Corporate-backed conservative groups sue to halt Maine's matching funds campaign law

[brentspeak]

These shadowy so-called "conservative" cockroaches just won't quit.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/story/bdn/Conservative-thinktank-challenges-Maine-Clean-Elections-law,150698

Lawsuit seeks to halt Maine's matching campaign funds law

8/6/10 02:03 pm Updated: 8/7/10 03:31 pm

AUGUSTA, Maine — Critics of Maine’s public campaign financing program are asking the courts to suspend part of the law in a move that, if successful, could have significant impacts on this November’s races for governor and the State House.

Bolstered by recent court victories against other states with similar laws, two individuals and two conservative groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Thursday challenging the constitutionality of a key portion of the Maine Clean Election Act.

In particular, the plaintiffs are seeking to suspend the part of Maine’s law that allows publicly financed candidates to receive additional taxpayer money — on top of what they already received — when they are outspent by their opponents.

“It has a chilling effect on a candidate’s free speech when he knows that every time he spends money he is putting more money in the campaign chest of his opponent,” said Josiah Neeley, an attorney with the James Madison Center for Free Speech in Indiana.

The lawsuit makes Maine the latest front in a national legal battle widely expected to end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. But the timing of the filing could have major implications on the 2010 governor’s race in Maine.

If approved by a judge, the request would severely limit the amount of campaign money available to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell and potentially hundreds of publicly financed candidates for the Legislature.

[DJ13]

1. We really need to end the idea that money equals free speech

[Travis_0004]

2. With the budget problems governments are having, they should not be funding elections N/T

[HillbillyBob]

3. If we get corpses out of our government and tax them

properly as in make them pay their damn taxes w/o a bunch of loopholes, there will be enough for full funding, reinstate the fairness doctrine and equal air time that would make a huge difference.
Then no Corpse$ can buy politicians unless you are fool enough to believe that corporations have some heart and will run fair elections.....

The budget problems are because of the corporate and government collusion in deregulation and so fucking called tax relief while the bastards take our jobs overseas so they can pay some poor schmuck 20$ a month for the job we used to get 15$ and hour for or much more. Our househould income is down by 75% in the last 10 years and we have cut every damned dime to stay afloat and we spent almost a year nearly homeless from summer 2002 to spring 2003. We spent that winter in Western NC in a house with many windows out and no heat and a mould problem that nearly killed me..then again living under a bridge would have killed me since I was already very sick with cancer and hiv.

[MadHound]

4. What, you're happy with corporations and special interest groups funding them instead?

That is a large part of what is wrong with this country, far too much corporate money influencing our government.