Kathleen McGee and Donna Bendicksen may seem like unlikely political bedfellows — the former is a seasoned organizer from Bowdoinham who’s worked on a number of liberal social-justice campaigns, and the latter is a Ron Paul-Republican candidate running for the state legislature in Portland’s House District 115.
But they’re teaming up in outrage against the state’s seeming acquiescence to federal “Real ID” demands — namely, the recently enacted law that would require driver’s license applicants in Maine to prove they have a “legal presence” in the United States (they’re either citizens or lawful immigrants) before getting a license. Democratic Governor John Baldacci proposed the law in April as part of his efforts to secure an extension from the federal government on Real ID implementation (see “Maine Stings From a Slap on the Wrist,” by Deirdre Fulton, April 9). The legislature passed the law (yes, the same legislature that voted to reject Real ID in 2007), because the feds threatened that if Maine lawmakers didn’t cave, Mainers wouldn’t be able to use their driver’s licenses to get on airplanes or into federal buildings.
McGee and Bendicksen, along with volunteers from a mélange of statewide advocacy organizations, are collecting signatures for a “people’s veto referendum” — the state constitutional provision that allows Mainers to have their say at the ballot box about new state laws. They need 55,087 signatures by July 17 to get the question on the November ballot. In this case, the referendum would ostensibly address and repeal LD 2309, and the legal-presence requirement, but it’s really about Real ID — which would standardize identification across the country — in general.
“The governor introduced this new law to begin to bring Maine into compliance” with Real ID, says Zachary Heiden, legal director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, which supports the people’s veto efforts. “It’s a step in the wrong direction at a time when we should be doing everything we can to point out the problems with Real ID. We really thought that it needed a second look.”
Real ID opponents cite potential identity theft, high cost, and Orwellian stuff like retina scans and universal fingerprinting as reasons to resist the federal rule. While McGee and Bendicksen are working together, they will target different demographics. McGee will likely appeal to the progressive MCLU-types, while Bendicksen will be able to court those who support stricter licensing requirements — but don’t want the government snooping in their personal lives.
“If we are successful with our people’s veto efforts in November and are able to stop Real ID, we will still have another law that requires people to show proof of residency when applying for a driver’s license,” Bendicksen writes in an e-mail to the Phoenix. That law is LD 2304, also passed this spring, but not up for people’s veto repeal.
Asking the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to assess a person's legal presence in the US will essentially turn that office into an immigration agency, McGee says, which goes beyond its scope. “Immigration status is a federal issue, not a states issue,” she says.
BTW, representatives of several other causes will also be collecting signatures between now and July 17, so make sure you know what you’re signing before you offer up your John Hancock. The other referendum questions address state beverage taxes to fund the state’s Dirigo health plan, and GLBT rights (specifically, the Christian Civic League’s attempts to take them away).
