More than a dozen Lincoln County residents contributed to a political action committee that is responsible for what Maine House District 49 candidate Jeffery Evangelos has called, “the worst example of political hate in this election cycle.”
Maine House District 49 comprises the towns of Cushing, Friendship, Union and Warren. Evangelos lives in Friendship and is running independent of party affiliation.
Only two of Maine Conservative Political Action’s donors live in District 49, whereas the organization’s treasurer, all three principal officers and 15 of a total of 28 donors live in Lincoln County.
At issue is a mailer that was sent to District 49 voters. The mailer shows a lit stick of dynamite on both sides and bears the headline, “Jeff Evangelos is too extreme.”
A quotation on the mailer cites three times a statement the candidate made during a 2007 interview that was part of the Finding Friendship project at Friendship Village School.
Evangelos said at that time that he left the Democratic Party because he felt it had not met his expectations.
The Maine Conservative Political Action flier contained a fragment of the following statement: “I am politically active, and I ran for the Maine Legislature. I’ve run twice,” Evangelos said in 2007. “I ran once when I was a kid. I was 24. Both times I ran, I got 49 percent of the vote. Recently I did resign from the Democratic party. I am disappointed that they haven’t taken Bush and impeached him for lying to us into that war in Iraq.”
Maine Conservative Political Action treasurer Eden Spear of Nobleboro was asked Oct. 18 if she was aware of the mailer, Spear said, “I have no comment, thank you,” and disconnected the call.
Principal officer Gordon Colby of Waldoboro said he was aware of the flier and said the PAC is interested in supporting any conservative candidate in Maine. He said the information in the flier is “100 percent accurate” and that Evangelos has been “misrepresenting himself and his opponent.”
“I don’t feel like it’s negative at all,” Colby said. “I think it’s positive. It’s letting the people in the district know it’s the truth.”
Evangelos’ Republican opponent, Robert Carter of Warren, said he has seen three of Evangelos’ printed brochures and none has mentioned him. “I haven’t seen anything that Jeff has put out at all regarding me,” Carter said.
Ronald Carroll of New Harbor said PAC officers James Carlton Jr. of Waldoboro and Bruce Sedgwick of Jefferson visited him and told him they were looking for money “specifically to elect some Republican candidates for the upcoming Legislature in Maine, to represent a truly conservative position.”
He said he has not seen the flier that targeted Evangelos.
“The Maine Republican Party, as such, has been moved off with the Democrats so they really don’t any longer represent my positions on the issues,” Carroll said. He cited Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, as an example.
Carroll said he was asked for a contribution to help three specific candidates but could not provide their names.
“I don’t keep up with Maine politics,” he said. “I was assured by the people who came here that they support Gov. LePage’s reforms in the state.”
He said he was shown a flier that featured the three candidates being supported by the PAC.
Carroll said it was not negative to stand in opposition to a candidate’s positions. He did not respond to questions about the graphic images of dynamite on the mailer.
“I have confidence in the people who came over,” Carroll said. He said he talked with Carlton and Sedgwick and liked their positions on certain issues.
“I gave these people $1000 to support a candidate,” he said. “They don’t have to run every political piece they create past their donor list. Nobody does that.”
“The press is incapable of taking an objective position on these things,” Carroll said. He ended the call without answering any further questions.
Carter said he knows Colby, Spear and Carlton and that no one mentioned the mailer to him. He said he has heard there are two fliers targeting Evangelos and saw one when it arrived in his mail.
“I don’t think one way or the other about what a PAC does,” Carter said. “I just do what I can control. I haven’t run a negative campaign. That’s the bottom line.”
He said he would not use such a mailer as part of his campaign. “My strategy is to talk about Bob Carter, not to talk about Jeff Evangelos.” He said he makes his decisions as a voter based on the candidates’ stated positions.
He said fliers such as the Maine Conservative Political Action mailer are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and that, under current law that protection extends to organizations.
“I have made a comment that I didn’t agree with it,” Carter said. I don’t agree with it now. I could tell them that I wish they wouldn’t print it but they have every right to print it regardless of what I say. I would prefer that there was no PAC involvement in politics, period; that no money can be spent on any candidate that is not authorized by a candidate. That’s an idealist view.”
“If I had control for a day, PACs would be eliminated,” Carter said.
Calls to Sedgwick and Carlton were not returned. Attempts to reach other Lincoln County businesses and resident who were major donors to Maine Conservative Political Action were also not successful.
The PAC’s largest contributors were State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin ($5000) and Elm Venture Fund LLC of Freeport ($10,000).
“This is the Tea Party’s Joseph McCarthy moment,” Evangelos said in a written statement. “They have no decency. There are explosive devices – bombs – pictured on this mailing on each side. One of them is beginning to detonate under my face.”
He said references that call him as an extremist, combined with the images of explosives, are “beyond the pale.”
Evangelos said he asked his Republican opponent, Robert Carter of Warren, to call on the PAC “to stop these vicious smears” and said that Carter refused to sign a Maine Ethics Commission pledge to run a clean campaign.
Evangelos called the PAC “a Tea Party front” and asked that they explain why they used pictures of explosives under his name. “I am going to fight these tactics with everything I have,” he said.
