Bangor’s Board of Ethics ruled Wednesday that a city councilor did not violate ethics rules by taking out and circulating election nomination papers on another councilor’s behalf.
Councilor Wayne Mallar raised the ethics complaint against former City Councilor Dan Tremble in September. Tremble no longer serves on the Bangor City Council after leaving the position following the Nov. 4 election.
The board’s deliberations were part of a formal process to address multiple concerns city councilors raised about each other during a chaotic period of infighting earlier this year.
Mallar’s request for an ethics investigation referred to Tremble’s circulation of nomination papers for former City Council Chair Cara Pelletier.
“It is alleged that Councilor Tremble contacted the City Clerk’s Office and subsequently took
possession of official nomination papers, acting as an agent for Councilor Pelletier’s candidacy,” the council order launching the investigation stated.
Tremble confirmed this at Wednesday’s meeting, saying he assisted Pelletier “just as a friend” by picking up nomination papers for her and collecting signatures at his store, the Fairmount Market, because she was out of town.
Pelletier briefly planned to run for reelection this year but ultimately withdrew before she resigned from the council ahead of her term’s end, citing “personal attacks.”
Mallar’s request pointed to parts of the city’s code of ethics regarding representing third party interests before city agencies, nonpartisanship and political activities.
During the public hearing Wednesday, Hilari Simmons said Tremble used “his position as a councilor to advocate for another person to be on the ballot,” which she said created “an unfair playing field.”
Simmons is Mallar’s daughter. Sonia Mallar, Wayne Mallar’s wife, also spoke during the public hearing.
The city’s ethics code states that city councilors “shall refrain from active participation in the election campaign of any particular candidate, whenever they are identified with, or closely associated with, their roles as Bangor public officials or appointees.”
It also states that city councilors should not “participate in any political activity which would be in conflict or incompatible with the performance of their official functions and duties for the City” or use their position as a councilor to influence an election.
However, the code adds that “Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit any City employee, City Councilor, board member or commission member from participating in the political process in their private capacity as candidates for elected office or as private citizens.”
Board member Stephen Brough pointed to the latter section as evidence that a councilor may collect signatures for another councilor’s nomination petition if they are acting as a private citizen.
Tremble said at the meeting that he did not tell people he was acting in his capacity as a city councilor when asking them to sign the petition.
Board members also reviewed written statements from Pelletier and City Clerk Lisa Goodwin but did not read them aloud at the meeting.
The board members present — chair Shane Leonard, Michael Maberry, James McGee and Brough — voted unanimously that Tremble did not violate any of the parts of the ethics code named in the complaint.
“I quite honestly do not see an actual violation here,” Brough said. “We have to go with the wording that’s in the code of ethics, whether we like the way the wording is or not.”
Tremble told the Bangor Daily News he was happy with the board’s ruling, saying, “The board looked at the facts and the ordinance and made the correct decision.”
Discussion of the final outstanding ethics complaint, raised by Tremble regarding Mallar’s behavior at an August Historic Preservation Commission meeting, was tabled because the board is waiting for more information from the city that may be used as evidence. Members have not yet set a new date for that discussion.