Lynne Williams knows she is fighting an uphill battle to be elected governor, but she thinks maybe, just maybe, this year, the Green Party candidate will have a chance.
The Bar Harbor lawyer, best known for battling against big corporations, or big developers or state agencies, knows her first task is to get on the ballot for the June 8 primary election.
To do this, she needs to gather at least 2000 signatures from registered Green Party voters on petitions and have them certified by the Secretary of State.
“We have the lists (of 3100 registered Green Party voters), but they are not in very good shape,” she said.
So far, she says she has gathered about a third of the 2000 signatures needed to get on the primary ballot.
If she fails to gather enough signatures, she has a fall back position.
“I can declare to be a write-in candidate. If I can attract 4000 votes in the primary, I will be on the (general election) ballot in the fall,” she said.
Assuming she gets on the general election ballot, how can a third party candidate defeat the well-funded Democrats and the Republicans?
“I think there may be as many as five candidates running for governor in the fall. There will be a Republican, a Democrat, me, independent Elliot Cutler and maybe another independent,” she said.”
According to her thinking, the Republicans and Democrats will beat each other up. So maybe, just maybe, the winning candidate might be elected with a plurality, not a majority, she explains.
That is if she can get the attention of more voters.
She talks about issues, issues she is litigating, or has litigated in court fighting well-funded interests with powerful friends and state agencies.
She talks how she would reorganize state government along “functional” lines grouping land development sections together by transferring some of the state employees in the conservation departments, including the Warden Services, Dept. of Marine Fisheries, the Land Use Resource Commission, the Dept. of Environmental Protection all together.
Then she would reform the state’s economic development departments by forcing them to answer three questions: “site, size, and who benefits.”
She makes no secret that big developers are not her cup of tea. She would concentrate on attracting smaller businesses.
Raising taxes are also on her “to do list,” as she would up the income rate for higher income groups from 6 percent to 8 ½ percent.
While she has never been elected to office, although she did run for the legislature five years ago and gathered 15 percent of the vote, she knows the money will be tough to raise.
“It is a struggle,” she said.
No matter, she is soldiering along, trying to let people know she is running and trying to find registered Greens to sign her petition.
“I am talking to interest groups (too). I ask them to make me their second choice,” she said.