| 🗞 The Daily Brief is made possible by Bangor Daily News subscribers. Support the work of our politics team and enjoy unlimited access to everything the BDN has to offer by subscribing here. |
|
| 📷 Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Eliot, reviews papers in the Senate chamber at the Maine State House on April 12, 2022, in Augusta. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty) |
|
🏦 There was an innocent explanation for a 2022 campaign mystery.
◉ An incident that raised concerns of theft in Maine's Clean Election program around the 2022 campaign of state Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Eliot, was easily explained after an investigation by the Maine Ethics Commission.
◉ In the middle of 2022, Lawrence's campaign incurred three unauthorized debits to an unknown person, a trash hauling service and a natural gas company. It turns out that the transactions were due to an error by a depositor who had the same account number as Lawrence's campaign except for the last digit, and the money has since been reimbursed.
◉ Ethics commission staff raised the flag on this in a February memo that did not identify whose campaign had this problem, calling it "a matter of concern that someone caused these funds to be used for purposes unrelated to any political campaign." The explanation turned out to be quite innocent.
⛓️ A revamped prison that turned into a campaign issue takes a first step.
◉ On Wednesday, Gov. Janet Mills and Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty will cut the ribbon on the redesigned Maine Correctional Center in Windham, which has been configured to give more space for rehabilitation programs including addiction treatment.
◉ This was a campaign issue between Mills and former Gov. Paul LePage in 2022. He railed against her administration's shelving of his plan to build a drug treatment facility at the center. The Mills administration countered by saying his project was $75 million over budget by the time they got it, and that their more individual approach to treatment was working.
◉ The reconstruction in Windham has been unfolding gradually over the past few years and has been scheduled to finish this year. |
|
📱Want daily texts from me tipping you to political stories before they break?
Get Pocket Politics. It is free for 14 days and $3.99 per month if you like it. |
|
What we're reading
🗳️ The governor's paid leave criticisms may push Maine toward a referendum.
🌬️ This Bangor-area group prepares the region for more extreme weather.
🧲 Northern Maine's magnet school needs $2 million to avoid cuts.
🪖 An unearthed jacket gives a glimpse into a Maine prisoner-of-war camp during World War II.
🦝 An attempted raccoon pedicure may have exposed Mainers to rabies. Don't take your raccoon to town. Here's your soundtrack. |
|
| 💰 Want to advertise in the Daily Brief? Write our sales team. |
|
|
|
