Petitioner rights: A debate for the Legislature or the courts?

A debate over petitioners’ rights halted in the Legislature when a lawsuit was filed in Oxford County Superior Court.

Rep. Jon Hinck, D-Portland, had sponsored the bill to allow petitioners on private property such as malls and supermarkets last year. He maintains that the Legislature is a better forum than the courts to debate the matter.

Seth Carey, a Rumford lawyer spearheading the movement to allow a resort casino in Oxford County, filed the lawsuit mid-December. The bill had been held over in the Legislature, and he said he couldn’t wait for results.

The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee had been holding work sessions on the bill while the Legislature was out of session. They put all work on hold, however, when the lawsuit was filed.

Carey sought an injunction to allow his petitioners for the citizen’s initiative on private property while the issue was debated. Ruling on the injunction was postponed after Hannaford Supermarkets, one of the defendants, requested the case be moved to federal court.

It’s a moot matter for Carey’s initiative now. He has the 55,087 signatures he needs and then some – they’re due in January.

While Carey will continue with the case, he now agrees that the Legislature is the better forum to discuss the issue. At the same time he worries that it may not survive the politics and lobbying of the State House.

Hinck said that through the public hearing and committee processes lawmakers can determine appropriate time-place-manner restrictions so petitioners can be present without being intrusive.

“It’s different from getting in people’s way and shoving it at them,” Hinck said.

In comparable issues, Hinck said the courts have made a ruling but then spent years fine-tuning the details. In the Legislature, the Judiciary could hear about possible consequences from the public.

“The legislative body is closest to the public,” Hinck said. “Just by the nature of the deliberations, and the wide range of views the public has on the issue, the Legislature is in a much better position to prescribe (a solution.)”

The court is only there to interpret the constitution. In this case, it’s not a yes or no question.

“The court is only doing legal analysis, and certainly not factor in public opinion,” Hinck said.

There’s not much precedent to serve as guidance from other courts, Hinck said, and no similar Maine cases.

Hinck said the matter is important to preserve democracy. Lawmakers and citizen’s initiatives need to get signatures, but the days of the town square at long gone, he said. Supermarkets and malls are the new town squares.

“It’s the underpinnings of what makes us work as a society. Too little attention is paid to preserving that,” Hinck said.

Hinck said, in his own experience, he had trouble while running for office. He said the only place he had good luck was Shaw’s supermarkets.

“Shaw’s deserves credit for having allowed that,” Hinck said.

Carey founded Evergreen Mountain Enterprises, a group of local people dedicated to bringing a resort casino to Oxford County. Rep. John Patrick, D-Rumford, to sponsored a bill to allow the casino last session, but it failed without fanfare on the floor.

After the bill flopped, Carey started a citizen’s initiative. If the signatures he’s collected are approved, the bill will go back before the Legislature. If it doesn’t pass as written there, it will go to the voters.

The failed Washington County racino project started as a citizen’s initiative. It passed in the Legislature, but was vetoed by Gov. John Baldacci, who opposes gambling and thought the issue belonged before the voters.

In November voters rejected the racino by a very narrow margin.

Carey said his petitioners had difficulties getting signatures because very few populated places will allow them in. He has named the following as defendants: The Maine Mall, the Bangor Mall, the Auburn Mall, the Topsham Fair Mall, Packard Development, WalMart stores, Hannaford stores, the City of Lewiston, the City of Augusta, the City of Portland, the City of Bangor, Irving oil and School Union 44.

It would apply to the venues’ property, sidewalks, streets and common areas of malls and stores.

“Big box stores are infringing on the downtowns, driving out mom and pop stores, and replacing them with chains,” Carey said. “We think they should give back a bit.”