Ethics Commission Will Not Investigate Whether GOP Worked With Attack Website
The Maine Ethics Commission voted not to investigate whether the Maine Republican Party violated campaign finance laws for an attack website operated in secret by its executive director.
The vote was in response to a complaint by the Maine Democratic Party, which asked the commission to explore whether Savage was operating as an agent of the party, a determination that could trigger a violation of campaign finance and disclosure laws, while operating the Maine Examiner website.
Savage’s involvement with the Maine Examiner had remained a secret until the ethics complaint, which was spurred in part by the discovery of metadata, or digital fingerprints, on photos he posted to the website.
Savage’s attorney argues that the GOP activist operated the site on his own time. The Maine GOP has said it had no knowledge of the website and did not fund it.
Read more: http://mainepublic.org/post/ethics-commission-will-not-investigate-whether-gop-worked-attack-website-0