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Please
see attached (with the text only below), the signed letter I
have submitted to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and
Election Practices (Maine Ethics Commission) today.
I am requesting an investigation of
the Christian Civic League of Maine’s Christian Action League (doing
business as “Marriage Matters in Maine”) political action committee
(PAC).
My request is
specifically regarding an e-mail alert/call to action sent November 4,
2011 (also below), which requested support of then Maine House District
24 Republican candidate (now State Representative) Raymond Wallace.
Please contact me for any further
on-the-record comment on this request. Attached are images I own that
can be used for publication with my express permission.
December 21, 2011
State of Maine
Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices
Attn: Jonathan Wayne, Executive Director
135 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0135
Dear Mr. Wayne,
I request the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election
Practices begin an investigation regarding the Christian Civic League of
Maine’s political action committee (PAC), the Christian Action League
(doing business as “Marriage Matters in Maine”).
Specifically, the organization sent an e-mail alert on November 4,
2011, ahead of the Special Election in Maine House District 24 last
month. The e-mail, sent to hundreds of Maine residents and the media,
stated the following:
Unashamed Christian candidate urgently needs your helpRay Wallace, an unashamed Christian candidate running for House District 24, needs your help to distribute campaign literature Saturday morning.The liberals are aggressively going after him and this seat which serves the people of Athens, Charleston, Dexter, Garland, Harmony and Ripley. It would be a great blessing if other Christians will rise to help.Date: Saturday, November 5th, 9 amMeeting Location: Noah’s LandingRoute 7/16 Russ StreetDexter, ME 04930-1509Christian Civic League Board member Matt Boucher will be there lending a hand. If you have questions, please contact Shawn Roderick at shawnroderick@hotmail.comPlease keep Ray in your prayers.
The e-mail text was subsequently reported upon at: http://ericrussell.bangordailynews.com/2011/11/05/faith-and-the-race-for-maines-house-district-24-seat/ and http://www.dirigoblue.com/2011/11/cclm-playing-the-victim-card-in-the-house-district-24-special-election/
There is no recording of this in-kind contribution of time, effort
and resources by the Christian Civic League of Maine’s PAC, nor of any
receipt of this in-kind contribution by the Republican candidate,
Raymond Wallace, on his recently filed 11 Day Pre-Election HD 24 Report.
The inclusion of “…needs your help…” twice in the e-mail alert
specifies that this is a call to action and endorsement of the
candidate, which should necessitate inclusion of the e-mail alert/call
to action on the organization’s PAC report and the candidate’s filings
(if the candidate was aware of the e-mail alert/call to action).
The organization, by definition, spent money to promote the
candidate (even if only a nominal amount) and used paid staff time to
promote the candidate.
The inclusion of this paragraph: “Christian Civic League Board
member Matt Boucher will be there lending a hand. If you have questions,
please contact Shawn Roderick at shawnroderick@hotmail.com” would indicate coordination between the organization (and thus, the PAC) and the candidate’s campaign.
The Commission should inquire with the candidate as to whether he
knew of the event and who paid for the material that was present at the
event. I have no knowledge of whether this was the case, and I did not
participate in the event. I was on the distribution list for the e-mail
alert/call to action and did receive it by e-mail.
Please contact me with any questions you may have of me regarding
this request for the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and
Election Practices to begin an investigation. Thank you in advance for
your assistance on this matter.
Sincerely,
1 comment:
As I told Jonathan Wayne yesterday, my overriding concern is that there is no recorded involvement with the Wallace campaign/election by the Christian Civic League of Maine, through its Christian Action League (the PAC's formal title with the Maine Secretary of State and IRS - it's actually a non-profit corporation itself, established in 1989) PAC, which is 'doing business as' Marriage Matters in Maine (and formerly was 'doing business as' Gambling with the Way Life Should Be).
Clearly the PAC and organization were involved in the Wallace campaign/election, as is evidenced by the widely distributed e-mail they sent just prior to the election. Perhaps, too, the event described in the e-mail was involvement by the organization and PAC, due to its Board member, Boucher, being involved.
By not filing a 42 Day Post-Election PAC report (to at least note a in-kind contribution to the campaign), the organization and PAC are in technical violation of PAC reporting requirements. And their involvement with the campaign may not end there, for all we know.
Thus, the Ethics Commission staff should investigate and ask the organization, the candidate and campaign staff as to what exent their involvement was.
At a bare minimum, it is sloppy PAC reporting and deserving of a stiff fine by the Commission. If an organization is to have a PAC, they must to be responsible and competent enough to administrate it within the structure of the rules or to pay the penalities for ignorance and incompetence. It actually could be much worse (if the involvement is more significant than just this e-mail alert/call to action/endorsement), but we do not know that as yet.
And it also goes to the point that non-transparency and deception are becoming the hallmarks of this particular organization. They have recently filed their federal 2010 IRS 990 form late for the Christian Civic League of Maine, have not (to my knowledge) filed their federal 2010 IRS 990 form at all for the 501c3 Christian Education League, and now are not accurately filing their PAC reports.
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