AUGUSTA – The state ethics commission sided with a Wilton lawmaker trying to regain his legislative committee post Thursday but sidestepped the bigger question of whether Rep. Thomas Saviello abused his political position to benefit his employer, International Paper.

The commission’s decision – as well as the way it was made – infuriated representatives of several environmental groups waging feisty campaigns to remove Saviello from the legislative body that oversees Maine’s environmental regulations.

“They just slammed the door in our faces and showed utter contempt for the public,” said Naomi Schalit, executive director of Maine Rivers.

Saviello, the environmental manager of IP’s plant in Jay, has been under fire for months from several environmental organizations that contend his job should disqualify him from serving on the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Conservation Law Foundation, and Maine Rivers, among others, also allege that Saviello repeatedly tried to influence Maine Department of Environmental Protection staff on matters affecting IP and the company’s regulatory costs.

Saviello again denied any wrongdoing Thursday and said he was pleased with the ethics commission vote.

The controversy also has rattled Augusta, forcing the resignation of former DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher and prompting legislative leaders to form a special work group to re-examine lawmaker ethics rules.

By unanimous vote Thursday, the four commission members disagreed that Saviello’s dual roles at IP and on the committee constituted a conflict of interest.

Maine has a long tradition of allowing lawmakers to apply their professional know-how to committee work, the commission members agreed. These citizen legislators simply must recuse themselves from issues that would directly benefit them or their employers, members said.

“I don’t think the simple fact that someone works for an organization or firm should prohibit them from serving on a committee where they might be quite knowledgeable,” said member Andrew Ketterer, a former lawmaker and former state attorney general.

The vote followed a two-hour, closed-door meeting of the commission, Saviello and his attorney.

Already frustrated at being shut out of the meeting, representatives of the environmental groups reacted angrily when the commission voted not to investigate a lengthy list of allegations against Saviello compiled by the Conservation Law Foundation.

The commission acknowledged that the foundation’s contentions – including charges that Saviello repeatedly attempted to weaken state rules on reporting oil spills to benefit IP – were serious allegations.

But the members said the allegations would have to come from another lawmaker to merit a formal inquiry. Rules require lawmakers to take an oath, under penalty of law, whenever filing a complaint against a colleague. There is no such threat of punishment against nonlegislators who file false complaints, however.

“We simply didn’t feel it rose to the level of a full investigation,” said Jean Ginn Marvin, the commission chairwoman and a former legislator.

Saviello’s critics, meanwhile, said the decision stripped the public of any remedy against unethical lawmakers.

Maine Rivers’ Schalit derided the vote as “legislators” and “former legislators protecting themselves.”

Steve Hinchman, staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, predicted it would send a message to corporations and special interest groups that the best way to influence policy is to get one of their own elected.

“It’s a terrible precedent for Maine,” Hinchman said. “Special interests will rule the day. This makes Maine now more like Washington, D.C.”

Marvin countered that Thursday’s decision would not set a precedent and that future complaints filed with the commission would be evaluated on their individual merits.

Saviello said he was pleased with the vote and would ask House Speaker John Richardson to reappoint him to the Natural Resources Committee. Richardson reassigned Saviello to the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee last month pending a decision by the ethics commission. The House speaker could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Saviello said he never voted on issues that solely affected IP, but was unapologetic for supporting the paper industry on legislative issues.

“My community and my district is a forest products industry district,” he told commission members. “It needs the jobs.”

Hinchman said afterward that he hopes a lawmaker will come forward to request an investigation. State law, however, would prohibit everyone but Saviello from disclosing that such a complaint was filed until the investigation is complete and a hearing ordered.

Disclosing an investigation prematurely is a Class D misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 and imprisonment of just under a year.