Two key players in the campaign engaged in a round of finger-pointing during questioning on Tuesday. Augusta lobbyist Cheryl Timberlake, who served as the treasurer for the ballot committee, claimed that she was completely in the dark about the source of the funding if it didn\u2019t come from Lisa Scott herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cLisa was the face and the manager of this initiative,\u201d Timberlake said during the hearing. \u201cAll of the behind-the-scenes discussions regarding money transfers and exchanges were not known to us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nScott, however, says that she made Timberlake aware of her brother\u2019s involvement in funding the effort before the campaign began. She also says that as a close friend, Timberlake had to have known that she did not have the personal finances to fund such a project.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really hate to say this because I consider Cheryl one of my closers friends, but her testimony today simply was not true,\u201d Lisa Scott said.<\/p>\n
If regulators decide that violations did occur, they could impose stiff dollar-for-dollar penalties, meaning a fine of $4 million or more is possible. That would dwarf the largest fine in the commission\u2019s history, which stands at less than $60,000.<\/p>\n
Attorneys for Lisa Scott and Progress for Maine (the political action committee now at the head of the casino effort) requested that the ethics committee delay announcing any decision or punishment until after next week\u2019s vote, but that request was rejected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices is investigating whether the campaign behind the proposal to bring a casino to York County hid the source of more than $4 million in funding. The commission ultimately listened to over 10 hours of testimony for attorneys representing several individuals closely tied to the campaign. Groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":62009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n