By Greg Hazley
A Maine ethics panel has moved to fine a Portland PR pro $200 for his role in creating a critical website about a gubernatorial candidate who lost a close race in November.
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The Maine Governmental Ethics & Election Practices Commission voted unanimously, 5-0, on Dec. 20 to assess the civil penalty against Dennis Bailey, the head of Savvy Inc., who was referred to by the commission as John Doe II. The issuance of the fine is pending any appeal.
The website, The Cutler Files, was critical of independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler and was cited as some media as an issue in the 2010 campaign. It went offline in November, when Cutler lost a close race to Republican Paul LePage for the Maine governor’s office.
The ethics panel said Bailey violated Maine's election laws for not having a disclaimer on the site that said it was not paid for or connected to a candidate or party.
Bailey, a former journalist, owned up to involvement in the site in a blog post on Dec. 23, claiming that the site’s intention was to “set the record straight” on Cutler, who Bailey said was “fudging his record, misleading the voters and being less than candid about his past.”
“It was a short-lived website launched with all the best intentions that sort of backfired,” he wrote.
A second person involved, referred to by the ethics panel and by Bailey as John Doe I, has not been identified but was cleared by the panel.
Bailey worked at Maine dailies before entering the political arena in 1990 as press secretary for Rep. Tom Andrews (D-Me.) and later Gov. Angus King. He set up Savvy Inc. in 2000.
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