Portland mayoral race: Following the Money

My home city of Portland, Maine is having its first mayoral election in 88 years, the result of a successful ballot referendum and popular disgust with the city council's handling of a proposed development on the Maine State Pier. Fifteen candidates are on the ranked-choice ballot, making it especially difficult for voters to become educated about the would-be mayors.

As regular readers know, I'm a big proponent of following the money in politics, but under current law, mayoral candidates didn't have to file campaign finance disclosures until last Friday evening -- just eleven days before voters go to the polls. (An effort to change this law for future elections has been stalled in Augusta.) Media coverage of the content of those reports has, to date, been focused merely on how much money each candidate raised, rather than from whom these resources came.

My piece in the new Portland Phoenix delves into the leading candidates' donor pools, identifying interest clusters, putting faces to some of the faceless Limited Liability Companies that donated to some candidates, and even ensuring the disclosure of the contributors to a Political Action Committee that thought it wouldn't be revealing such until months after the election. Curious how Ethan Strimling raised such a staggering sum of money? (Hint: Bob Baldacci) Want to know who Jed Rathband's secret admirers are? Curious who backs Nick Mavodones and Michael Brennan? Read on for answers.

One positive development to report: Until recently, my website was the only place you could find electronic copies of Portland campaign finance disclosures. as the city was unwilling or unable to post them itself. That's now changed. Not only is the City Clerk's office posting new returns online within days of them being filed, they've also posted all previous ones back to 2005. (Unfortunately, cities across Maine destroyed older campaign reports on the faulty advice of a mid-level bureaucrat at the Maine State Archives, a story I broke in 2009, which resulted in the the relevant law being changed.) Score another point for transparency.

Finally, if you haven't already, check out the detailed results of the Down East/MPRC poll on the mayoral race. Don't miss the projected round-by-round elimination section in the back. Will be interesting to see how accurate it proves to be.

Maine political items: Nov. 23 edition

A few items of note for those with an obsessive interest in Maine politics:

In campaign, Baldacci did as asked: I recently interviewed Governor John Baldacci for an upcoming Down East story on the election. One tangential item from our talk that didn't make it into the piece: why did he have such a low profile in the recent election (in which would-be Democratic Libby Mitchell came in a distant third)?

"I certainly did whatever I was asked to do and wanted to be helpful," Baldacci said. "I supported and voted for Libby Mitchell and got involved in the land bond conservation effort while I was trying to help with the coordinated campaign efforts and the like."


Maine Dem Honcho Steps Down: Arden Manning, who headed the Maine Democratic Party's less than triumphant 2010 campaign efforts, will step down on Dec. 31 to pursue graduate studies in France, the Press Herald reported in an easy-to-miss brief yesterday. Manning took considerable heat for a series of negative campaign ads containing falsehoods and Sinophobic messaging.


Opponent of Portland elected mayor considering bid to become elected mayor: Cheryl Leeman, the sole Republican on the Portland city council, spearheaded the effort to stop Portlanders from instituting an elected mayor. But towards the end of this Press Herald piece she notes she hasn't ruled out running for the new post, which voters approved earlier this month. (Some background on the elected mayor story here.)

In a possibly related move, she declined her fellow councilor's offer to serve as the last appointed mayor in lieu of letting Democrat Nick Mavodones occupy the post. One thing is for certain: the Democratic majority on the council would rather have a Republican mayor than allow their true rivals, the Greens, to occupy the ceremonial position.


Following the money imperiled again? Last year I broke the story that Maine city clerks had destroyed most of the campaign finance disclosures (for city offices) in their possession, on the bad advice of a poorly-informed state bureaucrat. As a result, it is now impossible to fully reconstruct who past and present city politicos owe their careers to, including, say, Governor-elect (and former Waterville mayor) Paul LePage.

As a result of my reporting, the legislature ultimately amended the appropriate law to correct the problem. As of August 2011, the state Ethics commission is to take over the task of gathering and permanently archiving disclosures for Maine municipal offices for towns with a population of 15,000 or greater), just as they already do for state elections candidates.

But this morning, the Ethics commission held a conference call with the city clerks to tell them why they've decided to ask the new legislature to delay or reverse the change in responsibility, claiming it will be too hard or costly to accomplish by next August. If this happens, the only online source of campaign disclosures for Maine's largest city will remain my own webpage, which costs me $12 a month and takes a few hours of my time each election cycle.

[Update, 11/23/10, 16:05: I had an opportunity to speak with Ethics commission executive director Jonathan Wayne and learned that (a) the central problem has to do with adapting their database to allow municipal candidates to file electronically; (b) the discussion with clerks suggested a sort-of no frills alternative -- a database of scanned PDFs, for instance -- would probably satisfy everyone, without imposing undue costs and technical challenges. Mr. Wayne said the commission will be considering the issue over the next couple of weeks.]

