AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)   State ethics commissioners say they won’t investigate a once-anonymous website owned by a Maine GOP official.

The Bangor Daily News reports that Maine’s ethics commission voted 3-2 Thursday against launching an investigation of a website that published articles Democrats said slandered their unsuccessful mayoral candidate.

Maine Republican Party Executive Director Jason Savage told a state ethics commission that he alone was responsible for running the anonymous website in his free time. Savage said Thursday that he participated in decisions to share the website’s posts on the party’s social media page.

Democrats have alleged that Republicans should have reported the website in campaign finance reports.

But Republicans say they reported needed expenses. Savage argued the Maine Examiner website falls into an exemption from disclosure intended for the news media.