AUGUSTA – With a June 28 deadline fast approaching, proponents of a referendum to overturn a $450 million borrowing component in the budget will throw their petition effort into high gear for the next three weeks in order to collect the necessary 50,519 signatures.

Speaking to reporters Thursday at the State House Hall of Flags, supporters of the people’s veto movement said they already have between 10,000 and 15,000 signatures. David F. Emery, state director of the Don’t Mortgage ME people’s veto political action committee, said steady rains have hampered signature-gathering efforts.

But he added signature collectors would be out in force over the weekend with an even more intense effort beginning the first two weeks in June when many Maine communities will hold town meetings.

“It’s going to be a major effort,” Emery said. “Fifty thousand signatures is a huge effort, particularly when complicated by the rain. We do intend to have volunteers at all municipal elections because we know those will all be good signatures from voters in a central location.”

Emery also took the opportunity to sound off to majority Democrats in the Legislature and members of the Baldacci administration who are perceived as collective opponents of the people’s veto effort. Specifically, Emery charged that in the past month, Democratic lawmakers have tried to interfere with signature gathering efforts on private property and that ranking officials in state departments have used scare tactics to discourage state employees and municipal officials from supporting the referendum.

He also singled out an e-mail from the Maine State Employees Association that he said mischaracterized the facts associated with the people’s veto effort. The e-mail asked members not to sign the petitions and convince friends and family to do likewise.

“Taken altogether, these are acts of intimidation and misinformation intended to prevent citizens from fulfilling a public process set down in the Maine Constitution,” Emery said.

In March, minority Republicans in the House and Senate were unable to pass an amendment striking the $450 million borrowing provision from the subsequently enacted Part 1, or current services budget. Republicans argued the state could not afford to borrow such a large amount of money for current costs without making some effort to trim government expenses through the elimination of state employee positions and program reductions.

Democrats maintained the budget was “responsible” and that it reduced the state retirement system debt while providing $250 million in property tax relief through increased education funding without imposing new broad-based taxes. The majority party also claimed Republicans had no alternative budget plan and instead, helped launch the people’s veto process to win at the ballot box what they lacked the votes to achieve in the Legislature.