Brunswick Area Indivisible Newsletter #24
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"We are a grassroots organization of concerned residents of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell” Newsletter for May 17, 2026 Brunswick Area Indivisible Action Calendar: Sound Crew Training Sunday May 17 or June 7. The Action working group is looking for more sound crew for our big rallies on the town mall, like No Kings. No experience required! We'll have training sessions on the town mall in Brunswick on Sunday May 17th and June 7th, 4:30-6:30pm. If you're interested then please come to a training session and/or email Chris and Sheryl at action.bai.me@gmail.com March in Brunswick’s Memorial Day Parade! Monday May 25. Join BAI members to participate in this traditional Maine St. event. Please email action.bai.me@gmail.com to sign up and for details of the event as they become available. Postcarding, before the Monthly Meeting. Wednesday, May 27th, drop in, starting at 4:00pm. Brunswick United Methodist Church. Help write news boosting postcards, which inform Mainers about important topics in the national news, and how it may affect them. All supplies will be provided (postcards, names,pens and stickers ). Donations for the cost of stamps are most welcome. Tuesdays, 5:30 pm Brunswick Maine Street Route 1 Overpass Rally - Bring your signs and flags. Wednesdays, 12:30 pm Brunswick Town Mall Cosplay protest. Meet at the Gazebo- costumes optional Saturdays, 11:00 am to 12:00 Brunswick, Maine St. on Rt 1 Overpass. Bring banners, signs. Mark your calendar: Tabling at BrunswickPride Day on the Mall, June 13. To join members of the Action Working Group at this fun annual event, email: action.bai.me@gmail.com For More actions and events, visit Activate Maine and Mobilize BAI Membership Meeting report38 people attended the monthly BAI meeting on May 13th. Cathy then turned to fellow education committee member Amanda, who introduced our speaker, Ed Erikson, a Maine native who has a political consulting firm primarily for progressive causes. He described his background and experience and the ‘ins and outs’ of elections and then took most of the remaining time to answer questions. He stressed that the most effective method to reach swing voters is canvassing/knocking on doors. While not a task for everyone, stopping and listening at their door makes a connection that is remembered and has proven to make a difference. This is true in local races such as for Maine Senate seats and particularly for Maine House seats where the winning margin can be in the single digits. Complete details regarding Ed Erikson and his consulting firm can be found at: https://www.eriksongroup.com/ Data Center Pause proposedSeveral members of Brunswick Area Indivisible went up to the State House on 'veto day' in an attempt to override the veto of LD 307, “An Act to Establish the Maine Data Center Coordination Council and Place a Temporary Limitation on Certain Data Centers.” Freeport’s Representative, Melanie Sachs wrote a beautiful bill that would create an 18 month pause from data centers across our beautiful state, during which time a council could have conducted research to find out what impact they might have on our health, the environment, utilities, and economy. Unfortunately, Governor Mills vetoed the bill. The reasons given were jobs and tax revenue. Those are not guaranteed. What IS guaranteed? There will, in fact, be jobs; anywhere from 25 to 150. Not a lot! And we know that many data centers are controlled hundreds or thousands of miles away, because the internet is flexible like that. Noise and light pollution are guaranteed for data center communities. These facilities run 24 hours a day, and the light and noise never cease. It is guaranteed the data servers will generate a LOT of heat that requires cooling. Using a handy AI Data Center Water Consumption Calculator, I learned that Jay can expect to use 2.5 million gallons of water each day. 2,500,000. Cooling requires energy. Extreme utility usage is guaranteed. The facility being built in Jay plans to use 300mgw of electricity. That is 30% of the energy for the entire state of Maine. Data centers are guaranteed to increase river temperatures. Even a rise in temperature of a few degrees is another form of pollution, harmful to a river ecosystem. In addition to those guarantees, there are hazardous possibilities, like ground-water pollution, air pollution accompanied by increased rates of asthma, potential grid malfunctions and power outages across the state, and finally, destruction of our rehabilitated ecosystems. Do we want a data center in Brunswick, ME now? We should not be the guinea pigs. Our neighbors in Wiscasset were having conversations about building a $5 billion data center. In November, after seeing what towns with data centers across the nation were already burdened with, Wiscasset put a stop to the proposed data center there, until further notice, so research, guardrails, and appropriate procedure for evaluation of proposed projects can be in place before discussions start. The city of Westbrook is also considering a moratorium on data centers. Brunswick must do the same. We have to be informed and prepared before a data center is proposed in our town. ACTION ITEM: On Monday, 5/18, at 630pm the Brunswick Town Council agenda includes a discussion about setting a public hearing on a data center moratorium. Spring has arrived, but housing and food insecurity are on the riseWith the end of winter heating season, some households have a respite from fuel bills. Even now, many of our neighbors cannot make ends meet as food, energy and housing costs continue to climb and Mainers are shut out of SNAP and other assistance. A few weeks ago, the shelves in the Bath Food Bank were empty. Meanwhile, local and statewide nonprofits aim to get Maine grown food directly to people, like Growing to Give Farm in Brunswick. Action Item: Please continue to support food programs, housing assistance programs and local food initiatives.
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Immigration activity is on the rise, according to the Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition. Calls to the Hotline have increased over the last week+. Please keep the Hotline number handy and be ready to report any activity you see using the SALUTE formula.
Meanwhile, 19 year old Olivia Andre is back home in Portland with her mother, 2 siblings and friends after more than 6 months in the infamous Dilley Detention center. The family, who fled horrible political violence in The Congo, entered the country as asylum seekers in 2022. They were detained by federal authorities in November, prompting protests by the children’s Deering High classmates and others.
