MAINE PUBLIC • February 6, 2020
A potential referendum over Central Maine Power's power line proposal for western Maine is generating more campaign finance violations, this time from opponents of the project. The political action committee, Mainers for Local Power, is facing a nearly $25,000 fine by the Maine Ethics Commission. Under a new provision in Maine law, organizations that give more than $100,000 to a PAC or ballot committee must tell the Ethics Commission who they are. And it's the responsibility of the PAC or ballot committee to tell the contributor that it needs to provide that identifying information. The Local Maine Power PAC failed to tell Calpine Corporation that it needed to file a major contributor report with the ethics commission. Calpine, which has given more than $100,000 to the PAC so far, owns a natural gas electricity plant in Westbrook and opposes the CMP transmission project.