PORTLAND — The treasurer of a political action committee said she followed advice from the state ethics commission staff when she reported on the source of newspaper ads advocating a popularly elected mayor.

The Portland Regional Chamber ran the ads in The Portland Press Herald, using space that had been donated by the newspaper.

The PAC, Elect Our Mayor, Yes on 1!, identified the chamber and the newspaper in a Dec. 14 campaign finance report.

But a Portland resident and retired city staffer has filed a complaint with the commission, saying that the Press Herald should have registered as a ballot initiative or political action committee to disclose the contribution of the space.

Michelle Lester, vice president of advertising for MaineToday Media Inc., said the Press Herald donates ad space to the Portland Regional Chamber but does not dictate or control the content of those ads. MaineToday Media Inc. owns The Portland Press Herald, the Maine Sunday Telegram, the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel.

Kimberly Cook, the treasurer for Elect Our Mayor, Yes on 1!, said she sought advice from the ethics commission staff on how to report the chamber’s ads.

The staffer, Cindy Sullivan, told her to report the ads, valued at $46,507.74, as an in-kind contribution from the chamber, but to add a note on the newspaper’s role, Cook said.

Sullivan and Jonathan Wayne, the commission’s executive director, confirmed that advice Tuesday.

Cook’s campaign finance report includes the information on the chamber’s in-kind donation of the ads and then reads, “Note: The Portland Press Herald did not charge the Portland Regional Chamber for the ad space,” underlining the word “not.”

Thomas Valleau, an opponent of the popularly elected mayor, said the ads could have swung the vote, in which the elected mayor was approved 12,963 to 11,825. He said his concern is that the newspaper’s role needed to be disclosed.

Even though the report noted that the newspaper gave the chamber ad space, Valleau argues in his complaint that the paper should have registered with the city as a PAC.

Wayne said the commission’s staff did not offer an opinion to Cook about whether The Portland Press Herald had an obligation to register as a PAC.

“We do our best to respond to whatever question is asked to us based on the information we’re given,” Wayne said, and Cook asked only about filling out her report.

Wayne said Tuesday that he interprets the ads as a contribution from the chamber, not the newspaper. When Cook told Sullivan that the chamber wasn’t charged for the ads, “we wanted the PAC to report it correctly for the value it was worth.”

Wayne declined to say Tuesday whether the newspaper should have registered as a PAC, saying it’s the subject of an investigation, now that Valleau has filed his complaint.

Cook also said she discussed the ads briefly with Wayne before the election, asking if he thought it was an expenditure of more than $500, requiring a report to the commission within 24 hours.

Cook said Wayne told her he didn’t interpret the contribution as an expenditure requiring a report prior to the PAC’s final spending report. Wayne said Tuesday that he didn’t have a clear recollection of that conversation.

“Everything was fully disclosed as it should have been,” Cook said Tuesday. “We did what I understood the staff was explaining to us to do.”

 

Staff Writer Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at: emurphy@pressherald.com

 

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