Trump's "judge whisperer" buys Maine mansion, hosts fundraiser for Susan Collins

In this past week's Maine Sunday Telegram, I have the story of how Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society and the man credited with pre-selecting Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and other conservative justices for the Supreme Court, bought a mansion on Maine's Mount Desert Island and held a fundraiser for Senator Susan Collins.

It features C. Boyden Grey (who co-hosted the Collins fundraiser Aug. 8 and serves on the Federalist Society board) and the Knights of Malta (a Catholic order that has many of the attributes of a sovereign state, including 108 embassies, postage stamps, passports, coins and a seat at the United Nations) and even the W.R. Grace company (the one featured in the book and movie "A Civil Action.")

Coalition of pro-offshore oil governors is run by oil lobbying firm

Earlier this year, Maine Governor Paul LePage made a stir when he -- alone among Atlantic seaboard governors and in opposition to coastal New England's entire Congressional delegation -- supported the Trump administration's draft plan to open most federal and New England waters to oil and gas exploration.

At the time, I reported how he'd actually called for exactly this policy several months earlier, as chair of the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition, a group of pro-drilling governors whose other members area all from states where offshore oil is already extracted. I also put in a public records request for the governor's correspondence with and for the group, which was finally fulfilled this month.

In this week's Maine Sunday Telegram, I have a story on what that request revealed: that the coalition is staffed and administered by employees of a Texas energy lobbying and consulting firm. Details in the story.

The lobbying firm was also active -- via the industry-funded non-profit advocacy groups it runs -- in the debate over solar power incentives in Maine and New Hampshire, and over loosening protections for New England's marine national monument.

Two ALEC bills before Maine lawmakers would facilitate rewriting of US Constitution

In yesterday's Portland Press Herald, I have another story involving a model text from the American Legislative Exchange Council being introduced in the Maine legislature, and once again it has national implications.

ALEC's state co-chair, a Republican lawmaker from Hiram, has introduced two bills that would have Maine join the tally of states calling for the convening of a constitutional convention under Article V of the US Constitution for the first time since 1787. One of the bills -- having to do with a convention allegedly limited to passing a balanced budget amendment -- would make Maine the 29th state to make the official call, just five sort of the number necessary to compel a convening.

Critics -- including the late Supreme Court justices Antonin Scalia and Warren Burger -- have warned that since there are no rules laid out for how such a convention would function, absolutely anything could happen. As the article reports, a well-funded model convention held two years ago in Virginia passed a number of amendments that would transform all aspects of American life.

How did the texts wind up in Maine? When are they up for floor votes? What on Earth is this ALEC you speak of?  Read on to find out.

I've written about ALEC bills in Maine four other times in the past year, including an effort last year to pass a similar bill,  this article and a follow up  on a bill that would prevent towns from building high-speed broadband networks,  and this article on another that would prevent them from passing pesticide ordinances.

Bill would stop states from blocking municipal broadband projects

Last year I wrote about a bill introduced in Maine's legislature that would effectively block towns from building their own municipal high speed data networks, even when -- as is often the case in rural Maine -- existing providers have refused to do so for them. The bill, modeled on one created by the American Legislative Exchange Council that has become law in 17 other states and introduced by that group's state co-chair, was ultimately and unanimously defeated in committee.

Now a bill has been introduced in Congress to prohibit states from passing such legislation. I report in today's Portland Press Herald about why its been introduced, what ALEC thinks of it, and how one of its co-sponsors, Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-ME01, has to say about the bill and its prospects in Congress.

Bill banning Maine towns from regulating pesticides came from ALEC

I've written a fair bit over the years about the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council (or ALEC), a secretive, corporate-funded group that acts as a conduit for corporations to write narrowly self-interested bills and -- behind closed doors --  place them in the hands of willing lawmakers to introduce in state houses and call their own. Often fellow lawmakers and the public don't know where the bills really came from.

