CORRUPT GOVERNMENT: Gideon's refusal to bring lawmakers back shields
her from Ethics determination and fine

AUGUSTA - Today on the 100th day of Speaker Sara Gideon sitting on her
hands while Maine suffers, a story central to the accountability of
Gideon and her terrible record of violating campaign finance laws is
being overlooked.

Amid the lack of Legislative oversight on Governor Mills' failed
decisions during the COVID-19 crisis it has also become clear that Sara
Gideon has a conflict: by not ordering Legislators to return to Augusta
she is shielding herself from a full ethics investigation,
determination, and fine.

Doctor Demi Kouzounas filed a request for investigation with the Maine
Ethics Commission noting Gideon failed to disclose more than $3,200 in
spending from her corporate funded PAC to promote herself in ads raising
her profile and attacking her future opponent, U.S. Senator Susan
Collins.

The violation investigation request demonstrates that, in total, the ads
Gideon failed to disclose to the Maine Ethics Commission garnered more
than 500,000 impressions on Facebook, funded with corporate money.

The spending was discovered through Facebook's ad library feature,
which showed Gideon's Leadership PAC had run the ads, but the spending
never appeared in Gideon's legally required finance reports. The
corporate-funded PAC was then closed out as Gideon launched her U.S.
Senate campaign as she claimed to oppose corporate PAC money.

Now, Gideon's continued refusal to bring the Maine Legislature back
into session is providing her a shield from the investigation and
penalties for the violation.

The Maine Ethics Commission has five Members.  However it has been
operating with only three Commissioners as it awaits the confirmation of
two more Commissioners already nominated by Gov. Janet Mills. Mills
announced those nominations on February 28th and the nominations were
placed on file in the Maine Senate on March 3rd. Until those nominations
are confirmed, the Commission only has three commissioners, the bare
minimum needed for a quorum to conduct business.

However, just about 24 hours before a June 24th hearing, one of those
existing Commissioners, Meri Lowry, suddenly announced she would be
recusing herself from the Gideon hearing.  Lowry had previously recused
herself from another Gideon ethics violation hearing, disclosing she had
donated to Gideon's campaign. In this instance, Lowry also said she
had been making small donations to the campaign of Gideon's attorney,
Ben Grant, who is running for Maine House.

The recusal move suddenly denied the Commission the necessary quorum to
take up and determine the violation against Gideon.  Gideon is now
continuing to shield herself from the consequences of her illegal
actions by simply refusing to bring the Maine Legislature back,
effectively denying the Commission a quorum to impose a violation and
fine.

"The Maine Ethics Commission has already found Sara Gideon guilty once,"
said Doctor Demi Kouzounas. "Now, every day that passes with Sara Gideon
ignoring the needs of the Maine people, she shields herself from
accountability for her illegal violation."

"Denying the Ethics Commission enough members to investigate her
advertising scheme is the latest in what appears to be a very, very
crooked pattern of behavior," said Doctor Kouzounas.
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