PORTLAND – The Maine Civil Liberties Union sued the state Thursday on behalf of Dennis Bailey, saying it violated the political consultant’s free speech rights by fining him $200 for failing to comply with disclosure requirements of election law.

The lawsuit, filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, contends that “The Cutler Files,” an anonymous website that Bailey helped create to attack independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler, was a form of political speech protected under the First Amendment.

“If the right to free speech means anything, it means that people will not be punished for criticizing candidates or speaking out about political ideas,” said MCLU Legal Director Zachary Heiden.

In an interview, Bailey said he is grateful that the MCLU, which approached him to take on the case, saw the importance of the issue.

“This whole thing has been so mischaracterized and misunderstood,” Bailey said. “I am glad we are going to get another look.”

Cutler said the MCLU’s argument has no merit.

“The Maine Civil Liberties Union does important work, much of it in connection with lost causes. And in much of the work the MCLU does, it finds itself in league with strange bedfellows, and this has to be one of the strangest,” Cutler said.

The website, which is no longer active, was created in late August 2010, during the gubernatorial campaign. It called Cutler a fraud and alleged that his incompetence as a government manager may have led to the deaths of 39 people after a dam collapsed in Georgia in 1977, when Cutler was working in the Office of Management and Budget, a federal agency that delayed the release of funds for a dam inspection.

Cutler’s campaign filed a complaint that triggered an investigation by the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, which oversees the state’s election laws.

After weeks of denying any connection to the website, Bailey, owner of the Savvy Inc. public relations firm, identified himself in December as one of its creators.

Thom Rhoads, the husband of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rosa Scarcelli, later identified himself as the co-creator. Bailey was Scarcelli’s political adviser during her unsuccessful primary campaign.

The ethics commission concluded its investigation in January and fined Bailey for not disclosing that he was the author of a public communication designed to influence voting in a political campaign.

Heiden, of the MCLU, said anonymous political speech is a tradition. He said federal election laws exempt blogs and other Internet communication from disclosure requirements.

“If Dennis Bailey had created a ‘Snowe Files,’ criticizing Sen. Olympia Snowe, this would not have been an issue,” Heiden said.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office, which represents the ethics commission, received a copy of the lawsuit and is reviewing it, said Brenda Kielty, the office’s spokeswoman. She declined to comment further.

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the ethics commission, said he regretted the decision by Bailey and the civil liberties union to sue the state.

Wayne said the commission acted constitutionally and respected Bailey’s arguments that he had a right to remain anonymous.

“The harm to Dennis Bailey was caused by himself, not the commission,” he said.

Wayne said that in the past month, the commission invited the MCLU to be part of a discussion group to re-examine Maine’s election laws to make sure they strike the right balance between informing the public and encouraging political speech.

“They chose instead to sue the state of Maine,” he said.

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com