PORTLAND, Maine — More than $1 million has been raised by groups looking to influence Portland residents voting on 13 referendum questions this year, and much of that has been raised by groups opposed to the initiatives.
"We've worked really hard to fundraise, but in a lot of ways, it hasn't been that hard because there's a lot of people in Portland who are concerned," Nick Mavodones said.
Mavodones is a former Portland city councilor, and current treasurer of Enough is Enough, a ballot question committee urging voters to vote no on all ballot questions.
This week, we're getting a final look at just how much ballot questions committees have raised hoping to sway voters. All campaign finance filings are shared on the City of Portland's website.
According to those filed campaign finance reports, Enough is Enough has raised the most of all ballot question committees with more than $635,000 raised.
"The impact on the service economy, restaurant workers, is very evident as we see from all the support that we're getting," Mavodones said.
"90 percent of our donations are from businesses or people who are in the state of Maine and work in Portland," Mavodones added.
Enough is Enough has received donations from numerous Portland businesses, however, the group's largest donations have come from businesses and groups based out of state. Campaign finance filings show that last week, the National Board of Realtors contributed $100,000 to Enough is Enough.
The BQC with the second highest fundraising total is Restaurant Industry United, which has raised more than $450,000 in effort to reject question D, which looks to raise the minimum wage in Portland.
Campaign filings for Restaurant Industry United show contributions of more than $165,000 from DoorDash and more than $175,000 from Uber Technologies in recent weeks.
"I do think that a lot of voters are turned off when they see this kind of out of state money flowing in from Silicon Valley these large restaurant industries," Wes Pelletier of Maine DSA said.
Maine DSA successfully brought about four of the referendum questions Portland voters will see this year, and is advocating in support of questions B,C, and D.
"It's hard to buy what we have, which is people power. We've got organization—we've got local Portlanders that are walking the streets and knocking doors for us," Pelletier said.
Maine DSA for a Livable Portland, a BQC in support of questions B,C, and D has raised just more than $21,000.
One Fair Wage Portland has raised the most of BQCs working in favor of a referendum question, raising $50,000. That group's lone donation came from the national One Fair Wage organization.