Maine lawmakers have killed a proposal to ban lobbyist donations to legislators, the governor and Constitutional officers.
Dave Sherwood
Dave Sherwood is a staff reporter for the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting.
LATEST ARTICLES
Bill limiting PAC expenditures becomes law
A bill to bar political action committees in Maine from making PAC expenditures to the legislators who control them has become law.
Legislature kills contractor training, certification bill designed to reduce lead poisoning
A bill reinforcing contractor requirements for work on buildings containing lead is dead after the Maine House and Senate failed to come to agreement.
12 years and $112 million in state funds have failed to save harness racing in Maine
Investigation reveals that $112 million in state funds over more than a decade has failed to save Maine’s struggling harness racing industry.
Report: Lottery doesn’t target low-income Mainers
AUGUSTA — There are too many variables to determine conclusively which Maine municipalities and counties spend the most per capita on lottery tickets and no evidence that the state’s $231 million lottery has targeted the poor in its marketing, a study released Friday...
Legislature launches inquiry into Maine PowerOptions program
The Legislature’s investigative arm launched a preliminary inquiry of the state-sponsored Maine PowerOptions electricity program Feb. 17, a month after a story by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting raised questions about the group’s transparency, oversight and benefits for its members.
Legislative committee questions electricity program staff
For the first time in 16 years, staff of Maine PowerOptions appeared before lawmakers Feb. 2 to explain how the quasi-state electricity consortium brings together hundreds of municipalities and school districts across the state to help them buy power.
Value of quasi-state electricity program called into question
Part 1: Five years after a scandal at the Maine Turnpike Authority landed its director in prison, a quasi-state program — Maine PowerOptions (MPO), which brings together municipalities, school districts and other state nonprofits to purchase electricity in bulk — lacks transparency and effective oversight.
State program’s cozy relationship to supplier raises concerns
Part 2: Both a confidential state probe and a subsequent independent investigation by the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, including a review of a confidential agreement between Maine PowerOptions and its electricity supplier, raise questions about whether the quasi-state program is living up to its original mission of saving Maine taxpayers money.
Boston PowerOptions is a larger, more transparent version of MPO
Part 3: Several northeastern states, including New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, have formed groups similar to Maine PowerOptions. Boston-based PowerOptions runs an organization nearly identical in mission to the Maine program, though far larger in scale — and with more transparency.
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