Ray names names as he calls out the Maine legislature on a laundry list of dubious decisions, the most egregious being a plan to give away Maine's electoral votes to the highest bidder.
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About Me
- Ray Richardson
- I live in Westbrook with my wonderful wife Dee Dee and our four children. We have been residents of Maine for a little over 22 years, moving here from Florida in 1985.
6 comments:
Ray,
I know you don't think much of his ideas, but I think this is worth exploring.
You are right though. The legislature should learn that they should stick to budget issues only unless the project is on Ray's list of important items.
I need to study this more, before i decide if it is the right thing to do, but my gut feeling is that if Peter Mills has decided to be for it then it must have some merit. The elctoral setup that the founders envisioned should always be discussed as anything in the constitution should.The founders did not always get it right. If they had, we may have averted a civl war later.
I copied this for your readers to get a better idea than just your sound bite on the issue.
Every four years, pundits discuss Maine’s method of allocating electoral votes, aptly named the Maine Method. While this has been an interesting history lesson for nearly 40 years, there have recently been people pointing to this solution as the solution to emulate for a fair election of the president. Proponents of a failed California citizen’s initiative pointed to Maine as the successful model for their state to emulate, disregarding the vast electoral vote difference (4 to 55) and the partisan implications it would have had for the 2008 election.
As the originator of the legislation that brought about the Maine Method, I’d like to set the record straight. We passed this legislation as an alternative to what the country really wanted: the direct election of the president. One person, one vote is a fundamental democratic principle that I strongly believe in, but our options at the time were limited.
The Maine Method needs to be examined beyond today’s short memory, and looked at through the eyes of the times. In 1968, we faced a violent and turbulent presidential election. Protesters were marching in the streets in opposition to the Vietnam War while the country lost Robert F. Kennedy, a strong voice for many opposed to the war.
Our faith in government, and by default ourselves, was being sorely tested. This tumultuous era sparked a movement to reform the Electoral College and put the power to elect the president directly in the hands of the people.
The founding fathers established the Electoral College as a means to balance the desires of some for the direct election of the president with that of others who felt Congress should elect the president. Additionally, mass transit and mass communication were more than a hundred years into the future meaning the average voter would have little opportunity to educate himself (yes, himself) on the candidates — assuming they could even read. It made sense logistically at the time to elect local representatives whose job it was to be responsible for making informed decisions about who should run the country. These representatives were called "electors" and their role continues today through the Electoral College.
In 1969, as today, the landscape and geography was vastly different. By then, television had eclipsed radio as the preferred method of communication; the first nationally televised presidential debates had already occurred; and literacy rates were quite high thanks to standardized public education. Voters could read and they had ample opportunity to educate themselves directly on who should lead the country.
In light of the political upheaval and the realities of the impact mass communication had on our ability to communicate with mainstream America, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment removing the Electoral College and requiring the direct election of the president.
There was strong support in the House, a strong movement behind the amendment and strong polling nationally in support of it. Led by Strom Thurmond, a couple of Southern segregationists launched a crusade to filibuster the amendment in the Senate.
Sadly, they succeeded.
At 28-years-old, I had already been a state representative for five years. I watched as our hopes for a more democratically elected president failed. As an individual state, Maine did not have the power to implement the direct election of the president, but we did have the power to allocate our electoral votes as we saw fit. I proposed legislation that would allocate our electoral votes by congressional district instead.
In 1969, the Maine Legislature passed my bill. Since then, our two Senate votes automatically go to the winner of the statewide popular vote, while our two congressional district votes are allocated based on the winner of the vote within the individual district. This means we can split our electoral votes 3 to 1.
Today, there is the National Popular Vote Compact Plan that brings us as close to the direct election of the president as we can get without a constitutional amendment. States join a compact agreeing that when the collective number of electoral votes reaches 270 (the number needed to win the presidency), all compact states would allocate their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. True to the idea of empowering people, this solution puts the power to elect the presidency in the hands of the people.
My commitment to empowering real people has not changed in the 40 years since introducing and passing the Maine Method. The tactics available to empower those people have. That is why I wholeheartedly endorse the National Popular Vote Compact Plan and have submitted legislation for Maine to join.
Maine is set to embrace the National Popular Vote Compact Plan, and as Maine goes … so should the nation.
John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, represents District 35 in the Maine Senate. He spent 20 years as Speaker of the House.
Have a great day.
Bruce,
The logic of this idea escapes me, just as the logic for the direct election of US Senators.
The US Senate was setup to be a cooler, a more delibrative body that was not so influenced by the whims of the public and the culture of the moment. It was a brillant strategy that allowed of a House that was reactive to public ebbs and flows and a Senate that provided a buffer to culture of the moment pressure.
