UPDATED: There's money to be made in these citizens initiatives

by: Gerald Weinand

Wed Sep 02, 2009 at 23:41:55 PM EDT

Agenda Item #3 lays out what the Commission will be discussing at their next meeting on 8 September.

While the nuances of law are intriguing, and Ms. Hutton does raise an important point about whether the two questions should even be on the ballot, what has intrigued me is this:

Maine Leads describes itself as (pg. 10):

...a bold new organization actively promoting responsible fiscal policies, government accountability, and effective citizen activism. The goal of Maine Leads is simple; empower citizens and pressuregovernment to finally create tax relief and future prosperity for Maine.

Trevor Bragdon is listed as the group's Grassroots Director (pg. 9);

Maine Leads contributed $25,000 to three separate PACs, which in turn paid an equal amount to Pioneer Group for services, a total of $75,000 received by Pioneer Group (pg. 12);

In addition, Maine Leads paid an additional $160,500 to Pioneer Group for services rendered, in this case signature gathering. It subsequently came to light, as a result of Ms. Hutton's request, that this amount went unreported by Maine Leads (pg. 13);

Roy Lenardson disclosed in his July 29 Affidavit that Maine Leads paid Pioneer Group $160,500 directly for the collection of signatures on the three initiative petitions. These payments were in addition to the $75,000 that Maine Leads contributed to the PACs. Thus, the total funding that Pioneer Group received from Maine Leads (both directly and indirectly through the PACs) was $235,500.

And that Pioneer Group is a "consulting firm solely owned by Trevor Bragdon," (pg. 13).

To recap, Maine Leads, which lists Trevor Bragdon as one of four employees, has paid a consulting firm solely owned by him $160,500 directly, and an additional $75,000 through three separate PACs. That's $235,500 altogether.

None of this is illegal, as I understand it, but if I was a contributor to Maine Leads, I'd be asking some questions.

Update: Ben Grant, attorney for Deborah Hutton, had this to say via email:

The heart of this investigation is not the payment-for-signatures practice that has taken the place of true citizen initiated legislation - though that issue ought to be debated more intensely as it becomes more widely deployed (which Maine Leads has made clear is their intention). The heart of the investigation is transparency. Regardless of what you may think about the commandeering of the citizen initiative process by interest groups, at minimum we all ought to be able to agree that the process needs to be as open and visible to the public as possible. What Maine Leads has attempted to do is construct a method of funding these initiatives, while at the same time concealing the origins of that financial support. There is no dispute that the Maine Leads initiatives have far-reaching consequences on how Maine's state and local governments perform their traditional services - in fact, that is entirely their point. Our point is simply that Maine voters deserve to have all the information about the proposal - and who is making it - before casting such an important vote.