Eliot Cutler on Government Reform

North Carolina retooled strategically: Maine should do same

1. The same industries that left Maine later left N.C.; N.C. consciously and strategically retooled, but we still haven't.
2. The N.C. experience illustrates how elected officials can inspire and lead the kind of long-range thinking and investment that harnesses business, labor, academia and government to accomplish change.

Office of The Grim Repealer: remove outdated regulations

Maine's governor could establish a small, one or two-person Office of Regulatory Re治iew and Repeal (ORRR). The head of the ORRR--(call her or him The Grim Repealer)--would report directly to the governor and would have two principal responsibili泱ies: first, review Maine rules and regulations to identify those that are unnecessary, or counterproductive--or just don't work the way they should; and second, review rules and regulations that agencies and departments propose, before they take effect, to ensure that they will accomplish their purposes in the most efficient and least costly and disruptive ways.

Citizens United opened floodgates to corrupt politics

The Supreme Court decision in the "Citizens United" case opened the floodgates to excessive amounts of money in politics, and its most deeply dangerous impact has not been the anonymity and negativity of campaign attack ads, nor even the diminished and increasingly uncivil daily political dialogue, but rather what it has done to our political parties & our legislative bodies.

Corporations, unions and incredibly wealthy individuals have found that their money can wield enormous, unregulated and anonymous influence in the post-Citizens United world.

Oppose all efforts to restrict access to the ballot box

A: I oppose all efforts to restrict access to the ballot box, and have been appalled to see the changes taking place across the country, moving us away from increased citizen participation in our democracy. I also believe that greater voter participation is achieved by providing voters with a political process that belongs to all of us, not just the two political parties. Our electoral process should give us broad and good choices among candidates--choices that appeal not only to the few of us who stand on the left and right ends of the spectrum, but also to most of us who occupy the center. Voters can have the kind of choices that they want and deserve, and consensus at the end of the electoral process, if we have run-offs, open primaries, or ranked choice voting. Fewer and fewer Americans identify themselves as a Republic or Democrat these days and fewer people vote in party primaries.