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Bill responds to GOP party chair confirming they had disseminated incorrect information in signature gathering process
August 27, 2009
AUGUSTA – Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, announced today that he has filed a bill to allow Mainers to remove their names from citizens' initiative and people's veto petitions. The bill, a response to frequent complaints of inaccurate information given out by petition circulators, could go into effect as early as January 2010 if it clears legislative hurdles on a fast track.
Berry says he has heard multiple reports regarding misleading information being used to coax Mainers into signing petitions to repeal a recent tax reform bill. According to Maine Revenue Services experts and the Maine State Economist, the bill will reduce Mainers' net taxes by $57 million. Berry says there have been reports of inaccurate, partial, and otherwise misleading information being circulated.
"To a large extent, a democratic petition process is all about ‘buyer beware,’” said Berry. “We have the right to free speech, but also have the right to the truth. If misled, we should be able to remove our names from a petition.”
Under current law, there is no process for Mainers who have later learned that they were given misleading information to have their signatures removed from a petition. If passed in the 2010 legislative session, Rep. Berry's bill would permit individuals to easily remove their names from the list by filing a written request with the Secretary of State. Requests could be made up to a week before the final certification is announced.
House Majority Leader John Piotti, D-Unity, pointed out that residents who feel they have been misled can file a complaint with the petition gatherers, as well as with the Secretary of State's office, but there is no way to guarantee that request will be followed.
"We would hope that the organizers of any People’s Veto effort would do the right thing and not submit the signature of any voter who has requested that they remove his or her name,” said Piotti. “But in order to make sure that the requests of voters are followed, we need to codify it in law. Spreading misinformation is harming the citizen’s initiative process, and this is a way we can make it better.”
Most recently, an email from a former State Senator, Lois Snowe-Mello, made multiple inaccurate or unfounded claims. The Chairman of the Maine Republican Party, Charles Webster, confirmed to the Lewiston Sun-Journal that his party had in fact disseminated incorrect information in their attempt to gather signatures.
But there have been many other misleading statements as well, included some coming directly from Chairman Webster, who has claimed publicly to MPBN that the tax reform package was “one more way to get more money out of regular people who are struggling in this economy.” According to Maine Revenue Services, the tax code that will result from enacting the tax reform package will be more progressive than the current tax code, and the bottom 20 percent of Maine taxpayers will see an overall tax reduction of over 57 percent.
“Most concerning to me has been the continued claim that the legislature's tax reforms will add to our tax burden, when in fact the opposite is true,” said Rep. Berry. “That type of misinformation hurts all aspects of the system, from the legislative process to the citizen’s initiative process to the electoral process. If we can’t have a debate about the facts, our system of government suffers for it.”
For more information and common MYTHS and FACTS about tax reform, please visit: Maine Tax Reform.
Contact:
Rep. Seth Berry, 522-1609
Rep. John Piotti, 287-1430
Kyle Leighton, Communications Director, 287-1433