How many times have you seen liberal Maine candidates for office, or political leaders, decry the influence of ‘out-of-state money’ in Maine’s political world?
For more than a decade, liberals across Maine have maintained a steady drumbeat on that issue.
“Wealthy out-of-state interests are trying to buy Maine’s elections.”
“Republican <insert name here> is doing the bidding of their wealthy out-of-state donors.”
“We need to increase taxpayer funding of elections to fight the influence of out-of-state money in Maine politics.”
Yet, the entire time they were launching these attacks and using said attacks to their advantage, these same candidates and political leaders were riding electoral waves into office created with the funding of billionaires and a handful of well-heeled special interest groups.
Just this week, liberal Emily Cain was attacking the political speech of a Republican as ‘unconstitutional’ (still not sure how free speech is unconstitutional), while conveniently ignoring that Michael Bloomberg, a New York City billionaire, has already dumped $3 million into Maine to directly violate the rights of Mainers under our Maine Constitution.
Article I, Section 16 of the State of Maine Constitution – “Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.”
You would think that in a rural district with very low violent crime and very high gun ownership, a candidate for Congress who claims to understand the values of Maine people would speak out against a New York City billionaire funding a referendum that flies in the face of Article I, Section 16 of her state’s constitution.
But Emily Cain did not oppose this influx of millions in out-of-state money from a New York City billionaire. Of course, with Cain’s track record of saying one thing and doing another, it’s no surprise.
Now, there is no doubt that Emily Cain’s claim to oppose the influence of out-of-state money or dark money in Maine politics is a hollow talking point – the question is: will Emily Cain stand idly by or support the use of dark money from a New York City billionaire as it is used to assault the constitutional rights of Maine people?
As we saw this week, Ms. Cain does not hesitate to invoke the U.S. Constitution for a political attack, even if she did so in an incredibly wrongheaded and confusing manner, but will she conveniently ignore the Maine Constitution when it comes time to take a stand on Bloomberg’s multi-million-dollar assault on the Maine people’s right to keep and bear arms?
My guess is yes, and sadly, we will see another layer of Emily Cain’s hypocrisy peeled away like an onion. And for anyone who sincerely values their constitutional rights, Ms. Cain’s hypocrisy is already filling Maine’s political world with a similarly acrid stench.
