AUGUSTA, Maine — A Maine ethics board hit a conservative lobbyist with a nominal fine of $50 on Wednesday for violating a little-known law requiring lobbyists to identify the group they’re working for when testifying before a legislative committee.
The case of Joel Allumbaugh is the first time the Maine Ethics Commission has examined a 2006 statute requiring lobbyists to identify the group they’re representing when testifying before a legislative committee.
Two Democratic legislators complained to the commission in September, saying Allumbaugh testified in favor of a bill in May without mentioning he was a lobbyist for the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative think tank in Florida that backed the bill.
That group paid Allumbaugh more than $4,800 to lobby on that bill, which is being considered by legislators and aims to reduce health care costs by providing patients more information on costs of services, for the group in 2015, according to commission records.
Allumbaugh is a well-known conservative voice on health insurance in Maine who served as health care policy director for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a conservative advocacy group.
There are links between that group and the Foundation for Governmental Accountability, which is run by Tarren Bragdon, a former Republican state legislator from Bangor who helmed the Maine group from 2008 to 2011 and co-chaired Gov. Paul LePage’s transition team after his 2010 election.
However, Sen. Geoff Gratwick, D-Bangor, and Rep. Ralph Tucker, D-Brunswick, members of the Legislature’s Insurance Committee who made the complaint, said they weren’t aware of Allumbaugh’s ties to the Florida group until months after he lobbied the committee on the bill.
Tucker called Allumbaugh the “basic mover, expert and explainer of this specific legislation” and he said if legislators knew of his association with the group from the outset, it could have affected the bill.
But while Allumbaugh admitted an “oversight” by not disclosing that in testimony, he said he discussed it with stakeholders during the process and had no incentive to hide it, telling the commission on Wednesday that he’s “not a rule breaker” and didn’t know the law.
“I understand where they’re coming from on that perspective,” he said. “But if you’re going to have that expectation of citizens who put the time in to spend time in the Legislature, then get that information out.”
Jonathan Wayne, the commission’s executive director, told the commission there is “sufficient evidence” Allumbaugh broke that law. However, he didn’t recommend any specific kind of penalty, calling it a statute that his office has “never really been called on to investigate.”
Commissioner Richard Nass, a former Republican legislator, said the complaint “smells of gotcha politics,” but he went along with a unanimous committee vote on the fine after other commission members proposed a low-end fine.