A postcard that was sent to many Bangor residents endorsing three city council candidates violates Maine election law.
The postcard lists Susan Deane, Philip Henry and Carolyn Fish as the “preferred candidates for Bangor City Council,” but the mailing does not list reasons why they should be elected. The other side of the postcard reads “Help us take back our city!”
But the postcard does not include information on who paid for and approved the material, which is a violation of Maine Election Law, according to Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the Maine Ethics Commission.
“Generally, a mailing like this one should state the name and address of the person that made or financed the expenditure for the mailing,” Wayne said. “Also, the mailing is supposed to say whether any candidate authorized the communication.”
Deane, Henry and Fish are three of the eight candidates running for three available positions on the nine-person Bangor City Council this year. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
The three council candidates listed on the mailer — Henry, Deane and Fish — confirmed they were never asked to approve the mailer and don’t know who created and issued it.
“I don’t know who did it, I was never asked to approve it and it’s not my style,” Fish said. “It’s nice to have support, but it needs to be done right.”
Bangor City Clerk Lisa Goodwin said she doesn’t yet know who issued the postcard, how many Bangor residents received it and how much it cost to send them.
Because of this, it’s also unclear whether the filer spent enough money on the postcards to warrant submitting a report to the Bangor city clerk’s office disclosing that information.
“If you do this independently and spend a certain amount of money on it, you’re supposed to file a report with me,” Goodwin said.
State statute requires individuals or groups to report how much they spend to support a candidate or campaign if it’s above a set amount. But the threshold for how much money must be spent to warrant that disclosure ranges from $350 to $1,500 depending on the position the candidate would fill.
The Maine Ethics Commission also doesn’t know who paid for, authorized or cooperated with the mailing, or what it cost to issue, Wayne said.
While the mailer endorses the same candidates as a local Political Action Committee, Citizens for a Safer Bangor, the PAC is not responsible for creating or issuing the mailer, according to Louie Morrison, a downtown landlord and member of the PAC.
The Citizens for a Safer Bangor PAC follows state election law by disclosing on its website that the group paid for its messaging and it was not approved by the candidates. Goodwin said the group has also filed reports with the city to disclose how much it has spent on campaign contributions.
“Whatever they’re doing, they’ve done it all legally,” Goodwin said.
