The legislature has not yet adjourned, but all of the biggest civil liberties battles are behind us.  And the ACLU of Maine defeated most of the bills we opposed. 

Government Secrecy Bill:  DEFEATED
Public Funding for Religious Schools:  DEFEATED
Voter ID:  Turned into a harmless study of election practices.  In other words: DEFEATED
Private Prisons:  DEFEATED
Juvenile Shaming Bill:  DEFEATED

We have an extraordinary staff:  our lobbyist, Alysia Melnick, is in Augusta every day, meeting with every single legislator about the issues we care about.  That's a core part of the ACLU of Maine philosophy.  While certain legislators definitely play a leadership role, at the end of the day, every legislator gets one vote, and all of those votes are equal.  That's why on close bills, we "whip" or lobby all legislators.

Contract organizer, Heather Martin, talked to Tea Party activists, Libertarians, moms, newspaper editors, and senior citizens about various issues -- activating grassroots pressure on these critical civil liberties values.  Organizing is a crucial part of successful political advocacy.  Constituent voices often (although not always) matter more than the lobbyist perspective.

We like to say that we have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.  That was especially true this session.  Even though we were at odds with Governor LePage on his secrecy bill, we were delighted to work with his office to amend one piece of legislation to eliminate an invasive fingerprinting requirement.  Disagreeing respectfully is key to being able to turn around and work together. 

I don't think anyone would have predicted that this legislature would have turned out to be civil liberties champions, but in fact, they were.  Last year, the ACLU won all but 5 of the 74 bills we opposed, and this year's track record was similarly good.  We really enjoyed working with legislators on both sides of the aisle like Senator Brian Langley (R-Ellsworth) and Senator Justin Alfond (D-Portland).