MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 14, 2022
I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries on YouTube. With the videos come a lot of slickly produced animated ads about “government-controlled power.” The ads weren’t for or against a vote. What’s the point? A group called Our Power is gathering signatures for a citizen’s initiative, to create a privately operated but not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric utility company, Pine Tree Power Company, that would buy out the operational assets of CMP and Versant. CMP is running these ads in order to scare people and turn public opinion against public power. Government is elected by the people and for the people. CMP is a private company, owned by another big national company, which is wholly owned by a large multinational company. It is operated to make a profit. Electrical grids need to be monopolies in order to physically work. You’re at the mercy of whatever the monopoly wants to charge you. I haven’t decided how I’ll vote on the citizen’s initiative yet. But I wanted to flag a barrage of confusing ads. ~ Victoria Hugo-Vidal