The electoral college was set up to insure that every state had a say in the election of the President. This "new idea" will make Maine completely irrelevant in the national election. Why would you travel to five locations in Maine to see 40,000 people, when you can have a rally in Newark NJ that could hit 100,000 people and enjoy the media from the world's largest media market.
Strategically, this is simply a non-starter.
Your attitude is that my reaction is knee-jerk. I like how you do that. You disagree with most everything I say and you attempt to minimize it as an emotional response, not an intellectual one.
I am a very passionate person for the things I believe in. I have studied this process since I was ten years old. I know it from all angles and have extensively studied the founders intent. Their creation protected all of America, rural and urban and took their unique positions in this nation into account when crafting the process for electing the President.
Where they perfect? No, of course not and the third Presidential election exposed a flaw in the process, but the philosophical approach remained sound.
Truth is, this is about sour grapes. Were it anything else, there would be a sincere movement underway to amend the Constitution, not show a lack of respect by going around the barn.
The problem with America is our elected leaders have undermined the foundations of this great nation whenever doing so served their personal agenda.
IF the Founders of this great nation believed that a direct, popular election was the appropriate process for deciding the Presidency, they would have done so.
By the way, your opening paragraph speaks volumes about your knowledge of our own Legislative process. The second session is not for issues such as this. This is not an emergency. It is a personal desire by 18 ill-informed individuals who have decided they are smarter than the patriots who risked everything to bring about this nation.
If this actually becomes law in Maine, it will prove once and for all that Augusta Maine and all who serve are completely lost.
I intend to take every legal measure to defeat such utter non-sense.
At our dinner table, I ask God during the blessing to bestow wisdom on our elected leaders so that they may make good decisions. It appears from the actions in Augusta that God has been busy elsewhere lately.
using a quote from northern new england's ted kennedy...john martin..bruce..get in a time machine and go back to 1994..ballot gate..washing ballots..why did john martin step down from speaker of the house..not shame..because he's shameless..because of a deal not to investigate any futher than his aides and all was swept under the rug..i know a couple of "joes" from eagle lake area and they still can't believe he gets elected..can't change the stripes on a zebra..he most certainly is the poster child for term limits...mmmm..he was elected at 23...and i believe he was a history teacher...remember that math..utopian + democrat= true socialism..see how things add up..i've never been a fan of electoral college..300,000 mainers could vote rep..get 4 votes...1000 people in california votes dem...dem wins...no different in compact...maine is hostage to the majority of compac states and results may not be the will of the maine people...i believe the answer is to qualiy voters...birth certificate and 3 1040's..yup...mostly likely that means most would be at least 21..i know the cry babies will say there's many possibilities that one may not have the 3 1040's..boo hoo...all one has to do is earn $600 and they get a 1040..even if you're a student..that includes even our blessed military men/women..if the rule was that strict all who truely wanted to vote would get the 3 1040's...
crs
Chandler Woodcock was a teacher also. Isn't he one of your guys?
Math,Not hard to figure, John Martin got elected because more people voted for him than the other guy at the time. Simple, your "joes" were in the minority.
Ray, the founders did screw up by having the runner up be vice president, I assume that is what you mean by the third election.
No Ray, I don't think you make knee jerk statements. I think you calculate to see what might get the most reaction from the audience like any entertainer would.
As for second session "should" is not the same as must.
I am sure you wouldn't mind someone bringing up one of your conservative social issues during that session.
The founders,in their infinite wisdom, left it up to the states to determine how they would regulate their electors. So we don't need a constitutional amendment obviously.
math is not hard to figure if you don't care about the right answer...chandler may have seen the light or just another wolf in sheeps clothing..we may never know..i never said all teachers...i have said most teachers..as far as the founders of this country..they lived and dealt with the world they knew..and what the knew is big government would destroy this country..from away or from within..that is the intent of the 2nd...they knew how easy it would be for the peoples of this new country to submit to any new established government..the only checks and balances were equal say and a musket..now everybody has a say..illegals/criminals/welfare/liabilities...pretty good receipe for disaster...remember that math..a minus+minus+minus+minus=O..that's what's going to left for my children and grandchildren..trying find my musket..
Hi Ray,
I emailed Rep CONnover about their misrable failure this past session. I complained about the new taxes and fees. I also asked her to find out if Marrache is getting a kickback from Guardisil. Marrache never does anything and all of a sudden she is supporting the HPV vaccine for nine year olds. I am very angry about the push of this vaccine. It should and will be my decision if and when my 12 yr old recieves it. Well she has yet to answer my email. Please mention it on air using her name if feasible.
Kathy
Oakland, Maine
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