Piotti submits bill barring campaign payments to spouses

August 28, 2007

AUGUSTA – The controversial campaign practice of paying a spouse for work on Clean Elections campaigns could be outlawed in the upcoming legislative 2008 session, if a bill sponsored by State Rep. John Piotti is passed into law.

Piotti and Rep. John Brautigam have submitted a bill that would make it illegal for a Clean Elections-funded candidate to pay their spouse or domestic partner for contract work on their campaign.

Piotti, D-Unity, is serving his third term in the Maine Legislature. He is the House Chairman of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee, and earned accolades from legislative leaders in both parties during the 2007 legislative session for leading his diverse committee during their months-long work on a comprehensive bipartisan tax reform proposal that passed with strong support in the House and nearly passed the Senate in June. He will be the primary sponsor of the bill, and will work closely with co-sponsor Rep. John Brautigam to work the bill through the legislative process.

“ There’s a problem not just in Maine, but nationally, where candidates essentially put money donated to their campaigns right back into their own pockets by paying a spouse for ‘contract work’,” said Piotti. “Congress passed a ban on the practice for federal races in July, and it’s especially important that we pass one in Maine for state races because it’s taxpayer money.”

The bill, “An Act to Ensure Integrity in Financing Publicly-Funded Campaigns,” would prevent a publicly-financed candidate for Governor or the Legislature from directing state funds to a spouse or domestic partner for services provided.

The family member could still be reimbursed for expenses incurred during the campaign – for materials purchased, such as gasoline, software, signage materials, etc. But they may not be paid a salary, or for contract services or consulting fees.

The potential for candidates to direct money back into their family bank account through a spouse came to light in the 2006 gubernatorial election, when independent candidate Barbara Merrill paid a company owned and operated soley by her husband more than $200,000 to develop television advertisements. Only about half of that payment was spent on producing the ads and purchasing broadcast space, while the rest - $109,000 according to reports - was charged as a fee by Phil Merrill for his services.

Merrill’s payment to her spouse was not illegal, but it set off a controversy early this summer raising questions about the ethicality of a candidate paying a spouse with taxpayer funded money meant to support an election – in effect directing that money into the candidate’s family income – and whether it should be allowed in the future. The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices has pushed for a law change since the Merrill case, particularly through a recent column in the Portland Press Herald by Commission member A. Mavourneen Thompson calling on the Legislature to either prohibit or limit payments to relatives.

Former Assistant Attorney General and fellow bill cosponsor Brautigam, D-Portland, is no stranger to the Clean Elections Program. He was the legal director for Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, the citizens’ organization that successfully drafted and lobbied for the historic Clean Elections law. He said that the still-young law will require regular revisions to ensure that it protects the electoral process from manipulation and misuse.

“ Candidates should absolutely not be allowed to make money off of the Clean Elections program,” said Brautigam. “It stands in direct defiance to the spirit of the program itself, which is to take personal benefit out of campaigning and return honor, transparency and fair play to the election process.”

Piotti and Brautigam have not decided whether they will also push for a limit or ban on payments to other family members, but both say that it is something they will consider as they work on the language for the bill in the coming months.

“ We’re not trying to discourage people from recruiting the services of a spouse or domestic partner for campaign work,” said Piotti. “But there’s a real problem with paying them a salary for it. We’d like to think most spouses would want to volunteer their time.”

Legislative leaders must approve the bill request before it can be considered for the short 2008 session.

The first-in-the-nation Maine Clean Election Act established a voluntary program of full public financing of political campaigns for candidates running for Governor, State Senator, and State Representative. Maine voters passed the MCEA as a citizen initiative in 1996.

Contact:

John Piotti, 437-2493
John Brautigam, 797-7131
Travis Kennedy, Communications Director, 287-1433