AUGUSTA, Maine — A Democratic state senator asked Senate President Mike Thibodeau on Monday to convene a panel to investigate “potential fraud and misuse” of legislative travel reimbursements by two Republican senators.
The request from Sen. John Patrick, D-Rumford, came 15 days before the Nov. 8 election in which Democrats are mounting a strong challenge to take back the Maine Senate majority.
Thibodeau, a Republican from Winterport, who is one of their main targets, shot it down in a statement, noting the timing of the complaint. He said if Democrats want to change the law around reimbursements, he’d be “happy to have that discussion” in next year’s legislative session.
Patrick’s letter to Thibodeau asked him to convene a Senate ethics committee to investigate Assistant Senate Majority Leader Andre Cushing, R-Newport, and Sen. Ronald Collins, R-Wells, and to add safeguards to the legislative reimbursement program, which pays for legislators’ travel and stays in Augusta during the legislative session and approved out-of-state trips.
“When it deals with fraud with taxpayers’ money, there’s no right time and no wrong time,” Patrick said when questioned about the timing at a Monday news conference in Augusta. “Fraud is fraud, and when there’s potential fraud, we should just look at it.”
Cushing charged more than $3,100 in travel from 2014 and 2015 to his political action committee, but the Bangor Daily News reported last week that it was reimbursed to him with taxpayer money. Last week, Cushing blamed the discrepancy on bookkeeper’s errors and said he planned to reconcile personal and political accounts.
Earlier this month, Cushing’s sister filed a civil lawsuit saying he and other family members misused more than $1 million in funds from family businesses and an ethics complaint saying some of that money was used for political purposes. He denied wrongdoing in the lawsuit, and the ethics complaint will be heard after the election.
Similarly, records show that Collins’ campaign pre-paid $2,400 in Augusta hotel costs in 2014 that were also reimbursed by taxpayers. In a statement, Senate Republicans noted that state law allows leftover campaign funds to pay for “any expense incurred in the proper performance of the office to which the candidate is elected.”
These expenses have fallen into a dark spot in Maine’s campaign finance system. While campaign committees and political action committees are regulated by the Maine Ethics Commission, legislative reimbursements are governed by the Legislative Council and aren’t published online.
Thibodeau, running for a fourth and final term against Democrat Jonathan Fulford of Monroe, who took him to a recount in 2014, said in a statement that Democrats “could have reached out to me at any time” on the issue, but they “have had nothing to say about it” until election season.
“If Democrats want to talk about changing existing law regarding state legislative reimbursements in the next session, I would be happy to have that discussion,” Thibodeau said.