Katherine Knox (207) 228-7229
[email protected] Isabel Mullin (207) 228-7336 direct
[email protected] January 23, 2018 Jonathan Wayne Executive Director Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices 135 State House Station Augusta, ME 04333 Re: Request for Investigation into Campaign Finance Violations by the Maine Examiner and Maine Republican Party Dear Mr. Wayne: On behalf of my client, Maine Democratic Party, and pursuant to 21-A M.R.S. § 1003(2) and 94-270 C.M.R. ch.1, § 4(2)(C), I write to request that the Commission investigate the activities and the entities named above for violations of campaign finance law. As demonstrated below, the Maine Democratic Party believes that the evidence enumerated in this letter provides the Commission with more than sufficient grounds for believing that violations have occurred and we ask that an investigation be immediately commenced. THE MAINE EXAMINER The Maine Examiner purports to be “a small group of Mainers who simply publish Maine news, trends and interesting pieces about you, the people of Maine.” (Attachment A.) However, the Maine Examiner website and social media pages are all anonymous. There is no information provided about the authors, publishers, funders, or any other individual associated with Maine Examiner. The byline of each story it publishes simply reads “Administrator” or “The Maine Examiner.” (Attachments R, S, T, U, V, W, X, & Y.) The organization first began operating its website on September 11, 2017, shortly before the 2017 general election. (Attachment D.) The domain was privately registered using Jonathan Wayne January 19, 2018 Page 2 a private registration service called Domains by Proxy, which conceals the identity of the individual(s) who created and operate the website.