ALEC has popped up here in Maine's State House a couple times this week. The latest instance, which I revealed in Wednesday's Portland Press Herald: Governor Paul LePage's bill to stop municipalities from passing pesticide ordinances, which mirrors the ALEC bill drafted by a task force  whose members include two major national pesticide makers and their industry association. Last week, it was a bill to hamper Maine towns from building their own broadband networks when legacy cable and phone companies refused to do so.

There's a pattern here: preemption of local control. Read the story to learn more.

ALEC was also one of the forces involved in drafting LePage's initial rules governing digital charter schools on behalf of national providers K12 Inc and Connections Academy, the subject of this 2012 investigation.

With rule repeal, how to keep your digital life private?

Earlier this month, President Trump signed into law a repeal of federal privacy rules preventing your internet service provider from exploiting a broad range of information about your online life without your permission. So what happens now?

My story in today's Maine Sunday Telegram looks at the way forward for privacy-minded consumers, for federal and state lawmakers, and for the internet providers themselves, which will each have to decide what they want to do or not do with data on users, now that there are operating in what one expert called a legal vacuum. For Mainers, a sidebar looks at what some of the state's internet providers are saying. (There's a fair bit of variation.)

I previously reported on the rule repeal when it was still a bill, passed by the Senate (with Sen. Collins' support and Sen. King's opposition) but not yet in the House (where Maine Second District Rep. Bruce Poloquin backed it, and Rep. Chellie Pingree rejected.)

Maine internet providers condemn Congress' drive to kill privacy rules

In today's Portland Press Herald, read about the Republican effort to repeal federal privacy regulations that prevent internet service providers from selling the comprehensive data they can collect about their customer's every move, search, click, view, and geolocation. The repeal passed the Senate this week on party lines, with Maine Sen. Susan Collins voting for repeal, independent Sen. Angus King against.

The surprising thing was when I called two of Maine's best-known homegrown internet service providers to get their take, they both condemned it in no uncertain terms. GWI's Fletcher Kittredge had very strong language and a detailed take on just what was at stake that readers everywhere in the U.S. will want to read.

The repeal goes to the US House this coming week, where Maine Rep Chellie Pingree, D-ME1, is strongly against it, and Rep. Bruce Poliquin, R-ME2, is, as is often the case, non-commital.

[Update: 3/31/17: The measure passed the House. Poliquin voted for it, Pingree against.]

Maine: Democrats have big fundraising advantage in battle for legislature

Here in Maine, the most important electoral issue to be resolved in November -- aside from who will be the President of the United States -- is which party will control the two houses of the state legislature. Currently Democrats control the House, while Republicans have the Senate and the governor's mansion.

There isn't any polling of state legislative races, so voters usually get to surprise everyone each election day. But for those who can't wait, one can always track the money race. In Saturday's Portland Press Herald I have this story on the fundraising situation for the two parties' primary legislative war chests.

Bottom line: Democrats currently have a roughly two-to-one advantage in this regard, mostly because they've received big contributions from the national party (and the Republicans have not.) Even more interesting for politicos is where the money comes from and, perhaps, who the respective parties owe one to.

I last wrote about Maine political finance last month, with this Press Herald story on the "leadership PACs" of Maine legislators and who gives to them.

Maine: who provides the cash for legislator's personal PACs?

Ever wonder who the biggest contributors are to the personal "leadership" PACs of Maine's legislator? Read about it all in this week's Maine Sunday Telegram, where we've crunched the numbers on the 15 biggest donors and who their favorite legislators are. There's also some insight into how legislators raise money from the lobbyists, drug companies, business associations and casinos that make up the lion's share of the supply for these entities, and then some of the things they spend it on.

I last wrote about Maine leadership PACs way back during the last presidential election year, focusing on those controlled by clean elections candidates.

While reporting this story, I became introduced to the Sunlight Foundation's clever crowdsourcing site for political PAC and campaign event invites. It's a nifty tool for journalists trying to make sense of candidate's fundraising filings.

Maine DEP weakens, endorses disclosure rule for toxic phthalates

For those following Maine's ahead-of-the-curve effort to regulate toxic chemicals in consumer products, I have an update in yesterday's Portland Press Herald.

