January 25, 2018 Jonathan Wayne Executive Director Maine
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Katherine Knox (207) 228-7229 [email protected] Isabel Mullin (207) 228-7336 [email protected] January 25, 2018 Jonathan Wayne Executive Director Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices 135 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333 Re: Addendum to Request for Investigation into Campaign Finance Violations by the Maine Examiner and Maine Republican Party Dear Mr. Wayne: On January 23rd, on behalf of our client, the Maine Democratic Party, we filed a request for investigation pursuant to 21-A M.R.S. § 1003(2) and 94-270 C.M.R. ch.1, § 4(2)(C). We now write to provide additional documentation of coordination between the Maine Examiner and the Maine Republican Party (“The Party”). This information combined with that previously submitted, provides the Commission with evidence that the above- referenced parties likely violated campaign finance law, and we ask that an investigation be immediately commenced. ADDITIONAL SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION Since filing the request for investigation, evidence has come to light that the Executive Director of the Party, Jason Savage, is directly involved with the Maine Examiner’s 1 operations. (Attachments GG, HH, II, & JJ.) First, metadata indicates that the 1 “Metadata” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “data that provides information about other data.” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metadata?src=search-dict-hed.) Metadata is sometimes referred to as a digital fingerprint. In this case, the metadata provides information about “author” of the digital pictures included in the Maine Examiner articles as well as the date the pictures were “taken” by the author. The Attachments provide screenshots of the Jonathan Wayne January 19, 2018 Page 2 Executive Director—or someone using his computer—provided the Maine Examiner with the pictures of Ben Chin that were included in the seven stories published between December 3rd and 10th, 2017. (Attachment EE.) Second, an electronic error log on the Maine Examiner website appears to show that the Executive Director also owns or controls the hosting account responsible for its website. (Attachments FF.) Third, it also appears that the Executive Director was the one who downloaded the layout design for the Maine Examiner website on September 17, 2017. (Attachments HH.) As a result of this new information, we request that the Commission also fully investigate to what extent the Maine Republican Party operates and controls the Maine Examiner and whether the Party should be held responsible for the Maine Examiner’s failure to file independent expenditure reports with the City of Lewiston for the stories. We further request the Commission investigate whether the Party violated political communication disclosure law by failing to identify the name and address of the person who financed the stories and their dissemination and the top three funders and investigate whether or not Mr. Chin’s opponent authorized the communications. As stated in the initial request, the Commission should consider the propriety of assessing penalties in accordance with 21-A M.R.S. § 1004-A, permitting penalties of $5,000 for substantial misreporting and material false statements and § 1004-C, which grants the Commission the authority to triple monetary sanctions for violations occurring within 14 days of an election. We ask that the Commission also consider whether the matter should be referred to the Attorney General under § 1004(2). This evidence raises a number of questions about the Maine Republican Party’s campaign finance reporting practices and means of communicating with the people of Maine. We respectfully request that the Commission fully investigate these matters and assess the appropriate penalties for violations of Maine campaign finance law. Sincerely, Katherine R. Knox Isabel I. Mullin metadata for each of the pictures included in the seven stories published and shared by the Maine Examiner. (Attachment EE.) In addition, one of the attached Lewiston Sun Journal articles published January 24, 2018 provides a good explanation of how this information was uncovered. (Attachment GG.) ATTACHMENT EE Metadata information was accessed on January 25, 2018 by right clicking on the pictures in each article on the Maine Examiner’s website, clicking “save image as” and saving the images to a computer, and then right clicking on file and selecting “properties,” and clicking the “details” tab in the box that opens. The above screenshot is for the metadata of the photo included in the Maine Examiner story about Ben Chin on December 3, 2017. The above screenshot is for the metadata of the photo included in the Maine Examiner story about Ben Chin on December 4, 2017. The above screenshot is for the metadata of the photo included in the Maine Examiner story about Ben Chin on December 5, 2017. The above screenshot is for the metadata of the photo included in the Maine Examiner story about Ben Chin on December 7, 2017 at 4:05. The above screenshot is for the metadata of the photo included in the Maine Examiner story about Ben Chin on December 7, 2017 at 8:35. The above screenshot is for the metadata of the photo included in the Maine Examiner story about Ben Chin on December 8, 2017. The above screenshot is for the metadata of the photo included in the Maine Examiner story about Ben Chin on December 10, 2017. 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