GARDINER — When the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Gardiner posted a social media entry endorsing a Gardiner City Council candidate, it caught Matthew Marshall’s attention.
Marshall was one of seven candidates to run for the three at-large seats in the Nov. 8 election.
When the votes were tallied, Marshall came in fourth with 997 votes, just 96 votes behind Maryann White, the candidate the club had endorsed, who earned 1,093 votes.
“It’s not sour grapes,” Marshall said. It is, he said, concern that a nonprofit that receives about $51,000 a year from the city of Gardiner is jeopardizing its nonprofit status to endorse a candidate.
Under the IRS code, nonprofits organized under section 501(c)3 are not allowed to participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.
The Oct. 25 post, which has since been removed from the club’s Facebook page, reposted White’s politician page with this message: “Great supporter of Club programs! She is a mom, teacher, mentor, volunteer and committed to a positive future for our wonderful little City of Gardiner! Maryann White has my vote for City Council!”
Marshall said White had also left brochures at the club.
When Marshall brought his concerns to club director Ingrid Stanchfield a week after the election, she responded by email that she had set up a meeting with herself, board Chairman Mark Roberts and board Clerk John Bobrowiecki for Nov. 30 to speak with Marshall. That meeting never took place.
When Marshall asked for an earlier meeting, he said the meeting was canceled.
Instead, Marshall received a letter from Boys and Girls Club board Chairman Mark Roberts.
In the letter, Roberts acknowledged that statements made on the club’s social media should not be political.
“There was an isolated violation of our policy. Due to the nature of this matter, I feel it is an internal personnel issue and therefore will not be setting a meeting to discuss the issue further. We are confident this will not happen again,” he wrote.
White declined to comment.
Stanchfield did not respond to a request for comment.
As for the brochures, Roberts said, as he did in his letter to Marshall, that any candidate who asked could have left brochures at the club, but only one candidate asked. They were removed three days before the election.
Copy the Story Link
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.