By Michael Shepherd with David Marino Jr. - Jan. 25, 2023
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📷 A conductor makes sure all is clear as the Amtrak Downeaster passenger train pulls out of the Freeport station on Dec. 14, 2021. (Lincoln County News photo by Alexander Violo)

Good morning from Augusta. Legislative committees continue initial meetings, budget hearings and orientations today. Here's the schedule.

What we're watching today

Here's a look behind a newly elected Maine lawmaker's indictment for alleged signature fraud. Augusta is not Albany, so we are not all that used to seeing lawmakers indicted. But that is what happened in December to freshman Rep. Clinton Collamore, D-Waldoboro, who is charged with 20 counts of felony forgery and more than a dozen misdemeanors related to his use of Maine's taxpayer-funded Clean Election campaign system.

The indictments of Collamore and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for alleged signature fraud were handed down by grand juries last month, but they were not made public until a Tuesday memo from the Maine Ethics Commission, which referred the cases to Attorney General Aaron Frey's office for prosecution. Neither of the charged politicians has commented, but the charging documents show a relatively clear-cut case against them.

To get taxpayer funding under the Clean Election system, candidates must gather $5 contributions from voters in their districts and get them to sign a petition. But Collamore appears to have forged at least 30 of those signatures, the commission memo found. Attached to his indictment are images of the forms in question, where dozens of contributors' names are written in the same type of print that Collamore used for his own name at the top of the forms.

Collamore appears to have deleted his campaign Facebook page between Tuesday and Wednesday after the news came out. But he was running an aggressive social media effort to bring in contributions, telling supporters early last year that their help was "very important for the clean election process."

While he was under indictment, the new lawmaker appears to have operated normally in Augusta, with House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, naming him to the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife panel and casting a vote earlier this month for a heating aid package. Talbot Ross called on Collamore to resign after the charges were made public on Tuesday. His committee has an orientation on Wednesday, and it will be interesting to see if he shows up.

His case may also lead lawmakers to take a look at the Clean Election program and its security. Collamore was able to get $14,000 in taxpayer funding for his campaign until ethics commission staff noticed the troubling pattern in his signatures in the summer. But his campaign moved on unchecked through November, and he won by just under 300 votes, meaning his resignation could trigger a special election with political implications as well.

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News and notes

📷 Rep. Scott Landry, D-Farmington, left, greets Sen. Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, on Jan. 8, 2020, at the State House in Augusta. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty)

🤝 Rival Aroostook politicians are in array on a massive energy project.

◉ A large wind transmission line slated for Aroostook County has strong public support in Maine, where Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, joined Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, in support of the proposal in comments filed with the Maine Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday.

◉ "The Maine PUC has an opportunity to address a long-standing challenge with connectivity to Aroostook County and through the process create highly skilled jobs, new tax revenue and future opportunity within the region by added transmission capacity," Stewart said.

◉ A milestone came earlier this month when Massachusetts committed to fund up to 40 percent of the project, which would establish a connection between Aroostook and the regional power grid. Jackson sponsored the measure that led to the project and has been a vocal proponent throughout the process.

◉ The alliance between Jackson and Stewart makes sense in a parochial way since they represent neighboring districts, but they are also top rivals. During Jackson's heated reelection race, Stewart raised eyebrows among observers and angered Jackson and his allies by calling the Senate president "corrupt."

🌬️ Environmentalists want the state to buy lots of offshore wind power.

◉ Maine's energy regulator would have to buy 2.8 gigawatts of offshore wind over the next 12 years under a measure rolled out by environmental groups on Tuesday. That amount would be enough to power 980,000 homes.

◉ The major forces behind the measure include Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Eliot, the co-chair of the Legislature's energy panel, as well as the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Conservation Voters and the major union representing building and construction tradesmen in Maine.

◉ The state has been a leader in offshore wind development, with the University of Maine playing a major role in testing and exploring it. Earlier this month, a key test array led by the university slated for 45 miles off the coast of Portland cleared a federal hurdle. There has been tension between the administration of Gov. Janet Mills and fishermen on the topic, however.

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What we're reading

🔧 Brewer police are behind a Republican lawmaker's bid to tighten gun laws.

📦 A moving company that threatened customers leaving negative reviews online settled its lawsuit with the state for $125,000.

⚡ Smart meters are safe, Maine's high court said in a ruling that could end a long dispute between utilities and activists.

❄️ Bangor just broke a single-day snowfall record at 10.5 inches.

💤 Maine's famous seal was probably trying to sleep. Here's your soundtrack.

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