Clean Elections
Maine Council of Churches is a member of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections (MCCE), a nonpartisan coalition of groups and individuals that works in the public interest to advocate for, increase public support for, defend and improve the Maine Clean Election Act (MCEA) and related campaign finance law.
Since passage of the MCEA by citizen referendum in 1996, more and different candidates are running for legislative races because of the opportunity to use public funding; candidates enjoy much greater parity of resources; and many, many more Maine people contribute to the financing of Maine elections.
With Maine Clean Elections, we get government of, by, and for the people; not government bought and paid for by wealthy special interests. In Maine, we have a better chance of having our voices heard with our elected officials because with Clean Elections they listen to the voices of constituents, not wealthy special interests. Maine’s state races are vigorous and competitive, and few go uncontested. Clean Elections is now the default funding system for Maine candidates, used by nearly 80% of the 125th Legislature.
Simply put, Maine’s Clean Election system puts Maine voices and Maine citizens first. But the MCEA and public campaign finance laws have come under attack in recent years. To learn more about this important work and how you can get involved go to: http://www.mainecleanelections.org/.
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To read a Bangor Daily News guest column by MCC Executive Director Jill Saxby about the Council's support for clean elections at the state and federal levels, click here: Clean Elections guest column Bangor Daily News November 11.pdf
