Category: 2008 Elections Coverage

Weekend Voices 3/1/08

Executive Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Contributing Producer: Marge May, in conjunction with Ann Luther and the League of Women Voters

Topics: Open Government/Freedom of Information

Importance of freedom of information for democracy
· Legal and Constitutional bases for citizens’ right to know and for government claims to secrecy
· What are the recent trends in classifications and declassifications; recent changes to law & practice
· What are the options for citizens & Congress to get information

Sean Moulton, Director of Federal Information Policy at OMB Watch. www.ombwatch.org
Charles Davis, associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism and the executive director for the National Freedom of Information Coalition. www.nfoic.org
Meredith Fuchs, General Counsel to the National Security Archive. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/

Ann Luther, host, is the Co-president, League of Women Voters of Maine www.lwvme.org

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 2/21/08

Producer/host: Jim Campbell

Out on the primary campaign trail, every candidate is claiming he or she stands for change for the better. Back in Washington, bills making their way through Congress would cause change all right -whether for the better or not
is another question for many. We take a peek at the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007, and the PRO-IP Act, both of which will affect our lives in realms electronic. (You can find the text of both at www.loc.gov/thomas)

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 2/07/08

Producer/host: Jim Campbell

We all want our votes to count, whether at a Maine town meeting or in the next presidential election. But increasingly, we’re concerned that may not be the case. Electronic voting machines, although full of promise, are also still full of vulnerabilities, and that could be one big problem come November.

WERU Special: Mock Caucus (Dems)

Producer/host: Magnus Johnstone

Topic: Recreation of Democratic Caucus process

Caucus registration, the positions of 4 Democratic Presidential Candidates, how to get involved in the voter process

Guests: Bethany Reynolds, Vice Chair, Hancock Co. Democratic Committee; Lael Stegall; Will Rice; Dick Atlee; Nancy Hodermarsley

Call in show

Weekend Voices 1/05/08

Executive Producer: Amy Browne

Contributing Producer: Marge May

Topic: The second in a series of election coverage specials produced in conjunction with the League of Women Voters of Maine, and hosted by Ann Luther, Co-President of the League of Women Voters of Maine. Today the topic is finance reform. Overview of federal election financing and current trends. How does money affect election outcomes? Does the top spender always win? What’s the background on campaign finance regulation? What kinds of campaign finance reform are possible and desirable? What are the arguments against campaign finance reform? How would public funding work? Where do reformers go from here?

Guests:
Laura MacCleery, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU.

John Rauh, founder and still serves as president of Americans for Campaign Reform – Just $6 which is a non-partisan grassroots organization that supports Public Funding of all federal elections.

FMI: www.lwvme.org
www.brennancenter.org
www.just6dollars.org

Weekend Voices 11/03/07

Guest producer: Marge May Guest host: Ann Luther, League of Women Voters

Topic: Term limits –Including the five key outcomes of research on the effects of term limits around the country and here in Maine:They did not lead to greater gender or ethnic diversity, as proponents hoped,
They did lead to less experienced legislatures, a loss of knowledge among legislators, and a more chaotic legislative process, They led to a loss of power in legislatures relative to the executive branch,
They do seem to have caused legislators to voter their conscience more often, relative to the wished of their constituents, and They do seem to have caused power to shift from the State House of Representatives to the State Senate.

Guests: Richard Powell, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine. Professor Powell has conducted research on the effects of term limits in Maine. He co-authored the book, Changing Members: the Maine Legislature in the Era of Term Limits.
Karl T. Kurtz, Director of the Trust for Representative Democracy at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Karl has studied the effects of term limits on state legislatures around the country and co-edited the book, Institutional Change in American Politics: the Case of Term Limits, which takes a comprehensive look at the long-term effects of the 1990s wave of term limits legislation.

FMI:
More information on this topic is available at the National Conference of State Legislatures http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/ABOUT/termlimit.htm and at the League’s web site www.lwvme.org