The contentious campaign to unseat Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce today entered a new arena - the state Ethics Commission. Joyce filed a complaint with the commission asking the agency's staff to investigate whether his Democratic opponent, Michael Edes, coordinated his campaign with the activities of a political action Committee called Citizens for a Safe Cumberland County. The PAC has paid for numerous mailings and radio ads targeting Joyce and supporting Edes.
When allegations are raised against a specific campaign within 28 days of an election, the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices is required by law to meet within 48 hours of receiving a complaint. So with less than a week to go before voters in Cumberland County go to the polls to elect a new sheriff, any investigation requested by Sheriff Kevin Joyce would have to be fast-tracked.
Jonathan Wayne, executive director for the commission, said the determining factor would pivot on whether coordination between the campaigns could be demonstrated - "whether Mr. Edes has been involved in any way in the communications that the PAC has organized to influence the election," Wayne said.
Appearing before the commission Joyce said that $100,000 being spent on a sheriff's campaign in Maine was unprecedented and that he thought that the Ethics Commission should want to know whether the Citizens for a Safe Cumberland County political action committee was getting its money - particularly since the PAC received funding through businesses linked to real estate developer Michael Liberty, who operates companies in Maine, Florida and other states.
Joyce says Edes has already confirmed that he and Liberty were childhood friends, and he found it hard to believe that they wouldn't have had a discussion about a $100,000 contribution to the PAC.
"That the two of these individuals are out, and they're friends, and one's involved in the PAC, how do you not talk about this wave of money that's just been dropped in your lap earlier in the month?" Joyce said.
The Joyce campaign pointed to posts on Edes' Facebook page that he said seemed to indicate some communication between the PAC and the candidate. But those were limited to photos that were taken off a Facebook page by the PAC. Joyce also questioned the purchase of a Cumberland County Democratic voter database by Edes that he suspected was shared with the PAC.
"The purchase of a voter registration list, there's only one indication on the Eves campaign that he purchased the Democratic voter registration list, yet there's nothing that we can see on the PAC that suggests that one was purchased by them. So was there sharing of information there?" he asked.
Edes was represented by Paul Brunetti, a Brunswick attorney who also advises the Edes campaign. Brunetti insisted through the brief hearing that Edes had no contact with Michael Liberty and never communicated with the Citizens for a Safe Cumberland County political action committee. He repeatedly denied that there was any coordination between the PAC and the candidate.
"Any allegations of coordination in that regard are false," Brunetti said. "Digging up controversy, that's not necessary."
Representing the PAC, Augusta attorney Dan Walker said he could understand why the Joyce campaign might be suspicious of an influx of money into the campaign, but he said that fact, in and of itself, is not evidence of wrongdoing.
"There's a lot of questions that arise when someone drops $100,000 into a sheriff's race," he said, "However, they're just that - they're just allegations."
After a 40-minute review of the sheriff's complaints, the commission found that Joyce had not provided sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation of the PAC for possible violations of the state's campaign finance laws.