Regular readers will recall "Lobbyist in the Henhouse", an award-winning investigative report published in 2013 that revealed that the state's commissioner for environmental protection, Patricia Aho, a longtime corporate lobbyist, had been strangling many of the laws she'd unsuccessfully fought against on behalf of her clients, including the Kid Safe Products Act, disliked by chemical manufacturers.

Aho's DEP, compelled by activists' petitions to rule whether manufacturers of four phthalates will have to disclose which consumer products sold in Maine contain the substances, has endorsed a weakened rewrite of the rule that effectively excludes products likely to expose fetuses and pregnant women. Details in the story.

Maine DEP, headed by chemical lobbyist, to rule on chemical disclosures

In today's Portland Press Herald, I have an update on the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and its handling of the execution of a law designed to protect babies and children from toxic chemicals.

Regular readers will recall "Lobbyist in the Henhouse", an award-winning investigative report published in 2013 that revealed that DEP commissioner Patricia Aho, a longtime corporate lobbyist, had been strangling many of the laws she'd unsuccessfully fought against on behalf of her clients, including the Kid Safe Products Act, disliked by chemical manufacturers.

Now Aho's DEP must rule whether manufacturers of four phthalates will have to disclose which consumer products sold in Maine contain the substances. Details herein.

Shedding light on New Brunswick's powerful, secretive Irving family

In today's Maine Sunday Telegram I write about New Brunswick's Irving family, who over four generations have built a powerful vertically-integrated conglomerate that controls much of that province's economic and informational life, including Irving Oil and forestry entity J.D. Irving (Maine's largest private landholder and the 10th largest on the planet, excluding monarchs), all of the province's English-language dailies, most of its weeklies, railroads, shipyards, oil tankers, hardware store chains, bus companies, paper mills, a refinery and an LNG terminal.

It's also an enormously secretive clan whose company spokespeople rarely respond to media requests and whose own control of the provincial media market ensures little scrutiny at home. But a new book by New Brunswick author and journalist Jacques Poitras -- Irving vs Irving -- has pulled the curtain back a bit. I talk to him about the book, the Irvings, and their sway over that province.

I last wrote about the Irvings for the Christian Science Monitor in 2008; nobody outside its newspaper division would return calls. Ditto for this 2011 Monitor story on tidal energy, which the Irvings had just pulled away from. They didn't respond to inquiries for this story either.

Maine: ex-tribal finance director pleads; last PUC commissioner recuses from Nestle Waters case

Two story updates from my desk at the Portland Press Herald.

Nestle Waters and the Public Utilities Commission: A week ago, I reported (but neglected to post here) and update on the conflict of interest bonanza at Maine's PUC, where all three commissioners and the official tasked with representing ratepayers before the body all have ties to Nestle Waters North America, which is seeking a controversial long-term contract to pump water from Fryeburg, Maine's (family-controlled) public water utility.

The new development: the last of the three commissioners has recused himself, following passage of a new law to allow the appointment of alternate commissioners in (hopefully rare) situations such as this one.

Charles Fourcloud -- the Indian of a thousand names -- pleads not guilty: Today I was up in Bangor and got to catch the arraignment hearing of the man known in Maine as Charles Fourcloud, who the Passamaquoddy tribe discovered was actually Arlyyn Knudsen, a convicted felon who'd help steal tens of millions from the Lakota Sioux, and has since bounced from Indian tribe to Indian tribe across the nation, taking top finance positions under various names. After being fired in Maine, he showed up at a remote tribe in California to apply for a job as "Leon Knudsen." He now faces up to 15 years in prison.

Maine: judge blasts DEP Commissioner Patricia Aho

Regular readers likely remember Patricia Aho, Maine's industrial lobbyist turned the commissioner of environmental protection, who was the focus of my five-part, three-day series last June in the Maine Sunday Telegram and Portland Press Herald, as well as follow-up stories on the department's subsequent failures in regards to dam relicensing here and here.

