The Maine Labor Climate Council, a purported coalition of labor unions pushing for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine, is actually a front organization of the Maine People’s Alliance, a progressive activist and lobbying organization, records show.
According to a filing with the Maine Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions, the nonprofit Maine People’s Alliance has registered to operate under the “assumed” name of the Maine Labor Climate Council.
The Maine People’s Alliance network has received millions of dollars in funding from the progressive dark-money network run by the Washington, D.C.-based company Arabella Advisors.
The Maine People’s Alliance lobbies in support of a number of left-wing policies in Maine, including providing drivers licenses and Medicaid to illegal aliens, decriminalizing hard drug possession, and expanding taxpayer-funded welfare for migrants.
The same tactic has been used by the Maine People’s Alliance in the past — they have also registered to operate under the names “Maine Small Business Coalition” and “Engage Maine Votes.”
The Maine Labor Climate Council, while describing itself as “a coalition of Maine labor unions,” makes no disclosure on their website that they are a project of the Maine People’s Alliance.
The Maine People’s Alliance front group has been a leading proponent of the planned offshore wind port on Sears Island, and has organized activists to turn out in support of the project at several panels and Q&A sessions in recent months.
A political action committee (PAC) associated with the Maine Labor Climate Council has spent about $94,000 during the 2024 election cycle, including $52,000 to the Maine House Democratic Campaign Committee, filings with the Maine Ethics Commission show.
Financial reports show that the Maine Labor Climate PAC is registered at the same Portland address as the Maine People’s Resource Center.
The treasurer of the Maine Labor Climate PAC is Francis Eanes, the executive director of the Maine People’s Alliance’s “Maine Labor Climate Council.”
In September, the Maine Labor Climate PAC spent over $17,000 for political mailers and digital advertising in support of State Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot), a longtime Maine People’s Alliance employee.
In an Aug. 14 post to their X page, the Maine People’s Alliance boasted that they are doing “great work” with the Maine Labor Climate Council.
The post references an article published by the Maine Beacon — itself a project of the Maine People’s Alliance — that describes how the Maine People’s Alliance and Maine Labor Climate Council is doing door-to-door canvassing in the state in support of offshore wind development.
On their social media pages, the Maine Labor Climate Council has made several posts praising President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which authorized nearly $400 billion in spending on a wide array of energy and climate change initiatives.
While the Maine People’s Alliance is a 501(c)4 nonprofit, the Maine People’s Resource Center functions as its 501(c)3 arm, an arrangement that allows the group of left-wing political activists to accept tax-deductible donations, as well as government grants.
In August, the Maine Wire reported that the Maine People’s Resource Center was awarded a $500,000 “environmental justice” grant through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a federal bill backed by all of Maine’s Members of Congress except Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
At the time, the Maine People’s Alliance was running advertisements on Craigslist seeking to hire paid political canvassers in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District at a rate of $21 per hour.
That $500,000 taxpayer-funded grant to the left-wing activist group was applauded by Democratic Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02), who voted in favor of the IRA and has defended that vote in the face of political criticism.
Golden’s support for the major climate change spending bill has been used against him by his opponent in CD-2, State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent), most recently in a debate hosted by WGME Thursday evening.
“If you support the lobster industry, you should not have supported the Inflation Reduction Act, which funded NOAA at extremely high levels, that is also the reason we have offshore wind coming to the Gulf of Maine,” Theriault told Golden during the debate.
“You’re playing defense on an issue that you started, shame on you for opening up the can of worms that the lobstermen and women are having to deal with right now,” Theriault said.
“Try to find a lobster industry person right now that thinks that offshore wind is a good idea,” Theriault added. “And then I really struggle to understand why Jared voted for legislation in Washington, D.C., that’s opened up a can of worms that’s going to allow offshore wind development here in the Gulf of Maine.”
[WATCH: Highlights from Golden v. Theriault ME-CD2 Debate]
Although Golden responded to the attacks by reaffirming his support for the Inflation Reduction Act, he claimed to oppose offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine.
“[Theriault’s] talking about the Inflation Reduction Act still, and again, more oil and gas production than ever before in the history of the United States, in 2023 — a direct result of that bill,” Golden said.
“Yes, there’s money in there for renewable energy as well, but also critically important, policies that are pushing forward energy across the board, including oil and gas, driving down gas prices,” he said.
“And I’m going to continue to oppose offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, I’ve got a strong record on this,” Golden added. “And at the end of the day, I actually feel quite confident that Maine’s lobstermen in those communities know where I’ve stood. They know that I have their back.”
Golden has previously signed onto letters alongside Gov. Janet Mills and Maine’s congressional delegation urging the Biden administration to prohibit offshore wind development in Lobster Management Area 1 (LMA 1), federal waters vital to Maine’s lobster industry — a request which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) granted earlier this year.
He has also criticized the Biden administration for approving massive foreign-owned offshore wind energy projects off the coast of Massachusetts.
However, the $500,000 IRA grant to the Maine People’s Resource Center, aka the Maine People’s Alliance, aka the Maine Labor Climate Council, which Golden specifically applauded in a press release, has fueled the left-wing groups lobbying efforts to advance offshore wind schemes in the Gulf of Maine.
0 Comments