Paul Hatch

Once upon a time, in a Kingdom not so far away, there were three people who decided that they would serve their King, but needed the other peasants of the kingdom to pay for it.

Monsieur WallCaught, Dame Hatchett and her betrothed, Sir Hatchett set upon the land in search of voters, whilst spending the treasures bestowed upon them by the people.

A Skowhegan couple has to pay back nearly $3,000 in Clean Elections funds because they could not provide documentation proving the purchases were actually made.

Paul Hatch ran for Senate in 2006. His wife, Pamela, ran for the House of Representatives, both as Democrats and Clean Elections Act candidates.

Both lost, and both were selected for random audit by the state’s ethics commission.

The audit, which started in June and was released last week, cited them for a number of violations, the most serious of which was that they did not have proofs of purchases for postage and copies they itemized on their reports.

A Democratic Skowhegan husband and wife team has come under scrutiny for possible misuse of almost $3,000 in Clean Elections funds.

Paul Hatch ran for State Senate in District 26, losing to Republican Peter Mills by 3,706 votes. His wife, Pamela Hatch, ran for House District 85, losing to Republican Donna Finley by 335 votes.

According to a memo from Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the state ethics commission, the Hatch’s couldn’t show proof of $2,973.54 of public funding between their campaigns.

I know this will come as a shock to many readers, but it would appear that we may have another “situation” regarding candidates and their publicly financed campaigns.  According to an audit report, prepared by the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, Pam and Paul Hatch have numerous violations.  Yes, that would be both of them.