Independent Expenditures

With two days to go before Election Day, outside groups have spent $606,961 in independent expenditures on Maine legislative races.

The biggest spenders are the Democratic and Republican parties and their respective campaign committees.

Democrats have spent $351,665 between the Maine Democratic Party, the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and the House Democratic Campaign Committee.

Republicans have spent $161,698 between the Maine Republican Party, the House Republican Fund and the Maine Senate Republican Committee.

Other outside groups spending more than $1,000 are:

Spending in legislative races: 

As follows are the top Republicans and Democrats targeted by independent expenditure spending.

The dollar figure represents the total amount spent on behalf of the candidate mentioned combined with the funds spent in opposition to his or her opponent.

If the candidate’s opposition is running under the Clean Elections Act, then he or she is entitled to matching funds.

Top 5 state Senate Democratic candidates:

The Maine Truck PAC has made independent expenditures in two state Senate races. They spent $2,610 on behalf of Sen. Paula Benoit (R-Phippsburg), up against Seth Goodall (D-Richmond), and they spent $3,924 on behalf of Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello (R-Poland), up against Deborah Simpson (D-Auburn).

The money was spent on print ads, done through AXON Design Management, which contracts with a number of groups.

The PAC has also made an expenditure on behalf of state Senate candidate Mary Andrews (R-York) this cycle, along with state House candidates Susan Wasserott (R-Woolwich), John Cashwell (R-Bangor), and incumbent Kerri Prescott (R-Topsham. With the two recent contributions, they have spent $11,736 this cycle.

With the Maine Clean Elections act and contribution limits on privately financed legislative campaigns, the most interesting place to look at legislative race spending is at the independent expenditure reports, filed with the Maine Ethics Commission.

The Maine Democratic and Republican parties, and campaign committees for the Senate Republicans and Democrats, are the biggest third party spenders. They have the following grand totals of campaign contributions as of Sunday evening:

• $253,084 Maine Democratic Party
• $98,765 Maine Republican Party
• $72,816 Senate Democratic Campaign Committee
• $6,067 Maine Senate Republican Committee

Outside groups are kicking in as well. These organizations have kicked in the following grand totals this fall:

• $13,001 Maine Prosperity PAC
• $8,569 Build Maine PAC
• $5,320 Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund
• $1,790 Maine People’s Alliance
• $1,659 Equality Maine PAC
• $578 Kennebunk Democratic Committee
• $490 Maine Friends of Animals
• $406 League of Young Voters PAC
• $238 Cummings Leadership Fund

Click here for a list of state Senate races that are benefitting the most from these groups, and here for a list of state House races.

Third-party groups have contributed to the following state Senate races:

S.D. 1: $75,319 spent in the race between Sen. Peter Bowman (D-Kittery) and Mary Andrews (R-York)

S.D. 15: $65,160 spent in the race between Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello (R-Poland) and Deborah Simpson (D-Auburn)

S.D. 22: $62,363 spent in the race between David Miramant (D-Camden) and Christopher Rector (R-Thomaston)

S.D. 19: $40,948 spent in the race between Sen. Paula Benoit (R-Phippsburg) and Seth Goodall (D-Richmond)

S.D. 3: $40,085 spent in the race between Sen. Jon Courtney (R-Sanford) and Robert Stackpole (D-Sanford)

It has been a busy weekend at the Maine Democratic Party, with three new Independent Expenditure reports filed over the weekend with the State Ethics Commission.

Two of the reports were for State House candidates. The Dems spent $900 dollars in 40 House races in just about every corner of the state. The Party spent just over $35,000 dollars, most of which went to a printing costs.

The Maine Democratic Party filed an independent expenditure report on October 11, spending $27,900 dollars in 31 State House races.  According to the report, the expenditures were $5300 for postage and $22,600 for literature to a company in Connecticut.  The Democrats spent $900 per house district.

Many, if not most of the Republican candidates participating in the Clean Election Act will now be authorized to spend an additional $900 dollars in their own campaigns.

The Maine Democratic Party recently printed up $13,194 worth of literature for state Senate challenger Deborah Simpson (D-Auburn). As a result, her opponent and incumbent Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello (R-Poland) got the same amount in matching funds, per the Maine Clean Elections Act.

Both candidates are running with public funds.

Simpson told PolitickerME.com that she wasn’t aware of the expenditures being made on her behalf, beyond seeing the mailers, so couldn’t comment.

Snowe-Mello said she plans to use the matching funds. This cycle she has been entitled to $14,101 as a result of independent expenditures on behalf of her opponent.

State Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello (R-Poland) has just received another $13,194 in matching funds for her re-election bid courtesy of the Maine Democratic State Committee which spent that amount on behalf of her Democratic opponent.

The Democratic committee may also face a $5,000 fine for filing a late report about the expenditure.

Paul Lavin, assistant director of the Ethics Commission, said he expects the committee to request a waiver or a reduction to the fine.

Lavin said that the $13,194 independent expenditure is not unusual for state Senate races.

Senate District 15, where Snowe-Mello is running against Rep. Deborah Simpson (D-Auburn), has been the target of several outside groups.

The best way to see which races are the most competitive are through the Independent Expenditure reports provided to the Maine Ethics Commission.  These "I.E. reports" are a compilation of money spent by a PAC, a Party Committee or some other entity to influence an election. 

So far all of the action has been on the Senate side with the democrats making expenditures in five Senate districts.  In the first report, the Senate democrats spent $2600 dollars on phone calls to a California company for Robert Stackpole in District 3, Deb Simpson in District 15, Dave Miramant in District 22 and Seth Goodall in District 19.  Opponents in each of those races will receive matching funds ranging from $402 to $926 dollars.