Cutler Files contributor steps forward
Thom Rhoads, the husband of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rosa Scarcelli, has admitted to his role in an anonymous website disparaging former Independent candidate Eliot Cutler.
In a written statement, Rhoads said he "performed independent research on my own time and my own accord" on Cutler, information that became part of The Cutler Files website, without his wife's knowledge, according to the Portland Press Herald. "While I was not the author, creator or owner of the website, I assisted the person who was," Rhoads wrote. The Cutler campaign last summer asked the state ethics commission to investigate the website, which called Cutler a "phony and a fraud," and in December the commission voted to fine public relations consultant Dennis Bailey $200 for violating election law, but did not identify him. Three days later, Bailey, a former consultant to Scarcelli as well as Independent candidate Shawn Moody, admitted to creating the website in a blog post.
The committee cleared Rhoads and did not release his identity. A lawyer for Cutler had urged the commission to identify Rhoads, but Rhoads decided to reveal himself at his wife and friends' urgings, he said in the statement.
Rhoads previously denied to the media being the creator or author of the website, which he said yesterday was "an accurate statement" but "obviously, it was not the entire story," according to the paper. Scarcelli, who lost the Democratic primary but has hinted at running for U.S. Senate or for governor again, told the paper her husband's actions should be considered separate from her political aspirations. "You can't judge me on the actions of others," she said.
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