In tomorrow's Press Herald, I write on a new development: Aho being blasted in a court decision made public yesterday, both for arbitrary decision making on behalf of a client of her former lobbying form, and for transgressing on acceptable behavior in regards to conflict of interests of this nature. The judge had some choice words for Aho, of which this is a taste:

“While this case might not present the ‘extraordinary circumstances’ which must exist for a Court to find ‘bias’ as that term has been defined by the Law Court, Commissioner Aho’s continuing participation in deciding upon operational and complaint protocols could be viewed as antithetical to the common notions of impartiality which Maine citizens understandably expect from decision makers in Maine agencies.”

There's more in the article and additional material in the opinion itself, which is posted with the article. Also in the completed version to post soon, find the latest on the (Democratic-controlled) legislature's efforts to increase oversight of the department, first outlined here.

Nestle, Poland Spring, and conflicts at the Maine PUC

Nestle Waters North America, subsidiary of the world's largest food and beverage company and owner of the Poland Spring brand, has been locking horns with some in the Fryeburg, Maine area for a decade now.  The story has been irresistible to outsiders: small town with family-controlled private water utility divided over the bulk sale of local groundwater to major bottler. It's been the focus of a popular book (Elizabeth Royte's Bottlemania) and an award-winning documentary (Bottled Life) and a host of newspaper and magazine stories.

The latest chapter has Nestle and the local water utility seeking regulatory approval for a 25- to 40-year contract that would stabilize cash flow to the utility and lock in an important supply for the bottler. But as my story in today's Maine Sunday Telegram reports, the regulators have ties to the company, with all three Public Utilities Commission members and the public advocate (whose office represents ratepayers in PUC proceedings) having links to the company, most of them via Maine's largest law firm, Pierce Atwood, has been cropping up in my stories frequently of late.

How did it happen and what will come if it? Read on and find out.

[Update: 9/2/2013: One correction to the print edition: there have actually been five previous public advocates in Maine, not four as I stated, and Gordon Weil was the first of them. My list missed the third of them, Paul Frizsche, who had previously worked with Pine Tree Legal Assistance and, thus, was also "consumer side" in his background.]

Paper companies back Maine DEP plan to rescind smog rules

As reported earlier this week, the administration of Maine Gov. Paul LePage is seeking to rescind some key smog pollution rules currently abided by across the northeast. The measure is strongly opposed by environmentalists and, now, Democratic legislators and both of Mr. LePage's principle rivals in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

But as I report today, the measures are receiving strong support from Maine's pulp and paper industry, which say the rules have no environmental benefit and will cost them millions as they convert many of their mills from fuel oil to (cleaner) natural gas. Read about their case -- and the counter-arguments -- in today's Portland Press Herald.

The head of the state agency that is proposing the changes, environmental protection commissioner and former Pierce Atwood industrial lobbyist Patricia Aho, was the subject of my seven month, five-part investigative series published over three days in mid-June. It revealed how many policies and actions Aho has undertaken have benefited her former lobbying clients in the chemical, drug, oil, waste management, and real estate development industries.

As reported today, Pierce Atwood currently represents the Maine Pulp and Paper Association, and in the past Aho has been a registered lobbyist for the association and two of its member paper companies.

Maine: updates on paint recycling, climate adaptation, governor's "blackout"

A few updates on some of the stories I've been covering here in Maine:

Paint Recycling enacted: As I reported in today's Portland Press Herald, Gov. Paul LePage chose not to veto a bill creating a household paint recycling program here in Maine. His administration has opposed this and other so-called product stewardship programs in the past. (His spokesperson, Adrienne Bennett, told me a couple of hours ago -- well after the piece came out -- that the governor was satisfied with changes made to the original bill that helped ensure no toxic paint would escape into the environment.)

This piece of legislation -- which was backed by both industry and environmental groups -- featured in part three of my recent investigation of the state Department of Environmental Protection.


Blackout against Press Herald lifted?: After said investigation appeared last month, Gov. Paul LePage's office declared that state officials would no longer speak to the Press Herald or its sister papers, the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. The move received unfavorable coverage across the country, from the Associated Press and Poynter Institute to WGBH's "Beat the Press" and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show.

