Q3 Postmortem

 

My children are looking forward with great anticipation for the next installment of the Star Wars franchise. The idea of the rag-tag warriors battling against insurmountable odds and somehow winning has captivated viewers the world over and my family is no exception. In reality, Maine participated in its very own “star wars saga” this past election cycle, complete with dark lord, rag-tag army, and the obligatory insurmountable odds.

For those who have questioned where yours truly of TMCV was during this election cycle, suffice to say my usual role of heard but not seen was relegated further to not heard and not seen. My voice was behind the phone calls and my person behind the door knocking as I was the NRA’s field coordinator for the ground effort to defeat Bloomberg’s Question Three. Now emerging from my bunker, I thought I would deliver a postmortem on the battle with some reflections on our victory.

As I mentioned in an interview with Guns.com, this victory belongs to the people of Maine. Despite a barrage of false information and relentless attempts (almost 6 million worth) to browbeat and shame the voters of Maine into giving up their natural born right to self-defense, Maine people held secure to their mooring of common sense and withstood the storm. It is real testament to the resiliency of Maine’s independent spirit to stand in the face of the dark lord himself, Bloomberg, his media machine, and local minions who were willing to betray their own state to gain favor with a politician from New York City, still, with all the odds stacked against them, the people of Maine stood resolute.

David Trahan was the face of the resistance, the tip of the spear in the fight to push back Bloomberg’s invasion into Maine. The countless hours spent, funds raised locally, and the many dogged challenges to the false narratives spun by the media were done by this man and his great staff at Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine. The battle would not have been won without David’s team at SAM.

The spear really was by the end of the battle a trident, with my small contribution at the end, but the second invaluable point of Maine’s defense was Gun Owner’s of Maine. Todd Tolhurst and the GOME “rag-tag” army spread out all over the state to get the message out and combat the Bloomberg machine. Again, without this army of pickup trucks, gun owners, and hunters fanning out into the hi ways and byways of Maine spreading the message person by person this battle would not have been won.

As for me, my job was below the radar. I was coordinating phone banks and canvassing events. While we were late to the battle, I am glad the NRA funded this battle front and we were able to make inroads into the enemy assault.

As for reflections, we know that Bloomberg is coming back. His fixation with limiting the natural born rights of his fellow citizens consumes him. So how to we prepare to meet him.

First at a grassroots level, we need to expose the dishonest polling data that Everytown for Gun Safety uses to mislead the public. This activist organization has been caught repeatedly skewing or flat out lying with their polling data. I have some articles in the works on that.

The police chiefs who endorsed Q3 and failed to let the public know they were on the board of the activist group that sponsored the referendum should at the very least have their lack of ethics and conflict of interests exposed. Perhaps, this sort of thing can be investigated? I’m sure there are those who better understand the nuances of these things, but be assured that Bloomberg’s storm troopers will be used again, if not discredited.

Fund-raising! If we know he’s coming back, we better start stockpiling now. If you thought 6 mil was a tsunami, wait until he doubles it.

Finally, continue to build on the network we’ve established. Look at town results. If there are towns we should have done better that we were weak, let’s shore those up! Yes, let’s strengthen our defenses so that when Bloomberg comes, we’ll have a Welcome Party waiting for him.

Stating The Obvious: A Shot In The Dark

 

 

Last week, we started a series on the lies by silence, the sins of omission, which runs rampant through the media of this State.  Right on cue, the Bangor Daily News was found embroiled in an information and misinformation campaign this past week.  The revelations that came from an over reach of freedoms came under the glaring light of public scrutiny when Maine residents became enraged at the revelations Bangor Daily News had abused the Freedom of Information Act.

The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) is legislation, which allows any American to request information that is in the public record.  The caveat being that if the information is deemed to pose a threat to the well being of the citizenry the public entity can refuse on those grounds.  Often times when documents are released under FOIA, they will have portions blotted out because the information is too dangerous to be released.

This past week Bangor Daily News, citing FOIA, sent a letter to the Maine State Police and all the local town and city precincts demanding the names and addresses of all individuals who have Concealed Carry Weapons (CCW) permits be sent to their newspaper.  This ignited a firestorm of protest within the State and within two days Bangor Daily had rescinded their request.  Readers will recall a similar situation in New York where a paper posted a list and map of gun owners in their readership area.  Subsequently, robberies began to happen at the homes from the map targeting their guns.  The perpetrators were caught with the list and map in hand.

What is most curious is the explanation Bangor Daily gave for the inquiry into the CCW’s.  The editor attempted to calm the situation by citing the reasons as the pending legislation by Representative Cory Wilson (R), which would block access to the CCW list, and their ongoing investigation into sex offenders and drug dealers.  This leads this columnist to wonder how the paper expects the residents of Maine to have their anger pacified by the knowledge that those employed by the Bangor Daily equate gun ownership   with sex offenders, drug dealers or are at least trying to establish a connection and quickly before Rep. Wilson’s bill passes, most curious indeed.

As stated, Bangor Daily News has rescinded its request.  But a new group has issued a request immediately after Bangor Daily pulled its request, a group called CelebrationsConnect.  They are rumored to have ties to the Portland Press Herald.  A shadow group?  Plausible deniability? Just a shot in the dark but it smells.  At any rate, the battle against your privacy and safety is far from over.  The Governor has put forth emergency legislation that would block the media or any other organizations from getting to the CCW lists.  The roll call vote is set for the 19th of February.  Be assured that this columnist will let you know who votes for and who votes against your right to privacy and safety.

To this point, all the Republicans are on board in support of the Governor. The only statement from Democrats is one Seth Berry acknowledging Mainers are angry…..cue sound of crickets.  So I guess we know where this is going.

The Portland Press Herald made a clumsy attempt at a distraction from the issue by trying to attack the Governor for a $32,000 expense bill for the meals at the Blaine House.  What they forgot to include is this Governor has made it a point to entertain many of the military veterans, business people, and just plain hard working people in Maine making this the most accessible Blaine House perhaps in the history of the State of Maine.  Now the Portland Press Herald is hastily trying to wipe the proverbial egg off of their collective faces.  And, yes, they also forgot to mention that Governor Baldacci had at least eight aides who did…well, nobody knows what they did, but they did whatever they did to the tune of a $100,000 a year.  I can guarantee the Blaine House was not so accessible to the taxpayers footing that bill during that administration.  Stay tuned!  More to come!

Costas Cost Us Some Respite

Sunday is my day to relax, go to church with my family and spend the day watching football.  It is my respite from the work week and my never-ending battles in the political realm.  While watching the Sunday night football game between the Eagles and Cowboys, I was slapped out of my relaxation by an unabashed opportunist in Bob Costas, who was crass and callous enough to try to use this horrible event in Kansas City to further his own personal vendetta against gun owners on the half time show of Sunday Night Football.  His slimy and cowardly attempt to quote another writer in order to shield himself from the outrage of the majority of football fans that help to pay his exorbitant salary, is the epitome of shameless deceit.  Furthermore, to equate this heinous, shameful and sad crime is a huge insult to the hundreds of thousands of gun owners in the United States and the hundreds in the NFL, who have been in numerous arguments with those they love and never pulled a gun on them.  How sick is it to imply that those who have guns are automatically a danger to society?  As much as I love football, I will not be watching Sunday Night Football on NBC, neither will I watch its sister network ESPN. It is time for this shameless manipulation of tragedy to stop.