Rick Gowell’s opinion piece, “Small rural businesses threatened by consumer protection bill” (Jan. 10), grossly misrepresents an important bill before the Legislature that would protect Maine’s small businesses from abuse by large corporations that dominate markets.

Unfairly monopolizing industries is already illegal under federal and Maine law. But monopolization can be exceedingly hard to prove, especially under modern, pro-bigness court precedents. L.D. 1815 injects much needed reality into our anti-monopoly laws by allowing Maine people and small businesses to sue and hold accountable big, dominant businesses that abuse their power to force others out of business and artificially inflate prices for consumers.

Opponents of this bill, who have the wealth and power to control markets, hope that by confusing small business owners and the public, they can continue to exploit consumers and drive our local shops out of business while they reap the benefits. We shouldn’t let them.

Maura Pillsbury
Maine Center for Economic Policy
Freeport