It would appear the blackout has ended. While reporting the paint story, I received prompt, live, and forthcoming attention from the DEP. I also ultimately (although past deadline) received a response from Bennett herself, who has previously said she was the one who instituted the ban. Gov. LePage has also recently answered questions from our State House bureau chief at a live press event and the Department of Education has tweeted that it has never stopped speaking to us.


Climate adaptation bill killed: While we're talking about the DEP, one update on my March story on the death of Maine's climate adaptation strategy. This session, the state legislature passed a bill that would have compelled the DEP to re-start work on the strategy, but as the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting noted last week, it was vetoed by LePage and the legislature was unable to over-ride.

WGBH's "Beat the Press": DEP series "just the most unbelievable investigative thing I’ve ever seen"

WGBH, the Boston-based public television super-station, has a media discussion program called "Beat the Press," and this week they discussed my investigation of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and Gov. Paul LePage's "gag order" against the paper.


Like all other commentators to date, the panelists all think the governor is doing himself a disservice, but host Emily Rooney also had effusive praise for the series, which I will shamelessly repeat here.
“This Portland Press Herald piece…it is unbelievable it’s eye-rolling, just the most unbelievable investigative thing I’ve ever seen," Rooney says. "It’s right out of Chinatown with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.”

(They start throwing the word "Pulitzer" around too, which Google says is some sort of prize founded by one Pulitzer József of Makó, a town south-east of Budapest which I'm pretty sure is where I gave myself heat stroke while trying to hitchhike my back from the Romanian border during a general strike by the Hungarian State Railways. But I digress....)

Thanks to the station for their interest, and to all of you for reading.

Maddow on my DEP series; LePage hints at stepping down

It has been one crazy week in Maine politics.

As regular readers know, my seven-month, five-part, three-day investigation of the state Department of Environmental Protection began running Sunday. On Tuesday, Gov. Paul LePage reacted by announcing a statewide ban against any official -- including his own spokespeople -- from speaking to my newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, or its sister papers in the state capital and his most recent hometown, Waterville. His justification: an unspecific charge of bias, with my series on the DEP and George Polk Award-winning investigation of the education department as examples.

Needless to say, this gave the story a national profile. First there were pieces from the Poynter Institute, CJR and Politico. Then the Associated Press. And last night, liberal anchor Rachel Maddow devoted a full 20 minutes over two segments to my DEP investigation, the governor's gag order, an interview with my editor, Cliff Schechtman, and LePage's instantly infamous remarks earlier in the day regarding state senator Troy Jackson and Vaseline. Here in Maine, environmental groups have called for an investigation of DEP Commissioner Pattie Aho or her resignation.

A few minutes ago came the wildest turn yet: news that the governor is considering running for Congress in 2014 instead of the Blaine House, taking advantage of the fact that incumbent Rep. Mike Michaud will be stepping down to run against him!

Nobody knows how serious the governor really is, but just having aired such a plan indicates misgivings about his future at the Blaine House and will likely sow doubt among would be donors, including perhaps former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is hosting a fundraiser for him here in Maine next month, and Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins, who are reportedly attending.

[Update, 6/26/13: Later that day, WGBH's "Beat the Press" did a panel discussion related to our series and the governor's reaction to it. This week, after having his budget veto overridden, the governor held a press conference in which he said he wouldn't run for Congress and was consulting with his family about whether to run for reelection as governor.]

What happens when a corporate lobbyist heads a state DEP?

Under Gov. Paul LePage, Maine's Department of Environmental Protection has been headed by a woman who was the lobbyist for the chemical, oil, drug, waste, automotive, and development industries.

My seven-month, five article investigation of what's happened under her watch started running in yesterday's Maine Sunday Telegram. (Don't miss the companion stories on land enforcement and intimidation of staff.) The second installment -- on commissioner Patricia Aho's oversight of a program to protect babies and children from toxic chemicals -- is on the front of today's Portland Press Herald. The series wraps up tomorrow with a piece on Aho's moves against recycling programs opposed by some of her former lobbying clients.

[Update: 6/18/13 - The entire series can be accessed at this landing page. It's getting even more attention since Gov. Paul LePage ordered all his staff and commissioners not to speak to the Press Herald.]