The National Rifle Association raised more than $500,000 to oppose a Maine ballot measure that would require background checks on private gun sales and transfers, while the National Education Association donated $1.2 million to support a tax that would raise funds for education, according to campaign finance reports filed Friday with the state ethics commission.
A measure to legalize marijuana attracted a lot of money – the main group supporting the measure, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said it raised $1.08 million during October and spent $1.09 million.
A group opposing the ballot measure on marijuana legalization, Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, reported $150,000 in donations from the Alliance for Healthy Marijuana Policy of Alexandria, Virginia. The group also reported spending about $100,000 on television, radio and Facebook advertising.
Less than two weeks before Election Day, campaigns supporting and opposing Maine’s ballot questions are spending big money on advertising – and still collecting big donations in the last three weeks, according to the fundraising and spending reports, which were due by midnight. That’s the deadline for all the campaigns to file 11-day pre-general election reports with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.
The NRA reported spending more than $350,000 on television, radio and phone banking on the background check measure.
Mainers for Responsible Gun Ownership, which supports the background checks, reported getting a $250,000 contribution this week from Joshua Bekenstein of Massachusetts, the managing director of Bain Capital, which was co-founded by Mitt Romney. The group’s full 11-days pre-general election report, which covers fundraising and spending since Oct. 1, hadn’t been filed as of early Friday night.
The backers of Question 2, which would add a tax on wealthy Mainers to fund education, reported raising – and spending – about $1.3 million. The National Education Association donated $1.2 million, and most of the expenditures were for television ads and other media buys. The group Citizens Who Support Maine’s Public Schools has raised a total of $2.4 million over the course of the campaign.
The main group supporting marijuana legalization, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, said it raised $1,078,000 during October and spent $1,090,000.
A group opposing the ballot measure on marijuana legalization, Mainers Protecting Our Youth and Communities, reported $150,000 in donations from the Alliance for Healthy Marijuana Policy of Alexandria, Virginia. The group also reported spending about $100,000 on television, radio and Facebook advertising.
The Maine People’s Alliance, the primary group backing a proposal to raise Maine’s minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020, said it raised nearly $110,000 in October, bringing its total for the year to $447,266. The group spent $61,415 in October.
Friday’s numbers come after quarterly finance reports released in early October found that contributions to all ballot questions had already totaled $9.5 million overall.The Nov. 8 ballot measures are:
Question 1: Asks voters if they want to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and over. If approved, adults would be able to possess up to 2.5 ounces, grow their own plants and buy marijuana from licensed retail stores. The initiative also would allow marijuana social clubs and place a 10 percent sales tax on marijuana. Marijuana use would be prohibited in public, with violations punishable by a $100 fine.
Question 2: Asks voters if they want to add a 3 percent tax on individuals with Maine taxable income above $200,000 to fund education. If approved, it would make Maine’s top tax rate the second-highest in the nation.
Question 3: Asks voters if they want to require background checks for the sale or transfer of firearms between individuals.
Question 4: Asks voters if they want to raise the minimum wage of $7.50 to $9 in 2017, followed by annual $1 increases up to $12 in 2020, with annual cost-of-living adjustments afterward. It also would raise the wage for tipped service workers to the minimum wage.
Question 5: Asks voters if they want ranked-choice voting for U.S. Senate, Congress, governor, state senators and state representatives.
Question 6: Asks voters if they want to approve a $100 million bond to fund transportation project. No committees have formed to raise and spend money for or against this question.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
