Democratic State Representative Jon Hinck, a co-founder of Greenpeace USA, Launches First Web Ad of 2012 Maine Senate Race against Olympia Snowe
On Wednesday, as the Maine Legislature returns to work for the 2012 session, Representative Jon Hinck (D-Portland) is also launching the first web advertisement of his 2012 campaign against Olympia Snowe. Entitled “Red, White and You,” the ad contrasts Olympia Snowe’s special interest donors with Hinck’s extensive background as advocate, teacher, attorney, and legislator. The ad features corporate logos of a several of Snowe’s major campaign donors over a map of the United States while a voiceover states that, “the first step in making people’s voices heard starts in Maine, and Hinck is no stranger to fighting back against powerful special interests.”
Cross-posted at Dirigo Blue
“Unlike most people who seek higher office, I have not been following the well-worn track of career politicians,” said Hinck, who officially entered the race less than two months ago. “I’m not your typical candidate, my campaign will not financed by corporate donors. I’m out to challenge the status quo and remind politicians, and the voters of Maine, that it is everyday people, not special interest money, who give them the opportunity to serve in the first place.”
Hinck has made pushing back against special interest influence a center piece of his campaign thus far. “Middle class families need their voice back in the United States Senate,” Hinck said. “We owe it to past generations, who built us a great country, to hand down a nation that we can be proud of.” He continued, “I am intent on passing on to my daughter’s generation a country which encourages innovation and entrepreneurship with more than just rhetoric, teaches our children to be the best in the world once again, and prevents our seniors from struggling to make ends meet in their golden years.”
Snowe has raised over $1.4 Million from Political Action Committees for this election cycle. These “PAC’s” serve as the political arms for corporations like big oil, Wall Street, the powerful pharmaceutical industry, and other special-interest groups enabling them to raise money and make contributions to the campaigns of politicians they hope to influence. “One of the great challenges facing this country is the stranglehold that big money has over our politics,” Hinck argues, “any politician who reels in dollars from powerful special interests will not be up to tackling that challenge.”
Hinck’s first advertisement gives only a glimpse of the long list of large corporate donors to Olympia Snowe. Among those highlighted are ExxonMobil, the largest oil company globally; Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company; and Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs. Hinck noted that his support for balancing the Federal Budget starts with eliminating wasteful subsidies and tax loopholes for large corporations and the richest 1%. He said that Snowe is unlikely to support such measures even while multi-national corporations like Bank of America and General Electric, neither of which paid any Federal Income taxes last year, continue to contribute heavily to her campaign.
“I’ve stood up to the very same powerful special interest groups who finance Olympia Snowe’s campaign,” Hinck said. “In this critical election year, the people of Maine have the opportunity to clearly state that they are fed up with a Senate that puts powerful special interests ahead of working people. They have the opportunity to send a genuine fighter who has a record of taking down the big moneyed interest groups who rig the game in their favor and against middle class families.”
Jon Hinck is the Ranking Member of the Legislature’s Committee on Energy. Before serving in the Maine Legislature, Hinck was among the co-founders of Greenpeace, USA and worked as staff attorney for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. During his legal career, Hinck successfully represented commercial fishermen after the Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill and, later, Maine well owners harmed by MTBE groundwater contamination. In 1999 Maine was the first state which acted to limit the chemical additive to gasoline, finally passing a ban in 2004. Hinck is seeking the Democratic nomination to take on Olympia Snowe next November. Log on to www.JonHinck.com for more information.