Maine Politicians Hand Lucrative Victory to Chinese Mafia, Eliot Cutler’s Lawyer, and Gov. Mills’ Brother: Editorial

Given the Maine Wire’s role as the fastest growing media outlet in Maine and the preeminent investigative reporting team focused of transnational organized crime — specifically Chinese mafia growing ganja in rural Maine — more than a few readers have asked for my thoughts on yesterday’s vote on LD 2204. In particular, readers have asked that I weigh in on the objections raised by the Republicans who voted against this attempt at combatting foreign-controlled drug trafficking and racketeering enterprises in Maine.

For a breakdown of the vote and an explanation of what the bill would have done, you can read our reporting from yesterday here.

On Wednesday, the bill was defeated “under the gavel” in the Senate, which is legislative-speak for “not a single Republican senator had the courage to ask for a roll call vote and record every senators vote on the matter.” Remember that the next time the phone rings from someone asking for a campaign contribution.

The death of the bill is a big win for foreign criminal organizations and anyone engaged in racketeering enterprises. But it’s also a nice feather in the cap of criminal defense attorney Walter McKee, who testified against the bill and was seen entering the House Speaker’s office Tuesday. Coincidentally, McKee’s firm, having recently helped Eliot Cutler spend less than eight months in prison for having more than 80,000 articles of child pornography, has now gone on to take up the cases of some individuals arrested in relation to drug trafficking conspiracies. And, lest we forget, Gov. Janet Mills’ brother Paul H. Mills remains free to help Chinese nationals acquire as much land as they please in Maine, as he recently did with an illicit marijuana grow in Corinna.

On the other hand, the outcome of the vote is a loss for anyone who wants to buy an affordable home in rural Maine, anyone who has to pay a skyrocketing electrical bill, anyone who has invested their life-savings to open a legal cannabis business, anyone who wants to smoke some medical pot and be reasonably sure it’s not laced with Eagle-20, and anyone who is a victim of wage slavery or human trafficking as part of the sprawling Chinese marijuana empire in Maine.

[RELATED: Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Brother Helped Transfer Nine-Acre Black Market Cannabis Grow to Chinese National “Mother” Living in Guangdong Province…]

Before we get into the legislator shenanigans this week, let’s set the table with the facts that prompted Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) to introduce this bill in the first place. Last year, immigration reporter Jennie Taer obtained and published a memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that stated the following:

“The attached spreadsheet identifies 270 properties within the state that are actively used by the Chinese in relation to their operations… There are an estimated 270 suspected properties located in Maine… We have been able to identify many previously unidentified links and can see that most of the properties in the state of Maine are related to the illegal MJ grows and all share a strong connection to [unintelligible] like the apartment buildings in and around Bangor. This information was derived from multiple federal databases and open source products.”

In our follow-up reporting on the leaked memo, the Maine Wire obtained and published an additional memo that had been sent by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official to various law enforcement officials in Maine. That memo stated the following:

“We are requesting a response by state, county, and/or local law enforcement officials with any information regarding illegal marijuana grows being operated in their areas by suspected Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO). This collection effort is supporting a national intelligence gathering initiative to identify a comprehensive picture of the threat posed to national security by Asian TCOs operating illegally in the United States.“

The reason I’m beginning with those two memos is to make it crystal clear that it is not Steve Robinson or the Maine Wire alleging that there are 270+ properties in Maine that Chinese criminal organizations are using for illegal drug cultivation and drug trafficking. That claim was made by federal law enforcement officials.

Based on public records, field investigations, and interviews with members of Maine law enforcement, town managers, code enforcement officers, electrical workers, property neighbors, and members of the legal cannabis industry, the Maine Wire has subsequently identified most of these locations and their owners. We have continued to report aggressively on the topic because federal officials have assessed that it is a threat to U.S. national security and it is perhaps the largest ongoing criminal conspiracy in the state. Multiple law enforcement agencies (not the Maine State Police, though) and town officials have asked for and received our help in understanding the scope and nature of the growing and ongoing criminal conspiracy.

