Just what Maine needs – a political action committee mucking up a town council election.

It’s called the Republican Leadership and Training Fund.

It’s the brainchild of Hampden Mayor Carol Duprey and her husband, state Rep. Brian Duprey, R-Hampden.

And while it hasn’t spent a ton of money, it’s got the Bangor suburb hopping mad. We’re talking panicked taxpayers, non-stop finger-pointing and, Monday evening, a 6-1 vote of no confidence in Her Honor by the Town Council, followed by a request from one councilor that Duprey resign posthaste.

Replied Duprey, who, in a supreme act of self-confidence, had cast the lone dissenting vote, “Request denied.”

So … are we having fun yet?

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It all started on Sept. 30, when taxpayers in two of Hampden’s four council districts got the following robocall:

“This is a friendly reminder that your Hampden property taxes are due by 7 p.m. tomorrow. Hampden property taxes have increased over 10 percent in the last two years. You can thank your Hampden Town Councilor Ivan McPike (or, in the other district, Councilor Jean Lawlis) for voting to raise your taxes. It is time for a change. Stephen Wilde (or Philip “Terry” McAvoy) is running for Town Council and vows to work hard to reduce Hampden’s tax burden. Please remember to vote for Stephen Wilde (or McAvoy) on Nov. 4. Thank you. Paid for by RLTF at (207) 808-0414. Not authorized by any candidate.”

A little background on the Republican Leadership Training Fund: Back when the Dupreys formed it in August, the PAC described its mission to the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices as “support and training for Republican candidates and Legislators.” But in an amended filing on Oct. 7, that changed to “supports fiscally conservative candidates regardless of political affiliation at the national, state or local level.”

Its funding?

We’re not talking megabucks here – as of its last quarterly financial report, the PAC had taken in a paltry $1,025. It came in three chunks: $375 from Brian Duprey’s legislative re-election campaign, $250 from Respect Maine, another PAC overseen by state Sen. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden; and $400 from PDQ Door of Hampden, a business owned by the husband of former state Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden.

Back to the robocall, which from the get-go had a serious messaging problem. When you begin an automated call with phrases like “friendly reminder” and “property taxes are due,” there’s a decent chance that folks on the receiving end are going to fixate on those words – and only those words.

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It’s also highly likely they’ll break into a cold sweat and fret that somehow, the property tax payment they’d already made hadn’t gone through.

Finally, it’s a pretty good bet those panicked taxpayers – along with those who are just plain livid – will light up the town hall’s phones upon the start of business the next day.

Which is exactly what happened.

“Many older residents were confused and concerned that we had not received their payments,” Town Manager Susan Lessard told the Bangor Daily News. “Other residents were confused as to why local Town Council races in Hampden were generating robocalls, which they associated with the party-affiliated elections at the state and federal levels. Suffice it to say that it added a less-than-positive layer to one of the busiest days of the municipal year, and answering questions about the calls fell to those of us in this office – not to those who generated the calls.”

Translation: Madame Mayor blew it. Big time.

Then there’s the clumsy manner in which Duprey was outed. McPike, one of Her Honor’s targets, told the Bangor newspaper he called back that number at the end of the robocall message but got no answer. Then Carol Duprey, seeing McPike’s number on her caller ID, called him back to ask what he wanted.

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McPike, suddenly realizing Duprey’s number was the same as the one on the robocall, confronted Duprey about trashing him with his constituents. At which point, he said, Duprey said she didn’t know what he was talking about and hung up.

Ah, but the jig was up. And Duprey, whose tenure as mayor has been awash in controversy over everything from who gets to record council meetings to who should recite the Pledge of Allegiance, found herself embroiled in yet another brouhaha entirely of her own making.

Within a week, under heavy fire from all directions, Duprey apologized to her robocall targets, the rest of the council, the beleaguered municipal staff and the community at large. She also reimbursed the PAC for the $225 spent on the robocalls, which were made by a campaign marketing firm in Virginia.

Didn’t matter. Despite an opinion from the town attorney that Duprey never identified herself as the mayor and thus did not run afoul of the council’s code of ethics, the council pressed ahead Monday with its no-confidence vote, followed by Councilor Thomas Brann’s request that she step down immediately.

Dream on.

The next day, in an email to the local newspaper, Duprey insisted she’d done nothing wrong. She added: “Some councilors got their feelings hurt and they are publicly humiliating me in a twisted effort to hold onto their power,”

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That said, with her one-year stint as mayor expiring in January, Duprey wrote that she “will more than likely appoint someone to chair the next three meetings so the focus can come off of me and I can get back to doing the business I was elected to do.”

And that would be?

“I will continue to dig deeper into the town finances and will continue to identify the savings needed to give Hampden citizens a well-deserved tax break after two years of tax increases.”

A few takeaways here.

First, the increase in Hampden’s tax rate, like that of so many cities and towns throughout Maine, stemmed not from any largess on the part of the councilors targeted by Mayor Duprey. Rather, it was rooted in increases both in the county tax and Hampden’s share of the regional school budget, along with decreases in state revenue sharing.

Second, the day a PAC starts targeting candidates in a municipal election with shoot-from-the-hip robocalls is indeed a sad day for local democracy.

And third?

I’m glad I don’t live in Hampden.


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