We are hearing from Maine voters who have contacted their reps in the legislature that the tax giveaway bill for General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works, LD1781, is stalled in committee, and its sponsors are scrambling to draft amendments making it more palatable.
The bill's $60 million price tag is very similar to some other pressing needs in Maine: a Medicare expansion that voters passed in November requires around $54 million to access more than half a billion in federal health care funds.
Also, bringing Maine's aging bridges up to code is estimated to cost around $60 million.
We are hearing now from voters across the state that their reps are expressing reluctance to vote for a tax giveaway to wealthy corporation General Dynamics. Was it GD's $6.8 billion cash offer to buy another government contractor that did it? Or their years of stock buybacks? Or paying their CEO $21 million last year?
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| Bruce Gagnon and Mary Beth Sullivan in Bath this week. |
Regular people in Maine need all the relief they can get. I hope Mainers will continue to contact their legislators to let them know that General Dynamics does not need corporate welfare. Spending $60 million on fixing our bridges or providing health care for low income people should be our priorities.
Bruce Gagnon is on day four of an open-ended hunger strike to defeat LD1781. He actually had a conversation with BIW vice president John "For us to be punished because our owner has capital seems unjust!" Fitzgerald yesterday, which he reports back on here.
While the bill is tabled in the taxation committee, BIW announced it is laying off electricians; despite already receiving generous tax breaks from both the state and the city of Bath.
So who is actually being punished by General Dynamics' insatiable greed for $$$$$$$$$ ?
Cover story on the bollard magazine out of Portland, Maine for February has the best headline ever! "Ship of Fools: Tax breaks for BIW, WW3 for us." Get your copy now while they're still available. #mepolitics pic.twitter.com/wuDTsaokk3— Lisa Savage (@NaturalGuard) February 4, 2018
Meanwhile, I will continue collecting op-eds and letters to the editor from opponents of LD1781, and listing the names of those who have joined Bruce's so-called "one man band" (another gem from Fitzgerald in an email to bill sponsor Rep. Jennifer DeChant).
Here's the current tally as of this morning. Note: I know there have been many more letters published, but these are the ones I can find online links for; if you know of others, please paste a link in comments.
No tax handouts for General Dynamic by Rob Shetterly (Bangor Daily News 2/15/18)
Op-ed: An opportunity for choosing people over profit by Rosalie Paul (Times Record 2/14/18)
Corporate welfare for GD by Karen Wainberg (Times Record 2/13/18)
Safety on our highways trumps BIW tax break by Cushman Anthony (Portland Press Herald 2/13/18)
Corporate Welfare for General Dynamics by Russell Wray (Sun Journal 2/11/18)
Corporate Welfare for General Dynamics by Russell Wray (Sun Journal 2/11/18)
Sounding Off Against BIW Tax Credit by Susan Cook (Times Record 1/31/18)
The Right Thing by Eric Herter (Times Record 2/9/18)
Tax break for BIW by Jim Anderberg (Lewiston Sun Journal 2/2/18)
No tax giveaways for General Dynamics by Leslie Manning (Bangor Daily News 1/30/18)
No need for Maine taxpayers to subsidize BIW by Mary Beth Sullivan (Portland Press Herald 1/28/18)
General Dynamics doesn't need tax handouts by Robert Hayes (Bangor Daily News 1/25/18)
No Tax Giveaway for General Dynamics by Mark Roman (Morning Sentinel 1/18/18)
General Dynamics has asked for enough money by Peter Morgan (Portland Press Herald 1/3/18)
No more handouts for General Dynamics by Dud Hendricks (Bangor Daily News 12/25/17)
No More Tax Breaks for General Dynamics and BIW by Lisa Savage (Kennebec Journal 12/3/17)
Individuals in Maine opposed to LD1781:
- David Fortier
- John Peck
- Peter Garrett
- Don Kimball
- Pasha Huntington
- Connie Jenkins
- Peter Zack
- Katharine Giovanella Chaiklin
- P. Amy Carr
- Michael Cutting
- Robin Farrin
- Seth Wigderson
- Ursula Slavick
- William Slavick
- Karen Marysdaughter
- Bob Klotz
- Starr Gilmartin
- Brian Pulling
- Jeffrey Evangelos
- Dixie Searway
- Dan Marks
- Sophia Bahlko
- Jon Olsen
- Nancy Allen
- Lynne Williams
- Joseph de Rivera
- Mike Michalski
- Susan Cook
- Jacqui Deveneau
- Sue Pastore
- Ridgely Fuller
- Meredith Bruskin
- Deborah Capwell
- Janet Caldwell
- Lisa Burke
- Rosalie Paul
- Dud Hendrick
- Brown Lethem
- Robert Walter
- Suzanne Hedrick
- Denny Dreher
- Sally Chappell
- Thankful Butler
- Alice Bostridge
- Doug Rawlings
- Joe Ciarrocca
- Pat Taub
- Selma Sternlieb
- Dan Ellis
- Judy Robbins
- Peter Robbins
- Jim Anderberg
- Ginny Schneider
- Orlando Delogu
- Christine DeTroy
- Bernard Huebner
- Lynn Bradbury
- Eric Herter
- Patsy Messier
- Mary Luby
- Carol Huntington
- Ann E. Ruthsdottir
- Eliot Morgan
- Julie Keller Pease
- Mary Beth Sullivan
- Karen Wainberg
- Mary Donnelly
- Peter Morgan
- Peter Woodruff
- Regis Tremblay
- Mark Roman
- Lisa Savage
- Jason Rawn
- Russell Wray
- Jessica Stewart
- Natasha Mayers
- Bob Dale
- Jeff Evangelos
- and "one man band" Bruce Gagnon
Organizations opposing LD1781
- 350 Maine
- Americans Who Tell the Truth (Brooksville)
- COAST (Citizens Opposing Active Sonar Threats, Hancock)
- Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space (Bath)
- Greater Brunswick PeaceWorks
- Green Horizon Magazine (Topsham)
- Island Peace & Justice (Deer Isle)
- Maine Green Independent Party
- Maine Natural Guard (Solon)
- Maine Veterans For Peace
- Maine War Tax Resistance Resource Center (Portland)
- Maine Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (Brunswick)
- Peace Action Maine (Portland)
- Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine (Bangor)
- Peace & Justice Group of Waldo County
- Peninsula Peace & Justice Center (Blue Hill)
- Resources for Organizing & Social Change (Augusta)
Now I will go ahead and send this updated information to the members of the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation, their clerk, and the bill's sponsors.
You can, too. Here's a handy copy and paste list of their email addresses:
| Dana.Dow@legislature.maine.gov, Andre.Cushing@legislature.maine.gov, Ryan.Tipping@legislature.maine.gov, Justin.Chenette@legislature.maine.gov, Denise.Tepler@legislature.maine.gov, Stephen.Stanley@legislature.maine.gov, Gay.Grant@legislature.maine.gov, Janice.Cooper@legislature.maine.gov, Maureen.Terry@legislature.maine.gov, Gary.Hilliard@legislature.maine.gov, Matt.Pouliot@legislature.maine.gov, Bruce.Bickford@legislature.maine.gov, Jennifer.DeChant@legislature.maine.gov, Sara.Gideon@legislature.maine.gov, Senatorjackson1@gmail.com, Jeffrey.Pierce@legislature.maine.gov, Eleanor.Espling@legislature.maine.gov, Michael.Thibodeau@legislature.maine.gov, Garrett.Mason@legislature.maine.gov, Eloise.Vitelli@legislature.maine.gov, Kenneth.Fredette@legislature.maine.gov |
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