I'll be following this story, of course. But for those interested in the whole saga, here's a list of appropriate posts.

Maine: Fresh campaign reports for Portland city races

As the city can't manage to post campaign finance reports online until years after the fact, I've taken it upon myself to do so, and to at least skim them before each election. It's a tiresome task, so I do hope someone compels the city clerk's office (or their technical support people) to get their act together before the next election.

The latest disclosures for city office and the city ballot measure to introduce an elected mayor were due last Friday, and cover the entire campaign through Oct. 19. I'll post them over at my ad hoc Portland, Maine campaign finance page when I get a chance, but for now, here's the cliff's notes version:

City Council, at large race: This pits incumbents John Anton (Green) and Jill Duson (Democrat) against outgoing district three councilor Dan Skolnik (D) and challenger Charles Bragdon (G). The top two vote getters will claim a seat at City Hall.

Longtime councilor Duson has raised the most money -- $2038 -- with the Longshoreman's union and their leader, Jack Humenick, contributing $450. Maine Turnpike Authority manager Paul Violette and former councilor Will Gorman($100) also back Duson, along with the proprietors of something called CT Management (who gave a combined $700.)

Skolnik, who announced he was retiring from his District 3 seat, but is now staging a write-in campaign for at-large, won his previous term with the help of substantial donations from people associated with Ocean Properties, the firm behind the Maine State Pier debacle. Apparently the old OP crowd still likes the guy. Former VP Bob Baldacci (the governor's brother) gave $100 and former spokesman Harold Pachios, $250. Former legislator Ethan Strimling ponied up $100 as well. Total kitty for Skolnik: $645.

Anton is apparently confident in being reelected, as he reported having no activity this cycle. Bragdon also raised no money, but gave himself $79.60.


City Council, District Three Race: This pits former mayor Ed Suslovic (D) against political newcomer Will Mitchell (D), son of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Libby Mitchell.

Mitchell raised an impressive $6394 this cycle from a long list of donors, large and small. These included his mom and dad ($100), councilors Anton ($350) and Nick Mavodones ($100), former councilors Gorman ($100), Jim Cloutier ($100), Jim Cohen ($100 with his wife), and Anne Pringle ($100), and the Portland Longshoremen (the maximum $350.) It's clear where the establishment stands on this one.

Suslovic raised $2355, but also loaned himself $10,000. Donors included Yarmouth Senate candidate Dick Woodbury ($250).


Question One: This asks if we should have an elected mayor, instead of letting the councilors appoint each other to the post. (I wrote on this issue and the background to it earlier this year in Down East.)

Two Political Action Committees have raised and spent thousands to ensure the measure passes. The driving forces are the League of Young Voters, which kicked in $1300 for their own PAC, and the Portland Chamber, which have $2500 (and another $2936 in in-kind support) to the "Elect Our Mayor - Yes On 1 PAC." The other big donor to that aforementioned PAC: Burt's Bees founder, philanthropist, and real estate accumulator Roxanne Quimby, who gave $5000. Makes one wonder if she's planning to run herself.

[Update, 11/1/2010: I made a second trip to City Hall to get the disclosures for the anti-elected mayor PAC.; see the last item here.]

Portland: fresh campaign finance disclosures

The city of Portland has posted the pre-election campaign finance disclosures for November's city council and school board candidates. No sign of the post-election ones however.

I've added the link to my Portland, Maine Ad Hoc Campaign Finance Disclosure Homepage, created a year ago because the city can't manage to post most of them on their own and destroyed all disclosures in their possession prior to 2005. (My reporting led to the law being changed to prevent this in future.)

Once again, a general plea: if you have any Portland, Maine disclosures from prior to 2005 and would like to contribute them to the database, please contact me.

Meanwhile, the fallout from the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on corporations and campaign finance continues. Everyone, regardless of their politics, should be concerned about a system where political money can no longer be traced.

Maine: Portland Charter Commission disclosures now online

In case you missed it, Portland is considering rewriting its constitution and the possibility of again allowing voters to elect their mayor (instead of having the city councilors appoint one of themselves to the position.) Most of the action is taking place within the 12-member City Charter Commission, which will play a big role in the future of politics in Maine's largest city. So who made them boss?

Three of the charter commissioners were appointed by the city council, but the other nine were elected by those of you who turned up at the polls earlier this year.

I've finally had an opportunity to photograph, crop, and post the campaign finance disclosures for the winners of those elections (since the city hasn't.)

A preliminary review turns up nothing unusual. Most candidates' war chests were measured in the tens or hundreds of dollars, and the biggest donors tended to be relatives, friends, or political associates.

