AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Ethics Commission will hold hearings Friday on two competing ethics complaints filed Tuesday by the Maine Democratic and Republican parties.
The commission is bound by law to meet within two business days of receiving a complaint, unless the involved parties agree to a delay. That statutory clock started ticking Tuesday — just four weeks before Election Day.
Jonathan Wayne, who heads up the ethics commission, said the hearing will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday at the commission’s headquarters in Augusta.
The Maine Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint against Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s campaign on Tuesday afternoon, alleging that he’s used taxpayer-funded resources for his re-election.
The allegations include that the LePage campaign used phones and staff time in his State House office, and a state-owned black sport utility vehicle that Democrats have photographed carrying campaign spokesman Alex Willette.
A few hours later, the Maine Republican Party filed its own complaint against the Democrats, alleging that U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud used money collected in his federal capacity last year in support of his campaign against LePage.
Both parties have said that each other’s complaints are ridiculous and without merit.
“This is a pretty transparent attempt to muddy the waters when they’ve gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar,” said Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant. “Any complaint you issue hours after a complaint against you has to be viewed with some suspicion.”
Grant’s counterpart in the Republican party, Jason Savage, said Michaud was using his federal campaign coffers as a “slush fund” for his gubernatorial campaign.
“Mainers deserve answers on Rep. Michaud’s shady campaign slush fund and nobody should be above the law,” he said in a written statement.
