Republican Gov. Paul LePage created a political action committee over the summer and made it clear that he plans to get involved in state legislative races.
The PAC allows him to directly spend for or against specific candidates, but so far the governor has decided to keep his spending on behalf of his friends, and against his enemies, a secret.
The committee is called ICE PAC, and has received about $385,000 in contributions from the governor’s longtime supporters. LePage has said that he’s using the PAC to influence legislative contests. If successful, LePage could end up with lawmakers more willing to support his policy proposals over his final two years in office.
But LePage wants to keep his involvement in specific races a mystery.
“I have actively been supporting candidates behind the scenes and you haven’t caught me yet,” LePage told reporters earlier this month when asked about ICE PAC.
It’s perfectly legal for the governor to use a PAC to spend on ads, mailers or robocalls to help or defeat candidates. In fact, lots of other governors have done the exact same thing in other states.
Earlier this year South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley used a PAC operated by her former chief of staff to target eight lawmakers. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has used his own personal fortune and support from a handful of wealthy donors to change the power dynamic in the Illinois state house. And two years ago, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback actually targeted fellow Republicans in primaries, a move designed to elect more hardliners that would back his aggressive tax cuts.
So far, LePage’s targets are a secret. ICE PAC isn’t donating to candidates and it isn’t spending money on ads, also known as independent expenditures. It has funneled nearly $200,000 to the Maine Republican Party, which is actively engaged in dozens of legislative contests.
Michael Hersey, a former LePage staffer who runs the PAC, says he would not comment on the committee’s operations, and it turns out he doesn’t have to.
“So the PACs can direct the parties to spend it in particular races as communications to voters,” says Maine Ethics Commission Director Jonathan Wayne.
Wayne says it’s legal for ICE PAC to donate to the Republican Party while instructing the party to spend money on ads for specific races. And he can keep those instructions a secret between his PAC and officials with the Maine Republican Party.
That may not seem very transparent, but Wayne says other PACs can do it, too. Plus, there are practical reasons why the governor would want to keep his electioneering activities out of the public view.
After Haley meddled in the eight South Carolina legislative contests, she only managed to unseat three of them, and two of the survivors ended up on a key committee. That means Haley now has to find ways to work with legislators who she tried to get rid of.
Also, LePage himself isn’t terribly popular, according to recent polls, and he has been controversial. Legislative elections aren’t always partisan, so while LePage remains popular with Republican voters, he may not be of much help to a Republican legislative candidate attempting to appeal to independents if the governor’s PAC, or his name, shows up on a mailer or radio ad.
