MAINE PUBLIC • March 11, 2020
Maine lawmakers are considering a bill that would bar foreign nationals and certain foreign corporations from spending to influence ballot campaigns. It is designed to close a loophole in Maine election law, but it could also have an immediate impact on Hydro-Quebec, the electricity supplier for a controversial $1 billion transmission line through western Maine. Government-owned Hydro-Quebec has called the project the biggest sales contract in its entire history, and it’s fighting to continue spending money to convince Maine voters not to scuttle it at the ballot box this November.