I should also disclose that the House Republicans asked me so time ago to brief them on the matter. While I did not advocate for any legislation, I did apprise them of the facts on the ground, as I’ve done with many other local and county officials, when asked. I consider this a credit to the minority party. Unlike the Democratic chairs of the Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety, who broke procedure to shutdown my testimony, the House Republicans were eager to hear from the person in the state who has identified, visited, and exposed more assets of foreign criminal conspiracies than anyone else, potentially including state law enforcement.

That being said, I’m totally ambivalent about the vote on LD 2204. Would it have helped crack down on some drug trafficking sites, saved some victims of human trafficking, reduced illegal competition with licensed cannabis businesses, and ensured some criminal actors actually suffer consequences? Sure, maybe. But as I said during my testimony on the bill, the provisions would not have dealt with the magnitude and nature of the problem. These Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) have mastered the art of exploiting American laws, culture, and government; the money and brains behind this criminal conspiracy would have figured out how to get around LD 2204 in a matter of weeks if not days. Also, my dark sense of humor gets a kick out of Democrats joining forces to protect drug-traffickers who use wage slaves, skip taxes, and generate an estimated 98 metric tons of CO2 per year at every illicit grow site.

Now, as to the pseudo-drama that played out on the House floor yesterday, I’ll say that the Republican critics of the bill raised interesting points worthy of consideration. Having considered them, I find them meritless and, frankly, silly. But I nonetheless think those criticisms were offered from a set of what we might call “conservative” principles, an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, and a totally valid fear of what an authoritarian state government might do in the future if granted new powers and authorities. However, almost all of the criticisms lacked an understanding of certain important facts.

The first criticism of the bill is that it represents a huge new invasion of Mainer’s privacy, ushering in an electronic surveillance state. While I’m aware that the anti-human left would love to have surveillance and control over ordinary Americans’ electricity usage, I have some news for the fearmongers: the surveillance is already happening.

Central Maine Power and Versant Power track customer usage and regularly turn that data over to the government when asked. But it’s even worse than that! For years, the government has allowed anyone with an internet connection to search for work site permits for commercial grade electrical installations. Here’s a totally, completely random example of the kind of information Maine.gov has made available for years:

Paging Edward Snowden! But it gets even more Orwellian: If you’ve got a set of binoculars or a new iPhone, you can just look at your neighbors power meter to see what kind of kilowatt hours they’re using.

So for those who raised objections about the privacy and surveillance implications of the bill: Where were your concerns before the Chinese mafia took over rural Maine? Why were you not introducing bills to limit access to this information? Why are you now concerned about the right to privacy of transnational criminal organizations when for years you’ve been silent about or ignorant of the broad availability of this information? Suffice it to say that those who invoke electrical privacy as an objection to LD 2204 are not well acquainted with how much information regarding Mainers’ power usage is already public or readily available to law enforcement.

The second criticism that was invoked was this preposterous idea that illegal alien drug traffickers are entitled to the same constitutional protections as U.S. citizens or lawfully present immigrants. In fact, those present in the U.S. illegally, when arrested for drug trafficking, should get a quick meeting with U.S. Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement and face immediate administrative removal from the country. At least, that’s the way the law works in jurisdictions that have not piously declared themselves “sanctuaries” for illegal alien criminals.

But let’s assume for a moment we’re only talking about those present in the U.S. under the technically “legal” status of “asylum seeker.” Would it be wise to let people with pending asylum claims buy up all the land around Bath Iron Works? Should we let North Koreans, Chinese nationals, and Iranians buy all the buildings surrounding the State House, the Maine State Police HQ, Maine’s Army bases, and the offices of various defense contractors and tech companies in Maine? That seems to be the argument advanced by Republicans on Tuesday. The argument seems to be that the U.S. Constitution, according to their interpretation of it, means that foreign nationals who lodge bogus asylum claims — and even those who may never set foot in this state — should have unlimited and constitutionally protected rights to buy as much land in Maine wherever they want — to hell with the best interests of Mainers or U.S. national security.

