Mary G. Adams (born 1938) is an American tax activist from

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. Adams successfully led the effort to repeal Maine's statewide property tax in the mid-1970s. She led a failed 2006 referendum effort to enact a Taxpayer Bill of Rights in the state. In the mid-1970s, Adams challenged Maine's educational establishment and through her grass roots "Freedom Fighters" successfully repealed Maine's statewide property tax and prevented the state from reducing local control of public schools in Maine. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, Adams unsuccessfully ran for

Governor of Maine The governor of Maine is the head of government of the U.S. state of Maine. Before Maine was admitted to the Union in 1820, Maine was part of Massachusetts and the governor of Massachusetts was chief executive. The current governor of Maine is J ...

. She sought the

Maine Republican Party The Maine Republican Party is an affiliate of the United States Republican Party in Maine. It was founded in Strong, Maine, on August 7, 1854. The party currently does not control the governor's office or either chamber of the Maine Legislature ...

's nomination, finishing in 6th of 8 places.

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Con ...

won the nomination. In both 1996 and 1997, Adams and her "Common Sense" grass roots effort defeated a citizens' initiative to expand the regulation of private forest land in Maine. Adams was appointed to the Maine State Board of Education by Maine's first independent Governor,

James B. Longley James Bernard Longley Sr. (April 22, 1924 – August 16, 1980) was an American politician. He served as the 69th Governor of Maine from 1975 to 1979, and was the first Independent to hold the office. In 1949, he married the former Helen Angela W ...

following the repeal of the statewide property tax.

References

External links

"Adams Report" website
Source of most of this article 1938 births Living people People from Dover-Foxcroft, Maine Women in Maine politics {{US-activist-stub