Her father, Charles Butler, was a West Point graduate who served in the Korean War, rose to the rank of Lt.
[2] After a year and a half as a Democratic member of the legislature, she authored the book Setting the Maine Course: We Can Get There from Here, in which she advocated a variety of new policies, including eliminating both the corporate income tax and economic development tax breaks, dedicating the sales tax to funding public education, having the state pay for teacher pay, increasing environmental regulation, decreasing all other regulation, establishing a "rainy day fund" to cover budget deficits, and fighting urban sprawl.
On January 3, 2006, Merrill announced that she was changing her voter registration to "unenrolled," the Maine equivalent of Independent, and leaving the Democratic caucus.
A few days later, in a speech delivered in front of the Charles Butler Army Reserve Center in Saco, Maine, Merrill announced that she would be an Independent candidate for Governor.
[3] Green candidate LaMarche challenged these expenditures as not truly “independent” in a case before the Maine Supreme Court heard on October 31, 2006.
In a related claim, Barbara Merrill challenged the "independence" of consultant services benefiting the Baldacci campaign before the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics in a hearing held on October 31, 2006.
The Chair, Michael Friedman, Esq, the only non-party member of the Commission, spoke for the majority when he found that “the conflict of interest issue did not have merit.” He said “everyone also seems to agree that the Merrill campaign did not violate any law or rule.” Friedman found the Philip Merrill was a qualified professional and was paid a reasonable sum for his services.
Beginning in 2012 Merrill was named the Vice President of Public Policy for ANCOR (American Network of Community Options and Resources).
ANCOR is a national, nonprofit trade association representing more than 800 private community providers of services to people with disabilities.