No on 1 pulls out the stops. A new day for Maine politics?
– UPDATE: November 7, 9 PM, see bottom of post –
With Question 1 to be voted on tomorrow, the No on 1 campaign is going all out, linking the restoration of the 38 year practice of same-day voter registration to welfare and the gays.
This follows on the heels of deceptive ads from unknown out of state groups that falsely claim that Yes is an effort of people from away to undermine Maine’s ethics laws.
So there are now two new strategies.
One is to characterize the supporters of election day registration “the welfare coalition.” This coalition includes an array of groups, including left/progressive organizations but also the League of Women Voters, the Maine Municipal Association, and OneMaine.
The other is to tie Yes on 1 to one of its coalition partners — Equality Maine. This is the group that seeks equal marriage rights for gay men and lesbians. The ad is posted at Dirigo Blue.
The welfare characterization is included in the email posted below.
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It is also worth noting that the Treasurer of the No on 1 group, Harold Clough, told Gerald Weinand that “NO on 1 – secure Maine’s ballot, was definitely not involved with this advertisement,” and that he personally finds the ad “distasteful and irrelevant.”
“The staff of the Ethics Commission would like to respond to concerns that some members of the public have brought to our attention. A political advertisement recently ran in a number of weekly community newspapers about the upcoming people’s veto regarding same day voter registration – Question 1. Because the Ethics Commission’s website address is listed at the bottom of the ad, some members of the public have wondered whether the Ethics Commission is responsible and paid for the ad.
The Ethics Commission is not responsible for the ad. The ad was paid for by a ballot question committee opposing the people’s veto. Click here to view the committee’s campaign finance report.
The Commission’s website address was apparently included in the ad as a source of some of the information in the ad.
The Ethics Commission does not take positions on ballot questions and does not run paid political advertisements in the media.”