If Sen. David Trahan is offered the position of Executive Director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) next week, the senator said he would resign his seat in the senate in January 2012.
As of press time Aug. 3, Trahan (R-Waldoboro) was expected to publicly announce the timeline for his possible resignation at a press conference later that day. In telephone interviews on Aug. 2 and 3, Trahan said he expects SAM to offer him the position after their board meeting on Aug. 8, at which time he will make official his resignation from the senate before the new session starts in January.
“I can’t commit to a resignation deadline until I know I have the job” Trahan said. “It would be crazy to do that.”
After meeting with party leadership on Aug. 2, Trahan said that if he is offered the job at SAM, he plans to begin in the position Oct. 3. At that time he will resign from the Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Committee. Trahan will remain in the senate and maintain his position as chair of the taxation committee, which he said is scheduled to meet five times this fall.
“I’ll remain as a senator to fix our tax code, and that’ll probably run until early to mid-December,” Trahan said. “Once the taxation issue is fixed, I’ll resign my seat as Senator.”
The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices told Trahan they strongly oppose him retaining his seat during the regular legislative session next year while serving as SAM director. In light of that opinion, Trahan said he has “no interest in trying to serve out” the remainder of his term. “It was never my intent to tread any gray areas,” he said.
The next legislative session doesn’t begin until January, but the legislature may convene in a special session in September to address congressional redistricting.
In an email to the senator, Jonathan Wayne, Executive Director of the ethics commission, told Trahan the commission feels it’s appropriate for him to retain his seat through the end of this year, but cautioned that some members of the public may perceive it as a conflict of interest.
“Because of the limited activities demanded of you as a State Senator between the First and Second Regular Sessions, the Commission staff believes this proposal is more likely [than finishing his term] to be acceptable under the legislative ethics law,” provided that Trahan doesn’t lobby on behalf of SAM during that period, influence legislation in which SAM has an interest, or otherwise mix his duties as SAM director and state senator, Wayne wrote.
However, in the email, the ethics commission “recommends that you consider whether some members of the public will likely perceive a conflict of interest if there is a mere possibility that your performance of any legislative responsibility could be affected by your SAM employment,” Wayne wrote. “The Maine Legislature has urged its members to consider avoiding situations which may create an appearance of conflict.”
The only scenario that the ethics commission did not express any misgivings whatsoever about in Wayne’s email is Trahan resigning his senate seat prior to taking on any position at SAM. “This scenario is the safest option from the standpoint of full compliance with the conflict of interest laws…” Wayne wrote.
In previous interviews, Trahan said he would like to finish his term, if it was decided that doing so did not constitute a conflict of interest. At the time, he cited examples of other legislators retaining their seats after accepting similar positions at advocacy organizations.
After talking with the ethics commission, Trahan said the commission told him those individuals should not have retained their seats, and the commission would not have ruled in favor of those individuals retaining their seats, had they come before the commission.
