AUGUSTA — The state ethics commission voted unanimously Wednesday to accept a consent agreement proposed by the agency’s staff that would levy a fine of $15,000 against two political action committees that supported a Lewiston casino bid in 2011.

The action of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices marks the second-largest penalty the agency has ever assessed against a political action committee.

The sanction that was negotiated among all parties through the commission’s staff would require the officers of the two PACs — Green Jobs for ME and the People of Lewiston and Auburn Committee — as well as other individuals and businesses associated with the campaigns, to pay the penalty.

The action sprang from an agency staff recommendation that found the PACs misstated the sources of the contributions to the campaigns, which caused their filings to be late.

According to the language, by signing the agreement, the PACs’ principals are not admitting to any fault or wrongdoing.

The final action stems from a complaint filed with the commission in December 2011 by CasinosNo! of Portland, a group that opposed the two PACs and the Lewiston casino ballot measure. The Portland group was seeking formal investigation into the accuracy of the two PACs’ campaign finance reporting.

The commission voted in January 2012 to launch a formal investigation that included a hearing on Dec. 5.

Following the hearing, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices decided to expand the investigation to include a trio of out-of-state businessmen who funded the campaign and hired a political consultant in Virginia to produce campaign material and buy advertising.

Those men, Dwayne Graham, Ryan Hill and Scott Nash, partnered in a company formed in Maine. They intended to own and operate the Lewiston casino had it been approved by voters.

That company, M Five, paid a Virginia-based company operated by Gov. Paul LePage’s former adviser, Brent Littlefield, to perform a host of campaign services. Littlefield had pressed for the formation of the second PAC, the People of Lewiston and Auburn Committee. 

Hill and Nash are based in Maryland; Graham is in Georgia. All three have ties to gambling or slot-machine manufacturing industries.

At its Dec. 5 hearing, the commission took testimony from Stavros Mendros and Peter Robinson, both of Lewiston, who worked on the campaign and helped form a pair of PACs intended to finance it. Robinson served as treasurer of the first PAC, Green Jobs for ME.

Under oath, Mendros testified in December about the creation of a new PAC that had new officers. Former Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert was listed in the registration form as a principal officer of the People of Lewiston and Auburn Committee. Former Lewiston police Chief Bill Welch was listed as the PAC’s treasurer.

Welch, however, never filed the required campaign finance reports, so Robinson did that, even though he wasn’t an official on the PAC. That PAC never raised any money, according to the state agency that oversees campaign finances.

Mendros and Robinson said they relied on information provided to them by others, including Hill, Nash and Graham about where the money for the PAC came from.

Graham told the Sun Journal in a 2011 phone interview that he was helping to fund the campaign, but the commission staff’s investigation revealed he did not contribute money to the effort.

In its investigation, the commission’s staff instead found, based on subpoenaed bank records, that a man from Oklahoma, Chase Burns, and companies owned by Nash and Hill had funded the effort, largely with money that flowed through M Five.

But those funds were not paid directly to the People of Lewiston and Auburn Committee, as reported by Robinson.

Burns, who pumped $130,000 into the campaign in its waning weeks, was linked to a gambling scandal in June involving a yacht in Florida.

While Hill appeared before the commission via closed-circuit television link to testify last week, Nash, Graham and Burns were not put under oath in the case.

Mendros said Wednesday that he viewed the agreement as an “absolute vindication. This whole wild goose chase that (CasinosNo! spokesman) Dennis Bailey created really went nowhere. Nothing was proven because nothing wrong was done.”

James Tracey, deputy treasurer of Great Falls Rec and Redevelopment, for whom Mendros works and Robinson serves as treasurer and partner, echoed Wednesday in a written statement the remarks given by Mendros. Tracey also said that none of the $15,000 fine was paid by Great Falls employees nor anyone listed on any of the PACs associated with the casino campaign. The fine was paid entirely by out-of-state entities, he said.  

State Politics Editor Scott Thistle contributed to this report.

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