City councilor John Anton (Green) supported James Gooch (Dem), while former city council candidate Bill Linnell donated to fellow Greens Ben Chipman and Anna Trevorrow. Trevorrow also got backing from current Green schoolboard candidate Anthony Zeli, who's her longtime partner, and Chipman's election committee, which gave her $125. (Trevorrow is the Green party state chair, Zeli is the treasurer, and Chipman heads the Cumberland County branch.)

Richard Ranaghan (Dem and former city finance director) received contributions from John O'Brien, the longtime Cumberland County register of deeds. Former mayor Jim Cohen got money from the Portland Longshoreman's' Benevolent Association, school committee and planning board member Jaimey Caron, and Washington, DC power attorney and congressional investigator Michael Bopp; (Bopp and Cohen have been friends since the attended school together at Baxter Elementary and Deering High.)

For the 99.9% of you who haven't been focused on the charter commission, the three political appointees are former transportation director Tom Valleau, 2008 city council candidate Naomi Mermin (who received contributions from Anton, then-mayor Ed Suslovic, schoolboard members Kate Snyder and Peter Eglinton, and the Portland Chamber of Commerce PAC), and former mayor Pamela P Plumb (chair), a past director of People's Heritage Bank (now part of TD BankThat'sChargingYouNewFees) and past president of the National League of Cities.

Of course if you think I've missed anything or made an error, feel free to comment. And if you have copies of any Portland disclosures from before 2004, consider contributing them to the website, as the city has destroyed their copies.

[UPDATE, 1:40 EST: Have added a few more references to donations by elected officials as readers have pointed them out to me.]

Maine: Portland camapign disclosures rematerialize

Earlier this year I broke the story that Maine municipalities had been systematically destroying the campaign finance disclosures for local candidates on the faulty advice of state officials. As a result, state legislators quickly changed the relevant law to ensure these records are retained -- and that the relationship between city officials and developers, unions, activists, and lobbyists can be again be traced over time. (The whole story can be read here.)

Unfortunately, many records were destroyed. In Maine's largest city -- Portland -- the city clerk's office reported they had destroyed all disclosures -- electronic or physical -- prior to 2006.

Or had they?

The city has quietly posted a gigantic PDF of the 2005 disclosures of city council candidates -- documents previously reported destroyed in response to a open records law request. The rediscovered records restore public access to the campaign donors of longtime councilor Cheryl Leeman (who ran uncontested in 2008), recently-elected councilor John Coyne (who ran for school board in 2005), and former mayors Ed Suslovic and Jim Cohen (who now sits on the Portland Charter Commission.) (Maine State Pier watchers: a preliminary review suggests no long-term relationship between Ocean Properties and any of these individuals.) I've added links to this PDF to my Ad Hoc Portland, Maine Campaign Disclosure Page, currently the most complete source for this class of documents.

So how were the 2005 disclosures misplaced and is there any chance others will resurface? City Clerk Linda Cohen (a champion, incidentally, of the legislation that fixed the original problem) said they had been previously overlooked in a drawer, but that no older ones have survived. "That's it," she said. "We don't have any older ones than that."

If you have access to reports prior to 2004 and would like to share them with the public, feel free to contact me.

Maine campaign finance: law passes, fixing problem

For those following the Maine municipal campaign finance disclosure issue (poor souls), the story has a happy ending.

A bill that fixes the problem -- ensuring preservation of candidate disclosures and web access to them -- was signed into law by Governor John Baldacci this morning, according to his deputy chief of staff, David Farmer. "It's an important improvement in the retention policy for public records," Mr. Farmer said. "The maintenance of public records is very important for disclosure and for a historical perspective."

City and town clerks across Maine had been destroying the campaign finance documents in as soon as two years after an election, making it impossible to trace links between special interests and elected city officials over time. After I broke the story for Maine Public Broadcasting and Working Waterfront, State Sen. Justin Alfond (D-Portland) sponsored LD1100, which turns control of the documents over to the State Ethics Commission, which retains county and state disclosures. The bill was initially rejected by a legislative committee, but ultimately received unanimous approval.

LD1100 goes into effect in the 2011 election cycle. It is unclear whether the Maine State Archives - which has jurisdiction over local campaign records until then - will formally advise city clerks to retain disclosures in the interim. (In the meantime, I've posted the surviving Portland, Maine disclosures here.)

Maine: the latest (postive) developments on local campaign finance disclosures

For those following the saga of L.D 1100, the bill that would fix Maine's municipal campaign finance disclosure mess, I've posted an update at Working Waterfront's website.

In summary: the bill's sponsor expects it to pass both houses as early as next week, which would be good news for Maine.

If you have no idea what this is about, the full saga is laid out here.

Maine campaign finance update: fix clears committee

For those poor souls who've been following my coverage of Maine's local campaign finance disclosure debacle, there's a bit of good news.

