Candidate’s ad cites husband’s credentials

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MACHIAS – A political advertisement in one of Washington County’s weekly newspapers for Diana Boone, a candidate in Tuesday’s primary election for a Washington County commissioner’s position, cites qualifications belonging to her husband, not her.

“Re-elect Boone County Commissioner” reads the ad, indicating: “Chairman of the Board past 5 years; 8 years of experience in county leadership; Would appreciate your vote on June 8; Paid for by the candidate.”

Those are the credentials of Bill Boone, chairman of the Washington County commissioners. He is ineligible to run for re-election because he works for the U.S. Postal Service in Eastport. As a federal employee, he is prohibited from running in a partisan election under the federal Hatch Act. When he ran for re-election in 1997 and 2001, he did not realize he was breaking federal law. After an investigation by the Office of Special Counsel in Washington, D.C., which investigates violations of the Hatch Act, he was allowed to finish his term.

No one was available at the Office of Special Counsel on Thursday afternoon to address the Boone issue.

Bill Boone hopes his wife wins election as county commissioner, because if she does, he said she will resign immediately from the four-year seat which pays a $285-a-month stipend after taxes. At that point, Bill Boone would be hopeful of gaining an appointment from the governor’s office back to the commissioner’s bench.

“There is nothing confusing or deceiving about this ad,” Bill Boone said Thursday. “I don’t work that way.

“It doesn’t say my wife’s name, because it doesn’t have to. There is no state law against this.”

Diana Boone, when reached at her workplace Thursday, declined to comment on the situation.

From Augusta, the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices said that the state commissioners aren’t touching this issue.

“The commissioners believe this is a matter for the public’s opinion,” said Jonathan Wayne, the executive director for what is commonly called the Maine Ethics Commission. “It’s between the candidates and the voters.”

Wayne said that Bill Boone had checked with his office on the legality of what his wife intended to do within the ad. Wayne told Boone that “the commission does not make judgments about the appropriateness of language in political advertisements.”

Wayne said Thursday he had also taken calls from some of Diana Boone’s opponents concerning the ad. He told those callers that “the question doesn’t fall within the jurisdiction of the state ethics commission,” and that the commission “would not be taking action based on those telephone complaints.”

Boone said that he and his wife both paid for the ad because it is “our campaign.”

Diana Boone’s candidacy has been low-key this spring, with Bill Boone doing most of the talking on her behalf.

Diana Boone faces two other Democratic candidates for the Second District seat, which represents voters from Eastbrook to Machias. They are Albion Goodwin of Pembroke and Bickford Ramsdell of Cutler.

Diana Boone lives in Eastport.

Christopher Gardner, the Republican candidate from Dennysville, has no opposition in the primary election.

The Boones’ plan was outlined in a Bangor Daily News front-page article in March. Boone said then he was not aware of the conflict with the Hatch Act when he first won election to the Washington County Commission in 1997. He had been appointed to fill a vacancy in 1996.

He wants to be appointed again – and that’s why Diana Boone, not Bill Boone, is registered as a candidate for the position.

Vacancies among county commissioners are appointed by the governor.

Lee Umphrey, Gov. John Baldacci’s spokesman, said earlier this week that if there is a Washington County vacancy created by the resignation of a commissioner who is elected as a Democrat, the governor would ask the Washington County Democratic Committee to recommend two or three candidates. Based on that, Baldacci would make his choice.

Diana and Bill Boone placed the ad in the May 28 edition of the Quoddy Tides, a weekly newspaper published in Eastport.

Edward French, the Quoddy Tides publisher, said he accepted the ad for publication with only a short-lived hesitation.

“I talked it over with the Boones, and they said they had checked with the Secretary of State’s Office, whether the ad was legal or misleading. They said they were told where it doesn’t mention a first name, they felt it was OK.

“I thought about it a bit. [Bill] had been upfront with us when we wrote an article about his wife running for the office. He has been very clear what the plan is. I had not felt there was an attempt to mislead [with the ad].”

Washington County is divided into three districts. District 1, which covers the northern tier, includes the Calais area north. District 2 covers the southeastern portion from Eastport to Machias. District 3 covers the western tier from Cherryfield to Whitneyville.

Commissioner Winola Burke of Calais, representative of District 1, is giving up her seat to run as a Republican candidate for the District 31 state representative position. Republican Kevin Shorey, also of Calais, is the only candidate for the District 1 county commissioner seat.

The seat for John Crowley of Addison, the District 3 commissioner, is not up for election this year.