This may be an off-year in the election cycle, but Mainers will be faced with at least one referendum on November’s ballot — an effort to reform the state’s campaign finance laws and stiffen penalties for those who break them. Earlier this month, a ballot question committee calling itself “Mainers for Accountable Elections” registered with […]
Tyler Harber, a 34-year-old GOP campaign operative in the D.C. area who coordinated $325,000 in spending between a super PAC and a Virginia congressional campaign in 2012, became the first person ever convicted of illegal campaign-finance coordination when he pleaded guilty on Feb. 12. That’s a milestone in campaign finance law, for sure, but it’s worth noting Harber’s […]
Maine’s one of 11 states with the most stringent financial disclosure requirements for outside political groups seeking to influence your vote, according to a campaign spending watchdog group. The National Institute on Money in State Politics gave Maine a perfect score in a report today for disclosure requirements from independent groups in state elections. It’s alongside Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, […]
Campaigns for Republican Gov. Paul LePage and Democrat Mike Michaud spent up until the day before the election to try and win over voters. The expenditures in those final days give some insight into how the campaigns hoped they would push their respective candidates over the top. Michaud’s campaign spent heavily on television ads, with most spending right […]
Candidates for governor are battling for hearts and minds. Sure. But while they fight with their words, they also do it with their money and other people’s money (which, in American politics, roughly equals words). Candidates can’t just buy votes (so the review is a bit crude), but it is possible to put a rough price tag on […]
Outside groups have spent about 3.5 times the $4 million they spent in 2010 to influence Maine’s gubernatorial and state-level elections, just one day before voters go to the polls. The spending comes as incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage and Democrat Mike Michaud are neck-and-neck in the latest polling and as Democrats fight to keep control of the state […]
I’m not a gambling man, but even if I were, I’d probably stay far away from the gubernatorial election this year, partly because it’s a game that’s too rich for my blood. In fact, it’s a game where independent Eliot Cutler, who said this week that his odds aren’t great, put another $150,000 of his own money down Tuesday […]
Wondering how to blow $1.2 million in two days? Try a whole lot of TV ads. At least, that’s how seven political action committees spent their $1.2 million over the last two days, according to the latest filings with the Maine Ethics Commission. Most of that spending — about $852,000 — went to benefit the campaign of Democrat Mike Michaud, who is […]
After going mostly silent in recent months, a pro-Cutler PAC called Campaign for Maine has received a $50,000 boost from a GOP Kansas couple. Democrats say it’s just the latest sign that Republicans are propping up Cutler’s candidacy.
A national Super PAC registered in Maine earlier this month has made its first expenditure, putting $106,000 of another PAC’s money into an online ad opposing Gov. Paul LePage. The group Progressive Kick IE Maine had the second-highest amount of independent expenditures in the gubernatorial race over the weekend, after the Maine Conservation Voters Action […]
