback to the sort of tough, down-to-earth, cheerfully self-sacrificing young people who helped defeat fascism the last time it reared its ugly head.

It is great that Ralph Nader made time to come here to Portland to give a speech. He is a very busy person, as, I’m sure, are Jello Biafra and Patti Smith. But true democratic reform isn’t going to be accomplished from listening to a few famous rock stars and heroes, no matter how pure their motives or insightful their message. The rich corporate elite have a stranglehold on our democratic process and on our media — the only way change will ever occur here in Maine is if tens of thousands more people take a legitimate interest in the democratic process and truly open their eyes to the way the corporate elite have seized the economy and perverted social justice. Many people in Maine are awake to the terrible truth of corporate, big-money power — but every single one of those people must make a genuine commitment to wake up as many more people as they possibly can. Talk to your neighbors and family, your coworkers and friends. Talk to as many people as possible, for that is the only way the corporate interests can be defeated.

Everybody in Maine knows the old saying, “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” Awake, fellow Mainers, for in the next several months we have the chance to make genuine progress towards real democracy! The eyes of the world are upon us!

Briggs Seekins

Portland

MORE ON GRAY

As a fellow Gray resident, I enjoyed and appreciated Sam Pfeifle’s report on our recent election day controversy (“Gray is no Florida,” July 5), when election clerk Donna Hill inadvertently allowed the Republican sister of an unopposed Democratic candidate to work at the polls. This was a technical violation of state election law, but as Pfeifle noted the ensuing dustup was a far bigger story. Our little town is often the scene of such tragicomic outbursts, but at least nobody gets killed in bar fights here. Yet.

To clarify a few points on the matter:

1. There is no such thing as a technically perfect election. Maine Election Statute MRSA 21-A has hundreds of provisions, a few of which always manage to get overlooked. For instance, did you know that election workers must ALWAYS use red ink? While there is plenty of room for improvement in Gray, the most important things — voter access and ballot integrity — were not compromised here.

2. Strictly speaking, Hill didn’t appoint Pat Dunn to her election job. Like many other Maine towns, Gray’s two organized political parties nominate volunteer poll workers for final approval by the town’s election clerk. The competition for these thankless jobs is not exactly what you’d call fierce. Dunn’s name has been submitted to Hill (and approved) for years by Gray Republicans, whose chairman, until very recently, was the same person who reported Dunn — Fran Monroe.

‰. Calling the Monument’s sanctimonious editor/publisher Elizabeth Salvetti (who angrily called for Hill’s re-education and/or dismissal) “somewhat controversial” is probably responsible journalism, though I personally think Pfeifle is being too kind. On the other hand, describing Monroe merely as a “former Town Council member” utterly fails to capture the essence of Gray’s most notorious municipal gadfly. Monroe has made a career out of slandering public officials, invoking conspiracy theories, intimidating town employees and generally engaging in boorish, obstructionist behavior. During her single term as a Councilor, the self-appointed integrity maven was censured by fellow councilors for illegally interfering with Town operations. Her subsequent unsuccessful legal challenges to the censure cost the taxpayers of Gray about $20,000.

I know this isn’t of any interest to most Phoenix readers, but since Pfeifle is a fellow Gray resident I thought he might appreciate a little bit of context. Nothing ever happens by accident in our little corner of the world.

Paul Proudian

Gray