Jennifer Jones, of March Forth, Addressed a Crowd of Protesters Today on Congress Street, Portland.  “I Have Read  That Every District Hillary Clinton Won is Being Targeted.  This Appears to be the Case in Maine,” Jones said.

Collins’ Empty Chair at Rally at Portland Public Library. Senator “No-Show” Last Year. Can Anyone Remember the Last Time Collins Made a Public Appearance in Portland?

Another Protester Urged the Public to Vote in the Upcoming Election.

“No DeJoy in Mailville,” is a Homemade Sign Held by Chris Vermilion, Who Was Involved in the Warren for President Campaign.  He Was Late for the Rally and Didn’t Have Much Time to Prepare a Sign – What a Refreshing One!

Michelle Lesperance Brought This Sign to the Late Morning Protest. “I Wish I Had Thought to Add an S to the Word Liar,” she said. “They are all Liars,” she said as Husband Marc Looked on in Agreement.

Dick Farnsworth Has Served 10 Terms in the Maine State House of Representatives and Will Not Run Again. He Said that he is Supporting, “With Enthusiasm,”  the Election of Maine State House Speaker Sara Gideon (D) in Her Run Against Incumbent Senator Susan Collins (R) for  Her Re-election.  Of Gideon, Farnsworth said:  “She is honest, straight forward and tough.  She Had to Deal with LePage when he was Governor.” Collins is Running Consistently 4 – 5 Points Behind Gideon.

“The postal service has worked beautifully for hundreds of years, until several months ago when Republicans in power chose to use it as a political tool to suppress voters in the upcoming November election,” Jennifer Jones, a founding member of March Forth, told a crowd of protesters who stood on the sidewalk in front of a post office building around noon today.

Jones, who has a small egg business, went on to say that the “intentional cutbacks at the USPS by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy include reducing overtime hours and removing nearly 700 mail sorting machines and collection boxes all over the country.”

In a hearing before a Senate Committee yesterday DeJoy, a megadonor to Trump, said additional changes to the postal service will be suspended until after the election.  However, he would not commit to reversing the changes already made to the Postal Service. DeJoy faces a House Oversight Committee on Monday – idt won’t be pretty.

Jones, who said “to hell with my prepared remarks” spoke of her experience with the July arrival at her Falmouth farm of dead chicks.  Her small egg business supplies her neighbors with eggs as well as her family.

Last month Jones received a shipment of 25 chicks and 17 of them died soon after their arrival she said.  She and her daughter tried to nurse some of them back to health. But it was expensive work and emotionally taxing for Jones’ family.

“Who is to blame for this attack on our beloved postal service?” Jones asked the protesters lining the sidewalk in front of a postal facility, at 400 Congress Street.

“President Trump, Postmaster General DeJoy and Senator Susan Collins,” Jones answered her own question. “Collins sponsored and introduced the bill in 2005 to require the USPS to prefund 50 years of retirement and health benefits.  No other agency has to do this.  This bill provided a rationale that Trump and DeJoy used to claim the USPS is bankrupt and a financial albatross.  This is not true.  Without this burden, Collins and the lame duck Senate pushed through, the USPS would turn a profit,” Jones said.  She implored voters to vote in November and “fight for our democracy that is under attack by the Trump Administration.”

Marie Follayttar, Director of Mainers for Accountable Leadership, described in detail Senator Susan Collins (R) role in the current crisis at the Postal Service.  “In Maine, the issue of the postal service is of particular importance,” she wrote in a press release.

In 2003, Susan Collins chaired the Senate Committee that appointed Jones Miller to the USPS Board of Directors…In 2001, he became the Director of Charles KOCH’S Citizens for a Sound Economy and advanced the privatization of the USPS.  During his confirmation hearing, Collins asked him if he wanted to privatize the USPS.  He said yes according to Follayttar.

In 2003, Collins voted to appoint Jones to the USPS Board of Governors according to Follayttar.  In Collins 2002 campaign cycle one of her largest donors was UPS pac.  It donated $22,168 to her campaign.  FEDEX has hosted fund raisers for her.   In 2006, Miller and Collins passed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act.  The PAEA required the USPS to pay for retirement  healthcare benefits 75 years into the future.

Therefore, the USPS is in the current fiscal situation that Democrats in Congress are trying to fix and which the Trump Administration is blocking – to suppress voters in the upcoming election.

“Susan Collins is directly responsible for the issues facing the USPS and gave Donald Trump the kindling he needed to start a fire and further jeopardize our elections.  Mainers are without prescription drugs and farmers are receiving packages of dead chickens traumatizing children and causing economic devastation as the Senate and Susan Collins remain unwilling to act to fund the post office while the House will vote to fund the post office for the third time this evening, ” Follayttar wrote in a press release today.

The Postal Service is the second largest civilian employer in the US with nearly 500,000 workers according to Follayttar.

Yesterday Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D) and 23 of her House colleagues wrote a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy and Secretary of Agriculture Perdue looking for answers and corrections to the current crisis at the United States Postal Service and its mishandling of animals.  Please visit previous post herein for more details on this matter.

Hosting todays Rally were Mainers for Accountable Leadership and March Forth.

Mhn.com Note:  It’s so ironic that it’s not possible to let this one go without mention.  In her tv ads, Collins has criticized Sara Gideon (D) her opponent and the Speaker of the Maine House for not calling the House back into session.  What Portlander can forget the nick name given to Collins – “No Show Collins” – for her failure to appear at town halls to explain her votes and answer questions from her constituents on vital issues of the day.  “No Show” – a name given for a good reason.  (See above left photo of empty chair).