Most Recent Programs
Dealing with ICE in Portland Maine
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/dealing-with-ice-in-portland-maine--73149946
Today's program is an interview of Joey Brunnele who is a candidate for the at-large Portland City Council seat being vacated by April Fournier who is moving onto the Maine State Legislature. Joey has been involved in a number of issues over the past decade and currently serves as the chair of the Citizen Police Review Board. The show focused on three different issues that he has written and spoken about recently. The first is the killing of John Sebastian Guerro - an innocent 26 year old man in Biddeford who was killed by an ICE agent. Joey pointed out this was not an accident. "It is the predictable result of Donald Trump hiring a bunch of untrained yahoos and white nationalists into ICE and quadrupling its budget." Joey also talked about how Portland has to hold the cruise industry accountable regarding burning heavy fuel oil which is the dirtiest and cheapest fuel and what can be done about it. He also talked about the proposed plan to build a 10 megawatt gas-fired power plant to provide electricity and heat to a major redevelopment project on Portland's Waterfront. As a member of the Portland Climate Action team, Joey talked about why he is opposed to the project, Building new fossil fuel burning generators will set the city back on its target to reduce 80% of its emissions by 2050. The proposal is also a major deviation from a master plan for the one billion dollar housing, retail and hotel development project on a 10 acre site of the Portland Company that was approved 10 years ago.
Flock Cameras, Municipal Surveillance, and Privacy
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/flock-cameras-municipal-surveillance-and-privacy--72953143
An interview of David Boyer who represents Mechanic Falls and part of Poland, ME. in the Maine State Legislature. He serves on the joint committees on veteran and legal affairs. He talked about why he plans to submit a bill to the Maine Legislature which would ban municipal and police use of automated license plate readers such as Flock Cameras - statewide, with an exception for toll collection. He believes these cameras are a significant threat to our constitutional rights to privacy. The camera data is frequently shared across vast, interconnected networks of thousands of law enforcement agencies and out-of-state entities often without local community consent. He pointed out this technology captures data on every single driver-not just suspects which creates opportunities for rogue officers and bad actors to illegally stalk or monitor without probable cause or a warrant. He pointed out that the ACLU has documented instances of local authorities using Flock networks on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist with deportations, as well as tracking drivers crossing state lines to access reproductive healthcare.
Community Neighborhood Associations
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/community-neighborhood-associations--72793534
An interview of Tom Blackburn, the president of the Bayside Neighborhood Association in Portland Maine. He first briefly talked about the history of the neighborhood which served as a vibrant immigrant gateway. As industries were developed it became a melting pot of new Americans - where Italians, Polish, Jewish, Irish and Armenians established vibrant neighborhoods around Franklin Street and throughout Bayside. The "little Italy" neighborhood south of Franklin Ave was particularly cohesive, despite being home to some of the peninsula's poorest residents. This rich diversity and tradition of welcoming newcomers continues today, with more recent African and other immigrant communities contributing to Bayside’s unique cultural fabric. Over 60 different languages are spoken in this area of the city. Tom also talked about two ongoing initiatives that the association is undertaking to establish a small 1/2 acre park in this neighborhood and it effort to establish the Bayside Opportunity Center (BOC) which will offer a range of service including language classes, job placement assistance, cultural orientation sessions, events, with a HUB that will offer referral services to appropriate organization sharing their mission with BOC.
Ranked Choice Voting
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ranked-choice-in-voting--72741276
This installment is an interview of Ethan Strimling who is a former mayor of Portland, Maine. He talked about the recent primary election in Maine and how he failed to recognize that the three progressive candidates who were running for Governor were solidly ahead and that progressives would be splitting their vote on the first ballot between Troy Jackson, Hanna Pingree and Shenna Bellows. He mentioned that once he figured it out, it was clear that one of them was likely to emerge as the winner because of rank choice voting. The only question was whether these candidates would have the courage to join arms to cross-endorse and actively encourage their supporters to vote for the other two as their second and third choice while also pledging not to attack each other. Fortunately within two weeks of the election these three candidates cross-endorsed, and actively encouraged their supporters to vote for the other two as their second and third choice while also pledging not to attack each other. Fully 32,000 of Bellows second place votes went to Jackson and Pingree with less than 10,000 going to Nirav Shah catapulting Pingree into first place even before the final round. When Jackson and Bellow's votes were then distributed, Hannah Pingree got another 26.000 votes giving her a double digit win over Shaw.
A Tenant Bill of Rights
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-tenant-bill-of-rights--72637145
The program is an interview with former Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling who is an opinion columnist at The Maine Beacon. The show focused on a recent piece: "A Tenant Bill of Rights" which was published in May 2026. Ethan talked about why a tenant bill of rights is needed and what it would include. He pointed that over 300,000 people in the state are renters who live in Maine's 155,000 units. Most pay more than they can afford. Rent increases are in double digit numbers well above inflation and raises in pay. Tenants can be evicted for no reason and most housing affordability solutions in Maine have focused on property tax relief. The tenant bill of rights would include - Prohibiting no-cause evictions, putting a cap on all rent increases to the rate of inflation, requiring landlords to negotiate with organized tenant unions, and requiring a 90-day notice for all rent increases. It would also limit security deposits to one month's rent and ban broker application fees to apply for an apartment. It would also allow tenants to recover legal fees/damages for illegal evictions and require significant civil penalties against landlords for violations. It would also create a cabinet level office at the state level to protect tenants.
Ongoing attacks against LGBTQ Youth
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ongoing-attacks-against-lgbtq-youth--72503143
The Program is an interview with Gia Drew, Executive Director of Equality Maine who talked about ongoing attacks against LGBTQ Youth, particularly transgender students in Maine. Even though Maine has a history of supporting LGBTQ rights with a 2005 civil rights law, recent political attacks have increased, targeting transgender youth in schools. She also talked about a ballot initiative that would prohibit transgender students from competing on teams that did not match their birth sex unless a school offers a co-ed team. It has been challenged and removed from the November ballot due to invalid signatures and fraudulent collection practices, though the legal process is still ongoing. Gia also emphasized the importance of allies speaking up when they hear discriminatory comments and encouraged young people to report incidents of bias in schools. She also highlighted upcoming Pride events and available support programs for transgender youth in Maine.
