Politics
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Lamps flickered off and on around a dinner table decorated with autumn-themed placemats and mock Maine electricity bills approaching $1,500.
On another table sat two massive mason jars, one stuffed with fake cash labeled as Democratic gubernatorial nominee Hannah Pingree’s “money from Augusta lobbyists” and the other empty to represent lobbyist donations to her Republican gubernatorial opponent, Bobby Charles.
The mix of tongue-in-cheek humor and unfounded allegations of nefarious self-dealing and conflicts of interest was a hallmark of the makeshift museum exhibit Charles staged in a Bangor storefront on Tuesday morning. That humor has been a fixture of his social media- and AI-driven campaign.
“Corruption: The Exhibit” marked Charles’ latest attempt to shake up a race in which he’s trailed Pingree in every poll and has received little outside help from national Republicans, after a contentious primary that drew sharp criticism from within his own party.
“Typically where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” he told reporters.
After sitting alone to watch a bit of an ad-style documentary on a TV linking Pingree and outgoing Gov. Janet Mills to the state’s economic struggles and admiring anti-Pingree charts and posters alongside cardboard cutouts of Pingree and Mills, Charles repeated claims he leveled during the last two televised debates.
They center on an $840,000 forgivable loan from MaineHousing to North Haven Sustainable Housing, a nonprofit on Pingree’s home island now led by her husband, filmmaker Jason Mann. He made the case that the wealthy island did not need such an influx of funds when other islands and communities were struggling.
Charles has also claimed without evidence that Pingree’s former office gave almost $38,000 to the Island Institute, a Rockland-based nonprofit, for a climate film produced by Mann. But the candidate has acknowledged that public records have not tied either of the grants to Mann.
He said Tuesday that he was not aware of any Republican lawmakers or the bipartisan state Ethics Commission ever previously digging into his claims. He argued the Democratic-led administration and Legislature have shown no interest in investigating corruption.
Leaning into his background as a federal investigator, Charles pushed for the release of records and communications to verify denials from Pingree, who during a debate last week called the allegations “made up.”
The Democrat has said she was not involved in the $840,000 award. It came as part of a MaineHousing initiative to finance new or rehabilitated rentals in Maine’s island communities. Pingree chaired the North Haven Sustainable Housing board in a volunteer capacity and received no financial compensation for the role, her campaign said.
The Island Institute said Charles’ claims about the $38,000 grant were false, saying it was used to enroll three other island communities in a state climate program.
“Restricted grants from foundations funded Island Institute’s Climate of Change film produced in 2022 as well as other films in the series,” Sue McKechnie, the group’s chief marketing and philanthropy officer, said Tuesday. “No federal or state dollars were used by Island Institute for this film series.”
The Pingree campaign blasted the claims and the exhibit as misinformation from the Republican’s flailing bid, using a statement to continue linking Charles with President Donald Trump.
“This is a desperate stunt built on baseless allegations that the media, state government and Hannah Pingree have already knocked down,” spokesperson Mary-Erin Casale said. “It’s also straight out of the Trump playbook: invent smears about your opponent so no one asks about your own record.”
Pingree’s campaign, as well as independent state Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford, has described Charles as a “career lobbyist” despite his pledges to be bought by no one.
In Bangor, an interactive kids station featured puzzles crafted out of documents signed by Pingree when she was state House speaker, blank coloring sheets painting Pingree and Mills as “the faces of Maine’s corruption,” and bowls of candy under photos of the candidates: Smarties for Charles and Dum-Dums for Pingree.
Asked about accusations from Democrats that he’s chosen to go negative in the final stretch instead of focusing on issues, Charles launched into priorities he’d address if elected, including tax relief, education overhauls, cutting energy costs and targeting fraud, and improved substance abuse and rehabilitation programs. But he turned back to “Pingree’s corruption.”
“When we open the books on [Pingree’s] make-believe office, we’re going to find there’s a lot more there,” he said.