Olivia’s mother, Carine Mbizi and the younger children were later released, but Olivia was left behind at Dilley as a single adult. Rep. Chellie Pingree visited Olivia and wrote about the systemic cruelty and deplorable neglect she experienced in the Dilley Center. All paid for by taxpayers.
The family’s immigration struggle is not over. In spite of escaping torture and rape by militia members, Mrs. Mbizi’s asylum claim has been denied and is currently in appeal. Project Relief Maine provided legal assistance to the family and continues to assist. As reported in previous newsletters, immigrants face huge legal fees just to maintain asylum claims. Pursuing permanent resident status can cost tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Travel to court dates, sometimes in another state, lost wages, and other expenses add to the crippling financial burden on families.
To help, support local and national immigrant rights organizations that provide legal assistance and other direct aid to immigrants and asylum seekers.
Reprinted from BAI Newsletter #17
Immigrant Direct Support Organizations
- Presente — Works in community to provide food and material support directly to displaced and dispossessed Afro/Indigenous-Latines in Maine.
- Maine Solidarity Fund: Donate to the Maine Solidarity Fund— Support bail funds, legal fees, and more for our immigrant and Trans neighbors.
- Project Relief — Direct support specific for community members that have been detained by ICE.
- Community Relief Fund - Support bail funds, legal fees, and more.
- Mainers for Humane Immigration’s Freedom Fund – Supports bond funds.
Contact Senator King and Rep. Pingree urging them to continue to trace and assist Maine residents swept up in the federal anti-immigrant fiasco. Continued funding for ICE and CBP is still under consideration in DC. Remind our representatives of your view on withholding funds for DHS.
- Angus King, email contact form, office locations and phone numbers.
- Chellie Pingree email contact form, office locations and phone numbers.
The Bunker/Ballroom
The White House, sometimes called the ‘Peoples’ House’, is a national historic landmark under the purview of the National Park Service. Trump didn’t bother to go through protocol before deciding to demolish the East Wing, so the agency tasked with facilitating the process to go through before making any changes to historic landmarks has brought the case to court. The Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled a hearing on the ballroom case for June 5th. The implementation of the injunction against it is delayed until then, so they are continuing to build.
When the construction of the ballroom was announced a few months ago, Trump assured his followers (the only ones who believe what he says) it would only cost $200 million, and that would be coming from his rich friends. As the days and weeks wore on the cost kept going up. Last week it went up to $300 million, then to $400 million, then it sky-rocketed up to a BILLION - and that is to come from the tax-payers, not the billionaire donors.
Meanwhile the ghastly, gaudy ballroom that dwarfs the white house and has caused such distress for the president who has been consumed with this projects’ fruition, is now being referred to as a shed; a facade. It sits on top of a heavily fortified, sprawling underground complex including bomb shelters, a data center, military installations and a medical facility, all being built right now. Of course we are only finding out about that now because of the pending lawsuit, or the ‘stupid lawsuit’ as Trump calls it. How ironic we are paying for the future preservation of the people who are trying to destroy us.
Gerrymandering
The definition of gerrymandering is drawing boundaries around electoral districts in a way that gives one party an unfair advantage over its opponents. Gerrymandering can be used by officeholders of the party in power to either spread voters from the opposing party across districts or give an advantageous edge to their own candidates. While both political parties engage in gerrymandering, the Republicans have historically benefited the most from the practice.
The modern Republican strategy began in 2010 with the Redmap Strategy in 2010. The Republican initiative called Project REDMAP (Redistricting Majority Project) launched ahead of the 2010 midterms. Recognizing the state legislatures draw congressional districts every ten years following the census, the Republicans poured millions of dollars into low profile swing-state elections.The result gave the Republicans total control of the state houses just as thecensus data arrived. They then used sophisticated new mapping software to draw precise districts that protected Republican majorities. They maintained control in 2020 by repeating the same scheme.
The Democrats approached reform differently on the state level. In heavily leaning blue states the Democrats could have drawn partisan gerrymanders, however, they opted to hand map-drawing power to independent, bipartisan commissions. While the Democrats have recently tried to aggressively gerrymander where they can, they have fewer large states under total partisan control to work with compared to the GOP.
The Republican’s redistricting strategy has been very successful in putting the Democrats at a distinct disadvantage in their ability to create congressional maps to counter the Republicans gerrymandering. Democrats have made some gains in the gerrymandering process, however, the Republicans long term strategy has put them in a formidable position to control gerrymandering for now and the future.
Let's set a record for Primary Voter Turnout!
In the last primary in 2024, Maine's voter turnout was estimated at less than 25% of eligible voters. Arguably, as much and more is at stake this season. High turnout for this year's primary races will
- Enhance confidence in the election system and our local election officials,
- Demonstrate voter engagement and the intention to exercise our fundamental rights,
- Validate the Ranked Choice Voting method. Though there can only be one party primary winner for each office, ranking provides more detail on voters' reactions to candidates and their positions,
- Give unenrolled voters a real voice in shaping the November ballot. Voters who have not declared party affiliation (unenrolled or independents) are the largest voter group in Maine at 36.4%. Unenrolled voters may choose to vote in one party's primary.
Chances are, you know someone who is an unenrolled voter, or has never voted in a primary before. Let them know they can participate. Encourage them to check their voter registration, at their town office, or on online at Vote.org.
Absentee voting has begun. Ballots are available from Town Clerks. For a sneak peek at your district’s primary races, search Ballotpedia or this spreadsheet.
Primary Ballots (1).pdf
-Brunswick Area Indivisible
As always, if you have an upcoming action, article, legislative issue or story that you want to go out on the Brunswick Area Indivisible email list, send it to communications.bai.me@gmail.com
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