You would have to be naive to believe that the authoritarian governments of these countries don’t know they can slip agents and spies into the U.S. by exploiting our dysfunctional asylum system. Whether it’s illicit drug trafficking, corporate espionage, or something out of Red Dawn, some Republicans think they’re constitutionally bound to allow America’s chief adversaries to buy up little base camps all over Maine to advance their schemes. It’s a neat theory. I’m sure we’ll have a good chuckle over it when the Internet blinks out and we’re all in a Mad Max-style scramble for 5.56, potable water, and amoxicillin.

Ironically, some of these same Republicans are also the first to criticize American immigration policy and our broken asylum system. As for irony on the Democratic side: the same left-wing nuts who got all hot-and-bothered last year about two dorks from Wyoming pretending they had a military compound in Springfield are seemingly fine with the confirmed existence of 270+ adversary-controlled properties festooning northern Maine.

One of the Democrats who spoke out against the bill, her expertise being running a coffee shop or something, falsely claimed that land purchasing restrictions in Florida’s similar law have been struck down. That was a lie. In August, a federal judge declined to block the law. However, two Chinese nationals who were already in the process of purchasing properties when the law was signed filed an appeal, and the 11th Circuit has temporarily blocked the enforcement of the law in only those two instances until the appeal is resolved. But even if that wasn’t a lie, who cares? Pass the law, let the legal challenge come, and let’s have the U.S. Supreme Court resolve whether spies from the Chinese Communist Party have the same constitutional rights as John Malone.

The third argument I’ve seen advanced is that LD 2204 is somehow racist. If that’s true, then someone should probably tell the U.S. State Department that they are and have been engaging in racism. Because under President Barack Obama, whose Secretary of State was Hillary Clinton, as well as under President Trump and President Biden, the People’s Republic of China has been on the list of “countries of concern” that LD 2204 would have used as a basis for enforcing property restrictions. I’ve searched high-and-low and haven’t found any of the Democrat or Republican opponents of the bill alleging that Obama, Clinton, Trump, and Biden are all in cahoots on some anti-China racist conspiracy.

Nevertheless, politicians and many law enforcement agencies remain paralyzed by the fear of being cast as racist for enforcing the same laws they enforce vigorously against French-Canadian Mainers equally against folks who happen to be Asian. In other words, for fear of being called a racist, they’re engaging in systemic racism. The cries of “Sinophobia” are risible and foolish. As a thought experiment, just imagine if Homeland Security let slip that Russian mafia gangsters were staging outposts throughout Maine’s Second Congressional District. Janet Mills and every other Democratic politician would be begging Biden to call in drone strikes. Rep. Chellie Pingree would probably borrow Rep. Jared Golden’s assault rifle and join the fight while live-streaming her heroinism.

The fourth argument I’ve seen, admittedly advanced by some dude on Facebook who apparently has a problem with me, is that the Maine Wire’s reporting has focused on transnational organized crime as opposed to the Mainers who are also growing marijuana illegally, or so he says. This dude has not, as far as I can tell, ever alerted me to an illegal grow or elaborated on the reasons, which I’m sure are well-founded, as to why he believes they’re illegal. But he’s right on one point: plenty of licensed, regulated, OCP-blessed marijuana businesses are violating state and federal law by exporting their drugs across state lines. And plenty of Maine residents are also growing a bunch of pot without a license. In the course of our work, we’ve also found more than a few meth labs.

The difference is: law enforcement sources believe the Asian TCOs are using the proceeds to fund fentanyl trafficking, they’re using slave labor, and they’re funneling huge sums of money back to mainland China to support other activities of the Chinese Communist Party. So, sure, Reggie in Exeter may not have a license for all the weed he’s growing behind his mobile home, but he’s probably not planning unrestricted warfare against the U.S. government. Peter Schweizer’s best-selling book, “Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans,” has thoroughly documented the magnitude, interconnectedness, and evil of this ongoing criminal conspiracy. We’ve assessed that this distinction makes one set of lawbreakers a little more newsworthy than whatever Reggie’s up to.

