Maine voters reject effort to create the first statewide public power company
Maine voters reject effort to create the first statewide public power company
A historic referendum asked voters in Maine if they wanted to replace their privately owned utilities with a publicly owned one.
The measure, called Question 3, prompted heated debate in the months leading up to the election. Central Maine Power and Versant Power, the state’s dominant utilities, poured more than $40 million into a campaign opposing the referendum, outspending Pine Tree Power advocates 34 to 1. Political groups funded by the utilities and their parent companies mailed flyers and aired ads on TV, radio, and social media, urging Mainers to reject the measure, which would have effectively put the two companies out of business.
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funny how it takes a plebiscite the company is allowed to campaign in to create a public utility, but selling off a public utility never comes with a plebiscite?
tbf they did call a plebiscite for a similar thing to sell off the water utility in somerville nj, unfortunately our local DSA chapter didn't notice it in time and started campaigning against it waaaaayyyy too late so it passed.
our local DSA chapter didn't notice
lmao damn
i can't even really say anything cause as a member of our chapter's RnR working group alot of that was on me.
This sort of thing makes me more convinced than ever that socialists need a professional, cadre-oriented approach to their work. Relying on volunteers for everything is a recipe for burnout and failure.
True, but tbf again I'm def willing to submit to self-critique on this one, I think I had a bit of an ultra-leftist error of trying to focus too hard on making solidarity statements for various events while ignoring local electoral struggles. Definately going to pay harder attention to local referendums next time around