HAMPDEN, Maine — A political action committee formed by Hampden’s mayor and her husband paid for negative campaign robocalls targeted at candidates for the Town Council, according to officials.
The calls went out to Hampden residents Tuesday night.
The robocalls were paid for by the Republican Leadership and Training Fund, a PAC registered with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices on Aug. 11 by Hampden Mayor Carol Duprey and her husband, state Rep. Brian Duprey, who also is a candidate for the Regional School Unit 22 board seat in local elections Nov. 4.
While not all the calls were negative, candidates in two of Hampden’s four voting districts apparently were targeted:
“This is a friendly reminder that your Hampden property taxes are due by 7 p.m. tomorrow. Hampden property taxes have increased over 10 percent in the last two years,” said the female voice on the call, a recording obtained by the Bangor Daily News. “You can thank your Hampden Town Councilor Ivan McPike for voting to raise your taxes. It is time for a change. Stephen Wilde is running for Town Council and vows to work hard to reduce Hampden’s tax burden. Please remember to vote for Stephen Wilde on Nov. 4. Thank you. Paid for by RLTF at 207-808-0414. Not authorized by any candidate.”
A similar message went out about Councilor Jean Lawlis to residents of her voting district, according to Lawlis and McPike. Lawlis’ opponent for the District III seat is Philip “Terry” McAvoy.
McPike, who is running for re-election for his District I seat, said he learned he was the subject of a robocall after returning from Tuesday night’s forum for council candidates.
A Republican elected to the remaining year of an unexpired post last November, McPike said he did not know how the call originated until he called the number provided in a recording of the call captured on a friend’s answering machine.
“An hour and a half later my phone rang, and it was Carol Duprey,” McPike said. “She called me up and I said, ‘Hi, Carol.’ And she said, ‘What did you want?’ And I said, ‘What did you mean, what did I want?’ and she said, ‘You called me.’ And I said, ‘No, I didn’t call you.’ And she says, ‘Yes, I have it right here. You called me.’ And I said, ‘No, I didn’t call you at all, Carol.’ And she said, ‘Well, you must have pocket-dialed me.’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t pocket my phone. It’s kept in a little case. It’s impossible.’
“And then it hit me. I said, ‘Wait a minute — is [this] your number?’ I said, ‘The number that was robocalling last night and defaming me that I increased taxes? That must be you.’ She says, ‘I don’t know anything about it’ and hung up,” he said.
“Once I got to the paperwork [on the state website on PACs], out it came,” he said. “I guess I did not realize that I was in such a hated position by people. I thought I was doing a decent job for the town.”
McPike said he is not sure why he is being attacked but speculated it might have something to do with his vote to keep Hampden’s Saturday Community Connector bus runs going, something the mayor opposed.
Lawlis, a former Republican who recently registered as a Democrat, pointed out Thursday that while the town’s tax rate did increase it was not because of an increase in municipal spending but rather because of increases in Hampden’s share of the RSU 22 education budget and the county tax, neither of which the council can control.
“To say that I am responsible for this 10 percent tax increase is, as far as I’m concerned, saying that I’m responsible for the Ebola outbreak in Africa,” she said.
Lawlis said she is a reluctant candidate. She said she is running because she tried to find a candidate to replace her whom she considered suited to the job but was unable to find one.
She also said she is running a clean campaign and never accepts campaign contributions. She said she hasn’t even purchased signs, deciding instead to donate the $100 it would have cost her to the Eastern Agency on Aging, a nonprofit to which the town no longer contributes.
McPike’s opponent, Wilde, said Thursday he had nothing to do with the robocalls and was not aware they had been made.
“I don’t know who’s behind them, and it’s not authorized by me,” he said. “If it is a PAC, I would like to say thank you for holding the current council accountable and making them aware that [this year’s property tax rate is] up 82 cents [per $1,000 in valuation] over 2013.”
When asked for comment on the matter, Mayor Duprey issued the following statement:
“It is never appropriate for the Mayor of any town to use his or her official office to try to influence an election,” she wrote in an email to the Bangor Daily News. “On September 30, 2014 a Political Action Committee that I am involved with authorized and paid for a targeted phone call reminding voters that their current Hampden Town Councilor voted to raise their taxes and to encourage them to vote for someone who has pledged not to raise their taxes. The call was 100% factual. The call not once mentioned my name or my office.
“The reason I used my Political Action Committee for this call was to avoid even the slightest appearance of impropriety,” she wrote. “By writing this column, the Bangor Daily News is in effect doing what I was trying to avoid, making a public endorsement of one candidate over another. I make no apologies for wanting like minded fiscally conservative candidates on the Hampden Town Council because property taxes have gone up over 10% in the last 2 years and it is time for a change.
“This is politics and if the candidates who I have called out for increasing taxes got their feelings hurt, well maybe they need to look for a different profession,” she concluded.
When asked whether her support for McPike’s opponent had anything to do with the Saturday bus vote, Duprey said she had no further comment, adding, “Thank you so much for the free advertising, this column will greatly help my chances of getting a more fiscally conservative council.”
According to the state’s website, the PAC’s first campaign finance report, filed Sept. 30, shows $1,025 in receipts from Re-Elect Brian Duprey Campaign; PDQ Doors, a Hampden company owned by former Hampden state Sen. Debra Plowman’s husband; and Respect Maine, a PAC registered by Sen. Andre Cushing, a Hampden Republican.
It also showed three $50 contributions to McAvoy’s and Wilde’s Town Council campaigns and to Scarborough state Rep. Amy Volk’s state Senate campaign.
Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said the mayor did not violate any state law in making the robocalls through the PAC.
“If she’s not running against [McPike or Lawlis], she can do it,” he said.
When asked whether the move was ethical, however, Dunlap said, “It’s slimy.” He compared the Hampden robocall situation to the state Legislature’s Committee of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, which recently grappled with the issue of hunting mother bears with cubs.
“Even if the law is silent on hunting mother bears, nobody does it,” he said.
Town Manager Susan Lessard said the robocalls caused some confusion at the town office on Wednesday and prompted the staff to post a disclaimer on the town’s website.
“I do not have a number but [Wednesday] was tax due date and many, many residents came to the counter or called to check and see if their taxes were paid because they had received a call saying that taxes were due the next day, and they had already paid them and they assumed that the town had called because it talked about taxes being due,” Lessard said Thursday.
“Many older residents were confused and concerned that we had not received their payments,” she said. “Other residents were confused as to why local Town Council races in Hampden were generating robocalls, which they associated with the party-affiliated elections at the state and federal levels. Suffice it to say that it added a less-than-positive layer to one of the busiest days of the municipal year, and answering questions about the calls fell to those of us in this office — not to those who generated the calls.”
At the request of Councilor Thomas Brann, the robocalls will be discussed during the council’s next meeting, set for 7 p.m. Monday at the Hampden Municipal Building, according to the agenda posted on the town’s website.
Brann also has requested a vote of confidence regarding Duprey’s performance as mayor.