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By Michael Shepherd - Feb. 22, 2023
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📷 A summary of Ballot Question 1 in the 2020 Massachusetts election, known as a "right to repair" law, is displayed in a handbook provided to voters. (AP photo by Bill Sikes)
Good morning from Augusta. The budget and health committees go over the governor's two-year spending plan today. Watch here.

What we're watching today


A proven political winner joins consequential utility related-questions on Maine's 2023 ballot. A four-question slate of Maine referendums for the November election was set on Tuesday after supporters of a "right to repair" qualified for the ballot. While lawmakers could enact them when the proposals come up for consideration this year, they usually send them right to voters.

These types of citizen initiatives add another layer to electoral politics in Maine. During the era of former Gov. Paul LePage, a gridlocked Legislature meant that major ideas were often settled at the ballot, from same-sex marriage to the minimum wage, ranked-choice voting and Medicaid expansion. Their use has been diminished during solid Democratic control under Gov. Janet Mills.

But three of the four referendums come due to a lack of agreement in Augusta. The governor vetoed a proposed quasi-governmental takeover of Maine's two major electric utilities as well as a bill aiming to keep companies owned by foreign governments from spending in state elections. The latter was a response to Hydro-Quebec's millions in spending ahead of the 2021 vote to reject the Central Maine Power Co. corridor.

Versions of both those items are now on the November ballot, alongside a CMP-led response to the takeover proposal that would subject the millions in borrowing needed to fund the move to another public vote.

The right-to-repair referendum is a very different item. It comes from a war between the automotive industry and independent repair shops over the rapid changes toward proprietary software in new vehicles that the referendum would open up to shops and vehicle owners. In Massachusetts, an automakers association spent $25 million to oppose a similar item in 2020, but it won with 75 percent of votes.

This probably means it is a political winner here as well. However, the Massachusetts law has not been implemented yet after a federal court ruling. The industry deems it both unnecessary and unconstitutional, so Maine will have to go through that fight as well if the law passes.

The utility-related questions are highly specific to Maine, so it is harder to get a read on them. Supporters of the campaign spending referendum have shared polling showing a massive majority of Mainers back their effort. CMP and Versant Power, the state's two major utilities, have spent the most time and money fighting the takeover bid. That is where the major campaign lies.
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News and notes

📷 A TV journalist strings cable from an output box to his livestream equipment outside the Maine Emergency Management Agency at the Central Maine Commerce Center in north Augusta on March 23, 2020. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett)

 

💼 The home of several state agencies is being sold in an $18.5 million deal.

◉ The Central Maine Commerce Center in north Augusta, which houses the Maine Department of Public Safety, the Department of Labor and private companies, was sold in the largest investment deal in the capital city's recent history, according to the The Boulos Company, which brokered the sale.

◉ The 317,000-square-foot building on 40 acres has been under the same ownership group since 2004, when it was purchased for $4.5 million. The building will remain under the same management and this will be the new owner's first project in Maine.

❓A candidate can't explain why taxpayer-provided funds left a bank account.

◉ A 2022 legislative hopeful came forward to Maine's campaign finance regulator to say they do not know how three fraudulent payments were made from a bank account holding Clean Election money, according to a Maine Ethics Commission memo published Tuesday that does not name the candidate.

◉ Two of the entities that received the money are local, and the campaign did not use a debit card, commission staff says. At a meeting next week, commissioners will vote on whether to investigate the campaign's finances, a move that the candidate does not object to.

◉ "It is a matter of concern that someone caused these funds to be used for purposes unrelated to any political campaign," Jonathan Wayne, the commission's executive director, said in the memo.
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What we're reading


💰 Maine's $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot has been claimed.

🚓 A police officer who shot two people has a history of breaking rules.

🗞️ These college journalists let their website go dark to focus on print.

🚪 A Bangor mobile home park is switching over to tiny homes.

📣 Two lynx had a screaming match over a potential mate. Here's your soundtrack.
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