BRUNSWICK, Maine — The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices voted unanimously Thursday to penalize a Brunswick man who ran as a Republican candidate for a Maine House of Representatives district in 2014.
The commission found that Republican Byron Watson commingled Clean Election funds with money in a personal account and that he failed to keep adequate records of transactions, in violation of the Maine Clean Election Act, during his 2014 run for the House.
However, several commission members agreed there was no evidence of any misuse of public campaign funds, according to Executive Director Jonathan Wayne.
“I feel vindicated that the commissioners went out of their way to say I did not misuse any funds,” Watson said in an email to The Times Record on Friday.
Watson’s two fines total $400.
Wayne said Watson did file campaign finance reports on time that included detailed information about how he spent money, and most expenditures were supported by partial documentation.
“In many cases, but not all cases, documentation was available in the record that showed payment was made, but the documents were not complete. The biggest point is the commission tries to be proportionate in its penalties, and this seemed to be the appropriate amount,” said Wayne.
Watson was audited by the commission after the commission learned that Watson had made campaign purchases from his personal account.
According to Wayne, in 2014, Watson opened a campaign account at a credit union where he also had a personal account. Although he made two deposits of Clean Election funds into that campaign account, he did not make any campaign expenditures from that account.
According to Wayne, Watson made 13 transfers totaling $3,022 in Clean Election funds to his personal account, and between May 30 and Nov. 3, 2014, he withdrew a total of $2,183 in cash from the campaign account.
Watson received a little more than $5,000 in Clean Election funds. He returned $34.96, according to Wayne.
Under Maine’s Clean Election Act, candidates must submit reports of expenditures and equipment purchases. Watson was required to preserve records for three years. However, Watson told the auditor he “went ahead and shredded all materials related to the 2014 campaign” in January.
In an interview with The Times Record last week, Watson admitted he made a mistake in shredding his campaign material, but he also noted that his Maine Clean Election funds were all “legitimately spent” on his campaign.
Watson, a former Brunswick School Board chairman, won the Republican primary for House District 51 in 2014. He took West Bath and Brunswick in the general election, but Harpswell voters tipped the scales in favor of his opponent, Democrat Joyce McCreight.
“Every election year, roughly two to three candidates don’t get the message that they have to segregate their Maine Clean Election Act funds from their personal funds,” said Wayne. “Most candidates understand the restrictions in the program, but a few miss that.”
Wayne said that it is not uncommon that a busy candidate or volunteer would neglect to keep an invoice. However, the unusual number missing records in Watson’s campaign caused greater scrutiny, said Wayne.