Politics
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AUGUSTA, Maine — A group that has run ads on behalf of Maine Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Bobby Charles faces an ethics complaint over the strange way it was organized.
Reclaim Maine raised $70,000 from two allies of Charles last year as a political action committee registered with the Federal Election Commission, an unnecessary step to influence state elections. It registered as a state-level group in March before spending a small amount of money on ads boosting the candidate.
That odd arrangement sparked a Friday ethics complaint citing a Bangor Daily News article from March that alleges that the group’s fundraising and expenses in 2025 should have triggered state-level reporting requirements and that disclosures on the pro-Charles ads are inadequate.
“When committees delay registration despite engaging in activity intended to affect a Maine race, it deprives the public of transparency at a critical time,when contributions are being raised and political influence is being shaped,” Ben Bussiere wrote in the complaint.
Representatives of Reclaim Maine did not respond to a request for comment. Staff of the Maine Ethics Commission already had concerns about the group’s activity and plan to bring the issue to the five-member campaign finance regulator at a May 6 meeting, Jonathan Wayne, the commission’s executive director, said.
Reclaim Maine has been a bit player in the election so far, spending just over $2,400 on digital ads on Facebook and sister platforms. It has not reported financial activity to the Maine Ethics Commission since registering on the state side last month.
On the federal level, it got $50,000 last year from longtime Augusta-area lawyer and philanthropist Robert Fuller Jr., who was shot to death in a Maryland nursing home last month. Police have charged a worker at the home with murder.
The other $20,000 came from Florida businessman Stephen Ritzi, a Maine native who grew up with Charles. He told the BDN that he was solicited with the understanding that the money was going to help the candidate. That fundraising and spending by the group last year triggered Maine’s reporting requirements, Bussiere’s complaint alleges.
Charles, a lawyer, lobbyist and former federal official, has been the frontrunner in the seven-way primary for the right to succeed Gov. Janet Mills behind a campaign in which he has styled himself like President Donald Trump.
But his campaign is trying to fend off moneyed candidates including entrepreneur Jonathan Bush, lobbyist and former Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason and former fitness executive Ben Midgley.
