Maine mothers and their children visited the office of Senator Collins in Portland to deliver a crucial message to Maine’s Senior Senator: No mother in this country should have to worry about having her family torn apart by our broken immigration system.
Maine People’s Action and its members are actively fighting for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. They recently held a rally on May Day, and have been successfully placing grassroots voices in front of elected officials.
Ahead of a scheduled mark-up of H.R. 2885, a proposal that would mandate the use of the controversial E-Verify employment verification system by every employer in the country, small business owner David Borris, owner of Hel’s Kitchen Catering in Northbrook, IL spoke at a press event outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on September 14 opposing the plan. David is a leader in the Main Street Alliance network. Continue reading
This report shares the findings of a survey of Maine small businesses, focusing on their experiences with credit and their reactions to one current proposal to support small business and economic growth: the creation of a state bank. This report contributes to the discussion of such a proposal by sharing the perspectives of Maine’s Main Street small businesses.
Click here to download the full report. Continue reading
This is the fifth part in a series of posts that will explore some of the leading organizations from around the country that are engaged in unearthing and combating the influence of money in the political process.
Posing as MOOSE (Monied Out-of-State Executives), Continue reading
Early on a Friday morning in September, before setting off on their usual daily tasks, three business owners, all members of the Maine Small Business Coalition, gathered in a cluttered corner of an antiquarian bookstore in Bangor, Maine. Rick Schweikart, Bill Lippincott, and Suzanne Kelly, accompanied by the Chair of the Appropriations Committee in the State House of Representatives, Emily Cain, had come together to discuss a hot button political issue: the Bush-era tax cuts. Continue reading
In late May, seventy-five people from twelve different states gathered in Seattle for the inaugural two-day symposium of the Institute for Pragmatic Practice (IPP): “Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is: Building State Budgets that Reflect Our Values.” Continue reading
The ink may have dried on the federal health care reform bill, but the health insurance industry isn’t packing up its bag of tricks and going quietly into the night. Instead, insurers actually appear to be stepping up their attempts to game the system, seeking to exploit the window of opportunity before new rules and regulations take effect. They’re scheming to (a) inflate their rates, (b) kick customers with health issues off their rolls, and (c) employ creative accounting to reclassify costs, all in the interest of maximizing short-term profits. Continue reading
