AUGUSTA, Maine (WGAN) The Maine Ethics Commission voted unanimously to levy a $500 fine for Sara Gideon’s 2016 political action committee.
The Bangor Daily News reports the ethics commission voted Wednesday to assess the fine against the Democratic House Speaker’s committee from 2016 which was funded in part by corporate money.
The ethics commission found Gideon used her now-dissolved committee to reimburse herself for political donations she made to other PACs, in violation of state law. During deliberations, commission members said they did not believe the violation was made with “intent to deceive”, but was a technical oversight.
Former state Sen. Edward Youngblood, a Republican from Brewer, filed the complaint after learning the Gideon Leadership PAC reimbursed Gideon for two, $250 donations to two other political action committees. Those reimbursements were disclosed in state filings.
Gideon, who is running to unseat Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins in 2020, is still facing a federal complaint over the same issue, and a complaint filed by a conservative group.
