FILE - Matt Wagner, of Knox, Maine, attends a rally after supporters of"No CMP Corridor" submitted more than 75,000 signatures to election officials at the State Office Building in Augusta, Maine, Feb. 3, 2020. If voters grant their approval on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, Maine would be the 10th state to close the loophole in federal election law that bans foreign entities from spending on candidate elections, yet allows donations for local and state ballot measures.
Daniel Weiner, a campaign finance expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, said the reality of foreign influence is that it’s generally more about dollars and cents than grand geopolitical strategy. Maine voters rebuked the $1 billion project in a referendum in 2021, but it was nonetheless allowed to move forward after agave $18,000 to a political action committee and more than $270,000 to a mining association that funds the PAC in a 2018 referendum aimed at creating stricter environmental standards on hard rock mining. The referendum was defeated.
The governor cited concerns about the proposal’s constitutionality and said it was so broad it could silence “legitimate voices, including Maine-based businesses.” The Maine Press Association and Maine Association of Broadcasters also opposed the proposal, saying it would put them in a difficult position of vetting campaign ads to ensure compliance.