Cliff was born in Portland and grew up in the area. His family
taught him the value of working hard and giving back to the
community, and Cliff decided early in life to devote himself to
public service.
After graduating from college, Cliff moved to New York City and
quickly became a leader in the city’s environmental advocacy
community. He authored a groundbreaking report on the impact of
suburban stormwater runoff on New York City’s drinking water,
and helped organize people from the inner city to the suburbs to
call for change. As a result, regulators implemented most of the
report’s recommendations.
Cliff had long wanted to return to Portland to serve his community,
so after earning a law degree and clerking for a federal judge, he
moved back home with his wife, Emily. After writing influential
reports on tax and corporate governance issues, he became a staff
attorney at the Disability Rights Center.
At the Disability Rights Center, Cliff took a heavy case load and
helped ordinary people get decent housing, health care, and long
term care. He quickly developed a reputation for hard work,
creativity, and an ability to win or settle cases that other attorneys
considered hopeless. He helped the disability community forge a
legislative agenda, and achieved major policy victories in areas
ranging from health care to affordable housing to preventing
violence against women. Cliff drafted many of the bills that led to
these successes. He was also one of a handful of experts that
legislators turned to in a successful battle to preserve consumer
protections in Maine’s health insurance laws.
In the meantime, Cliff helped found an organization called
Opportunity Maine. He drafted a citizen’s initiative to make college
more affordable in Maine than anywhere in the country. Though
Opportunity Maine gathered enough signatures to get the law on
the ballot, the organization persuaded the legislature to pass the
law outright. Cliff’s fiscal analysis of the program and his ability to
bring Republicans and Democrats together played an essential role
in passage. Since then, as President of Opportunity Maine and as
the state’s leading expert on the Opportunity Maine law, Cliff has
led efforts to make implementation of the law as smooth as possible
for colleges and students.
Cliff left the Disability Rights Center last year to practice on his
own. Though he continues to take cases, including successfully
representing Consumers for Affordable Health Care against
industry lawyers fighting to cut funding for the Dirigo Health
program, he has focused most of his efforts on policy work. He is a
leader in efforts to pass a comprehensive minimum wage bill that
he drafted, and has developed comprehensive policy
recommendations on issues from early childhood education to rural
high-speed internet development.
Cliff has also been active in the Portland community, serving as
Vice President of the Back Cove Neighborhood Association and on
the boards of the Portland Housing Authority and the Portland
Symphony. He has also worked to elect Democrats to office at the
city and state levels.
Cliff’s work ethic, integrity, vision, wide-ranging policy and legal
knowledge, and consensus-building skills have made life better for
ordinary people throughout Maine. In the Maine Senate, these
qualities will help him bring change. The challenges facing
Portland and Maine call for someone who can grapple with
complexity, stand up for what’s right, and bring people together.
Cliff has devoted his entire career to doing all of those things.
taught him the value of working hard and giving back to the
community, and Cliff decided early in life to devote himself to
public service.
After graduating from college, Cliff moved to New York City and
quickly became a leader in the city’s environmental advocacy
community. He authored a groundbreaking report on the impact of
suburban stormwater runoff on New York City’s drinking water,
and helped organize people from the inner city to the suburbs to
call for change. As a result, regulators implemented most of the
report’s recommendations.
Cliff had long wanted to return to Portland to serve his community,
so after earning a law degree and clerking for a federal judge, he
moved back home with his wife, Emily. After writing influential
reports on tax and corporate governance issues, he became a staff
attorney at the Disability Rights Center.
At the Disability Rights Center, Cliff took a heavy case load and
helped ordinary people get decent housing, health care, and long
term care. He quickly developed a reputation for hard work,
creativity, and an ability to win or settle cases that other attorneys
considered hopeless. He helped the disability community forge a
legislative agenda, and achieved major policy victories in areas
ranging from health care to affordable housing to preventing
violence against women. Cliff drafted many of the bills that led to
these successes. He was also one of a handful of experts that
legislators turned to in a successful battle to preserve consumer
protections in Maine’s health insurance laws.
In the meantime, Cliff helped found an organization called
Opportunity Maine. He drafted a citizen’s initiative to make college
more affordable in Maine than anywhere in the country. Though
Opportunity Maine gathered enough signatures to get the law on
the ballot, the organization persuaded the legislature to pass the
law outright. Cliff’s fiscal analysis of the program and his ability to
bring Republicans and Democrats together played an essential role
in passage. Since then, as President of Opportunity Maine and as
the state’s leading expert on the Opportunity Maine law, Cliff has
led efforts to make implementation of the law as smooth as possible
for colleges and students.
Cliff left the Disability Rights Center last year to practice on his
own. Though he continues to take cases, including successfully
representing Consumers for Affordable Health Care against
industry lawyers fighting to cut funding for the Dirigo Health
program, he has focused most of his efforts on policy work. He is a
leader in efforts to pass a comprehensive minimum wage bill that
he drafted, and has developed comprehensive policy
recommendations on issues from early childhood education to rural
high-speed internet development.
Cliff has also been active in the Portland community, serving as
Vice President of the Back Cove Neighborhood Association and on
the boards of the Portland Housing Authority and the Portland
Symphony. He has also worked to elect Democrats to office at the
city and state levels.
Cliff’s work ethic, integrity, vision, wide-ranging policy and legal
knowledge, and consensus-building skills have made life better for
ordinary people throughout Maine. In the Maine Senate, these
qualities will help him bring change. The challenges facing
Portland and Maine call for someone who can grapple with
complexity, stand up for what’s right, and bring people together.
Cliff has devoted his entire career to doing all of those things.
About Cliff
| Home | About Cliff | Issues | News | Get Involved! Contact Cliff at 632-9964 or cliff@cliffginn.com Authorized by the Candidate and paid for by Dory Waxman, Treasurer, 192 Stevens Avenue, Portland |
| Cliff Ginn |
Democrat for State Senate 2008
| Leadership for Change |
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