AUGUSTA, Maine — The Midcoast lawmaker indicted in December for alleged signature fraud around Maine’s taxpayer-funded campaign program was removed from his only legislative committee on Wednesday.
Rep. Clinton Collamore, D-Waldoboro, was removed from the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee on Wednesday by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, according to a notice that was attached to the House calendar when lawmakers convened on Thursday.
It was the first official step that Talbot Ross has taken to discipline Collamore since his indictment was made public last week. She called on him to resign that same day, though she has not said whether she would take steps to oust him if he continues to hold onto his seat. Removing him would take a two-thirds vote of the House.
Collamore, a first-year lawmaker elected in 2022, was indicted in Lincoln County on 20 felony forgery charges and several misdemeanors after an investigation by Maine’s campaign finance regulator found he submitted more than 30 fraudulent signatures on forms used to qualify the Clean Election program.
The lawmaker has not appeared at the State House for floor votes or committee work since his indictment was made public last week. Neither Collamore nor his lawyer, Richard Elliott of Boothbay Harbor, immediately returned calls seeking comment on Thursday.