A bill that would correct the mess -- and ensure tracking of money and politics in Portland, Bangor, and other Maine cities -- cleared a key legislative committee yesterday. L.D. 1100 was unanimously endorsed by the lawmakers on the state and local government committee exactly one month after it was defeated by a vote of 12-1.

The bill moves on to the next step: passing review by the appropriations committee.

If you've no idea what any of this is about, consider listening to my piece on the issue on Maine Public Radio News' Maine Things Considered.

Maine: Will legislators stop destruction of campaign finance disclosures?

It was Augusta to the rescue, or so it seemed.

Maine state legislators had a chance to fix a troubling shortcoming in Maine's clean elections policies earlier this month. As I report in my column in the forthcoming issue of Working Waterfront, key lawmakers refused to do so, apparently because they didn't understand what's at stake.

As regular readers are painfully aware, in January I discovered that Portland, Bangor, and other large Maine towns and cities have been destroying the campaign finance disclosures of candidates for local office, sometimes as soon as two years after an election. This makes it impossible to trace the relationship between money (e.g. property developers) and politicians (e.g. the officials who judge development proposals) over time.

As you'll read, legislators serving on the state and local government committee will have a final chance to fix the problem sometime next month. [UPDATE: 5/7/2009]

Meanwhile, I've posted copies of the surviving campaign finance disclosures for Portland on my own website, since Maine's largest city is unable to do so themselves. (I have also put out a blanket request for copies of disclosures for election cycles prior to 2006.)

Maine: update on campaign finance disclosure mess

As I reported in January, Maine towns and cities have been destroying campaign finance disclosures in as little as two years after an election on the advice of state officials. The destruction of these documents makes it impossible to trace relationships between donors and elected officials over time, which is the entire point of having them.

In response, State Senator Justin Alfond has submitted a bill that would remedy the situation by extending existing rules and procedures used for county and state candidates to municipal ones (in towns and cities with at least 15,000 residents.) As a result, responsibility for retaining the documents (forever) would be transferred from the Maine State Archives (which recommended their premature destruction) to the state ethics commission.

A public hearing on the measure is to be held at 9:30 this morning at the Cross Office Building in Augusta. [UPDATE: 5/7/2009]

The head of the ethics commission, Jonathan Wayne, told me the plan was feasible, so long as his office received a little additional manpower assistance around election time.

In the meantime, I've posted copies of the surviving campaign finance disclosures for Portland on my own website, since the city is unwilling or unable to do so themselves. Thus far, nobody has responded to my blanket request for copies of disclosures for election cycles prior to 2006.

Portland, Maine Campaign Finance Disclosures Now Online

Residents of Portland, Maine have had a hard time accessing the campaign finance disclosures of candidates for local office. First the city clerk's office removed the documents it had posted online. Then it came to light that they had destroyed all disclosures -- both paper and electronic -- dating prior to 2006, on the advice of state officials.

As transparency is vital to the democratic process, I have collected as many disclosures as possible and posted them on this Portland, Maine Ad Hoc Campaign Finance Disclosure Homepage at colinwoodard.com. Included are the campaign contributions schedules for all candidates for city council in the 2008, 2007, and 2006 election cycles, plus the disclosures for Political Action Committees and Portland school board candidates for 2007. Disclosures reveal who bankrolled a given candidates' campaign -- or who is behind the PACs that did so.

Do you have copies of better quality, more complete, or missing disclosures? If so, consider donating them to the public by visiting the contact links on the page.

Residents of Bangor, Lewiston, Augusta, Waterville, and other Maine towns and cities with a population of 15,000 or larger should be aware that their clerks may also have destroyed records more than two years old.

[Updates on this issue here.]

Maine: update on destruction of campaign finance reports

Last month I broke a story on how Maine towns and cities have been destroying the campaign finance disclosures of local elected officials within as soon as two years after an election....and doing it on the advice of state officials.

This story is also the subject of my bi-monthly column, Parallel 44, in the new issue of Working Waterfront. Since that piece was filed, I understand some state lawmakers are working on a bill that would prevent the destruction of these documents. [Update, 4/30/09: legislators oppose efforts to fix the problem.]

A local travesty in Maine

I'm just back from Iceland (more on that soon) but had to hold off on filing my dispatches to break this story on how municipal officials here in Maine are destroying campaign finance disclosures. It's also my first radio piece, so it took forever!

Anyone here in the Portland area who is concerned about further destruction of local campaign reports, my wife has taken digital photographs of many of them and when I have a chance I'll be posting them on my website, since the city won't do so. [Link updated. 4/30/09]

Also in Maine: tonight I'm a panelist at this meeting on the future of Portland's political and urban planning processes. The corrosive (and largely untraceable) links between real estate developers and city councilors will be one of my talking points.

More from Iceland coming up.