Stench Of Bullshit In The Air From Iowa To Maine

What is that nasty smell in the air? Some might call it bullshit. Others, the rot at the core of the "we're not the Republicans, so you owe us your votes" Democratic Party. Amid the blatant cheating and disinformation management of the Iowa caucuses that kicked off the 2020 election year, I'm not surprised that

Democrats in Maine are fibbing to gullible college students about my campaign for the U.S. Senate as a Green.

Did you know that, according to the Women's March and other Democratic Party front groups, my campaign volunteers are guilty of a criminal act when they register new voters as Greens? I have that in writing from a Women's March organizer in Maine sending passive-aggressive emails to allegedly "help" us stay on the right side of the law. 

Then there's the supposedly non-partisan group registering voters at my alma mater and telling environmental activists supporting our campaign the same lie. They're citing a Federal Election Commission regulation that stipulates what corporations and labor organizations* may or many not do while conducting voter registration drives.

* Note: Lisa for Maine is neither a corporation nor a labor organization, in case there is confusion on this point. (You might think that our relatively small campaign would be no threat to Maine Democrats with their millions of dollars of corporate contributions. But ranked choice voting is a game changer.)


Fun fact: when campaigns pick up ballot petitions from the Secretary of State in Augusta, we're also given a stack of voter registration cards. 

So either the SOS is trying to entrap us into illegal activity, or they understand FEC regulations as they pertain to campaigns. 

Extreme conditions are imposed for ballot access: it must be conducted during ice storm season January 1-March 15; commence weeks before college students are back from their winter holiday; and Greens must collect the same number of signatures as the two corporate parties.

Candidates sometimes share surplus voter reg cards with other candidates whose need may be greater. When supplies run low, we can also photocopy a blank voter reg card and use copies to register new Maine Green Independent Party members -- and the Secretary of State is okay with that. 

If the voting public has not yet figured out that Democratic Party operatives will lie, cheat, and smear third party candidates they perceive as a threat, then they must not be paying attention.

One of my favorite bloggers had a field day opining on the Iowa caucus debacle as in her recent post "The Myth Of Incompetence: DNC Scandals Are A Feature, Not A Bug" by Caitlin Johnstone. 

I keep seeing the word “incompetence” thrown around. “Gosh these Democratic Party leaders are so incompetent!”, they say. “How can anyone be so bad at their job?” 

Well, they are not bad at their job. They are very, very good at their job. It’s just that their job isn’t what most people assume it is. 

Their job is not to win elections and garner public support, their job is to ensure the perpetuation of the status quo which rewards them so handsomely for their malignant behavior. Toward this end they are not incompetent at all. They know exactly what they’re doing, and they’re doing it well. 

They are extremely competent. Depraved, certainly. Sociopathic, possibly. But not incompetent.

Yet my friends still under the sway of corporate-controlled "news" are spending sleepless nights worrying about whether Bernie will get the nomination this time around. (Spoiler alert: he won't.) 

Lisa for Maine super volunteer and advocate for people experiencing homelessness Jess Falero & friend Gia

Meanwhile, my team is out on the streets of Portland in the bitter cold talking to potential voters while being interrupted by "blue no matter who" folks with clipboards who want a signature criticizing unpopular Senator Susan Collins.

My team of dedicated Greens is also competing with billionaire Mike Bloomberg paying $20 per signature in Maine for his ballot access petitions.

It's enough to make a grandmother want to abandon pushing the boulder uphill and go back to spending weekends with her little grandchildren.

But being bullied doesn't sit well with me. It tends to make me more determined, even stubborn. 

In the face of adversity and dirty tricks, I'll stay the course. And I invite you to stay with me because, in the race to elect a senator for people, planet, and peace, we're in it to win it.

Lisa for Maine 2020 U.S. Senate Campaign Announcement + More!

Lisa Burke, Jason Rawn, me and my husband Mark Roman

John Rensenbrink (seated, right), father of the Green party, looks on as young campaign supporters frolic during my campaign announcement event in Portland 10/10/19. 

Photos and video from the Lisa for Maine 2020 U.S. Senate campaign announcement October 10, 2019 in Portland. 

left to right: Ashley Bahlkow, Jill Stein, Dud Hendrick & Kim Rich

So many great speakers joined me at the podium, speaking to a good sized crowd in the audience including a concerned polar bear and some little kids who know how to have fun while helping make a better world for all of us.

Markos Miller and Heather Nichols were both fantastic speakers on my behalf!

