Realtors knocked for ethics violation
The state ethics commission imposed the stiffest penalty possible upon the Maine Association of Realtors political action committee for filing a campaign finance report late.
The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices fined the PAC $10,000 because it was 20 days late in filing a report for two postcard mailings in October that supported Republican state Senate candidates Lois Snowe-Mello of Poland and Christopher Rector of Thomaston, reported the Kennebec Journal. The Realtors group paid a routine penalty for filing late, which amounted to $1,231, but because the late filing meant a delay in matching public money to two other candidates, the commission could impose up to a $10,000 fine. Snowe-Mello lost her race, while Rector won.
The paper noted this is the third time the commission recently imposed a substantial fine for missing a filing deadline, levying a $5,000 fine against the Maine Democratic Party in October and then a $10,000 fine against Fed Up With Taxes, the group supporting the repeal of new beverage taxes, in November.
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