Ruling spurs PAC reporting changes
The state ethics commission issued emergency rules that will modify when political action committees must file reports for expenditures over $250.
The changes come on the heels of a federal judge's ruling that called the requirement that organizations, party committees and outside groups report expenditures of $250 or more within 24 hours "unconstitutionally burdensome," according to MaineToday Media. Starting on Sept. 7, expenditures of more than $250 must be filed within 48 hours and beginning on Oct. 20, expenditures of more than $100 must be reported within 24 hours.
The ruling made by U.S. District Court Judge Brock Hornby came as part of a decision in a case in which the National Organization for Marriage and American Principles in Action sued the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices over free speech rights. The group argued the public's right to know who is behind various political advertising was compromised under the previous state campaign finance guidelines. In his Aug. 20 ruling, Judge Hornby upheld many of the state's campaign finance laws.
Meanwhile, Robert C.S. Monks, the former campaign treasurer for independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler, was fined $100 by the state ethics commission for an unintentional violation of the state's campaign finance law, according to the news site. Monks twice contributed $750 to the campaign through a PAC he ran, but state law limits individual contributions to $750.The Cutler campaign returned the donation after it was found to be in error.
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