Speakers in order of appearance:
Sam Pfeifle, master of ceremonies par excellence
Lisa Savage, U.S. Senate exploratory candidate
Kim Rich, newly minted Green
Dud Hendrick, Climate Change Demands Action Conversion Campaign

Ashley Bahlkow, activist mom against migrant family separations and child detention

Kelly Merrill, Portland Overdose Prevention Society

Jill Stein, 2016 Green party presidential candidate
Markos Miller, former teacher with a middle school child in Portland
Heather Nichols, Portland business owner (Stones and Stuff)
Jessica Falero, Homeless community activist
John Morris, Veterans for Peace

We were also fortunate to have on hand Adam Rice of Progressive Independent News Maine who posted his video of the whole event to Facebook.

Kelly Merrill speaking to a multi-generational (multi-species?) audience

My remarks in Congress Square Park "the people's park" are here, and I'll be sharing the remarks of other speakers in coming days.

After the announcement event, I mailed off my Federal Election Commission paperwork declaring my candidacy.

FOR PORTLAND  10/10/19  by Lisa Savage

  

Thank you, everyone, for being here. I want to acknowledge that we are on indigenous land, Wabanaki land, and the importance for us to be mindful of where we stand, and the responsibility we bear.

Hi, I’m Lisa Savage, a teacher, organizer, and grandmother from Solon. With a committee of like-minded people, I am exploring  a run for the U.S. Senate seat of Susan Collins under ranked choice voting.

I want to to give Mainers a Senator who will stand up for the people, the planet and peace.

We deserve a government that works for us, not the big banks, weapons manufacturers, and fossil fuel giants who are calling the shots in Washington. And I can assure you that the wonderful people of Maine will always be my first priority. 

As a Green party candidate, I will continue the proud tradition of neither soliciting nor accepting donations from big business to fund my campaign.

As your voice in the Senate, I will focus on protecting our children’s future and their children’s future. Maine should not be a resource colony or dumping ground! I oppose the CMP Corridor

  

 through Maine’s wilderness, and I oppose the Nestle Corporation’s theft of our water. And I am firmly against privatization of the VA which many in Maine depend on for primary health care.

I believe, as residents of the richest country in world history, everyone deserves the fundamentals of a secure life -- like affordable housing for all. No one needs to live in poverty!  Children should never experience food insecurity, wondering where their next meal will come from.   

We need a Green New Deal that creates union jobs with benefits, putting 1000’s to work tackling climate crisis.

We need Medicare for All -- a healthcare system that will work for everyone regardless of employment status, and not drive sick people into bankruptcy. In Maine we urgently need harm reduction for the health crisis of opioid addiction, and treatment of addiction as medical rather than criminal.

We deserve quality education for all, including free public higher education, without student debt.

As a teacher in Maine, I work with children whose families are struggling to survive in an economy that’s thrown working people under the bus.

We’re also facing a dire emergency in climate crisis. It’s already harming farms, fisheries, and the Maine coast. Sea level rise will affect a great many of our coastal towns, and the Gulf of ME is warming faster than the oceans themselves. We must act now to protect our families and neighbors. We can invest in a Green New Deal building sustainable energy solutions now and create thousands of good jobs in the process.

Yet with all the urgent needs we face, Congress is making things worse, giving over 55% of our federal discretionary budget to the Pentagon for endless, unwinnable wars that make the world less safe.   

U.S. policies separating migrant families and caging children and babies make us less secure, too, and this needs to stop   immediately. Why isn't Susan Collins, who claims to represent us, doing something to stop this horrific practice? I can assure you I will do everything in my power to stop it if you send me to Washington.

We, the people of Maine, expect humane treatment of immigrants and refugees from our government. A former beacon of refuge for newcomers, now the U.S. is losing that reputation --  for good reason. Welcoming refugees to Portland was such a brilliant response to a humanitarian emergency, with so many cooperating -- this is what Mainers are good at, and I want to help us keep doing it! 

It’s time to say no to politics as usual, and join together to fight for a new system that puts people, planet and peace over profit. 

We have a historic opportunity in this race to use Ranked Choice Voting. 

Our new and improved voting system, which Mainers won through an inspiring grassroots movement, gives everyone the freedom to vote their values, not their fears.

Together we can seize this moment to build a people-powered campaign that will make history.

A recent national poll found a staggering 70% of Americans are fed up with our political system that only works for insiders with money.

I’ve been a small business owner myself, and my husband is a self-employed woodworker. I know how hard it is to operate a small business in Maine when tax laws are written by and for the wealthy. Working people are the backbone of our state and it isn’t fair when people work hard and still can’t make it. Young people saddled with education debt and high rents should not be struggling! They should be starting ventures or families, buying homes, instead of slaving away at 3 Mcjobs to barely make their student loan payments.  

Now, with ranked choice voting, we have a real choice. More voices and more choices make me hopeful!

   

We’ve never had a better opportunity -- or a more urgent need -- to come together for the greater good. 

I hope you’ll consider supporting my campaign to give Mainers a Senator for  people, planet and peace.

Together, let’s create a Maine and a nation that works for all of us!