The challenge of the 21st century for the American Republic will be this: how do you defeat authoritarian state and non-state actors — who are, indeed, waging unrestricted multisphere warfare against the United States — without allowing the State to become a greater threat to the American ideal than the enemy? The debate over LD 2204 had the potential to sort out this thorny issue. Sadly, what we got instead was half-baked misinformation and partisanship. So here’s the most charitable thing I can say about the lawmakers who voted against LD 2204: they haven’t put in the work to become informed about the massive foreign criminal conspiracy that is harming every law-abiding, taxpaying citizen in Maine.

But who can blame them?

The 131st Legislature has had other hugely important matters to attend to, like making granitic pegmatite the state rock, dubbing the pink-edged sulphur our official butterfly, and making sure that the “Permanent Commission on the Status of Women” adds a member who is certifiably a member of the LGBTQIA+ class.

In conclusion:

TRIAD WEED

• Triad Weed: Here Are All the Raids Maine Cops Have Conducted on Illegal Chinese Drug Trafficking Operations
• Collins Grills FBI Director Wray Over Rural Maine’s Triad Weed Epidemic
• Chinese Citizen Charged With Felony Drug Trafficking in Maine Invokes “Asylum” Claim to Avoid Deportation
• New York Man Arrested As Maine Sheriff Raids Two More Foreign-Run Drug Houses
• Maine Sheriff Raids Three More Black Market Pot Houses, Seizes $39k, 900 Plants, and a Toyota — One “Brooklyn” Woman Arrested
• Court Records Show Maine State Police Inspected Illegal TCO Drug Hub in July 2023, Waited Nearly Six Months to Shut It Down
• Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Brother Helped Transfer Nine-Acre Black Market Cannabis Grow to Chinese National “Mother” Living in Guangdong Province
• Maine Sheriff Busts Trio of Brooklynites as Crackdown on Triad Drug Trafficking Continues – Maine State Police AWOL
• National Left-Wing Media Has No Trouble Naming “Chinese Organized Crime” as Culprit Behind Illicit Marijuana Markets
• Maine House Votes Down Bill Aimed at Fighting Transnational Organized Crime
• At Rural Maine Marijuana Grow, Cops Find Asian Passports, Plane Tickets from China, and Stolen Electricity
• Sheriffs Raid Multiple Triad Weed Properties Throughout Central, Northern Maine – Guilford, Mercer, Corinna & Sangerville
• Illegal Marijuana Vexes Northern Maine Town Officials as Out-of-State Criminals Prosper
• Maine Sheriff Raids 8th Illegal Chinese-Owned Marijuana Grow in 8 Months
• Valentine’s Day Bust Breaks Heart of New York Man Illegally Growing 1,310 Pot Plants in Norridgewock, Maine
• Maine State Police Bust Cannabis Grow Ops in Belgrade, Seize 2,300 Plants
• Another One: Turner Firefighters Discover Suspected Illegal Chinese Marijuana Grow Near Bear Pond Variety
• No Arrests as Illicit Chinese Marijuana Grow in Norridgewock Busted
• Fifteen Raids Seize Nearly 20k Black Market Cannabis Plants from Chinese-Controlled Sites in Maine
• Maine Law Enforcement Raids Machias Marijuana Grow, Arrests Three Suspected Non-Citizens
• Maine Sheriff Arrests Two More New Yorkers Linked to Illegal Marijuana Operation in Whitefield
• Two Weeks After $1M Western Maine Marijuana Raid, Wilton Still Abuzz With Illicit Drug Activity
• Chinese Nationals Caught Illegally Entering U.S. Reached Record High in December…
• U.S. Border Agents Arrest Three Chinese “Asylum Seekers” with 23 Fake IDs…
• Three Chinese Nationals Caught Sneaking Into Maine from Canada Amid Asian Organized Crime Epidemic…