Jacob Posik used subterfuge wording in his Aug. 14 op-ed, “Outside interests control ballot.” The op-ed is about citizen initiatives on the ballot, so he used the term “outside interests” to get the reader’s attention and then proceeded to denigrate our citizen initiative process.

Conservatives use the word “outsiders” frequently because they know Maine voters don’t like outsider interference in their affairs. Posik works for and speaks for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, which according to Source Watch is “a right-wing pressure group.” In addition to Posik’s attack on the citizen initiative process, he and his employer, Maine Heritage Policy Center, are working to cut government services, oppose health care reform, and privatize public education.

Posik and other right-wingers know that when Maine legislators fail to act on issues important to Maine voters, voters can veto legislator’s obstructionist efforts through the citizen initiative process. That happened when more than 80,000 voters signed petitions to veto a vote intended by Maine legislators to kill ranked-choice voting.

We Maine voters need to be aware of and debunk these type of op-eds because using propaganda to sway voters is effective. On several occasions misleading articles have appeared in the newspaper written by minions working for right-wing conservative organizations. Those well-financed outsider organizations are frantically attempting to sway Maine voters with scare tactics before the November mid-term elections.

Jim Chiddix

Waterville

(Editor’s note: A previous version of this letter erroneously said the Maine Heritage Policy Center is a “private sector member of the American Legislative Exchange Council.” The Maine Heritage Policy Center is a nonprofit organization and is not a member of ALEC.)