Clean Election case referred to attorney general

AUGUSTA – The state ethics panel voted unanimously Friday to refer an allegation of misusing public funds by an ex-legislator to the Maine attorney general.

An attorney for former state Rep. William Walcott of Lewiston said Walcott would “welcome” such a step and would continue to acknowledge wrongdoing.

“Mr. Walcott is not going to deny anything,” attorney David Van Dyke told the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices during a brief appearance at which Walcott did not speak.

According to a memo by the commission staff, Walcott has acknowledged using all of the Clean Election funds from his last campaign for other purposes and submitting bogus expenditure reports to state overseers.

Walcott stepped down from his House District 72 seat last month in the middle of his third term.

The commission staff recommended that the five-member panel refer the case to the state attorney general for possible criminal prosecution before considering civil penalties of its own. The panel voted 5-0 to do so Friday.

The amount of Maine Clean Election Act money involved was $4,874. According to the commission staff, all has been recovered.

The commission staff memo said Walcott declined to account for his use of campaign money and that while his attorney said Walcott was in “modest financial” circumstances during 2006, neither the candidate nor his attorney “offered any other explanation.”

Walcott’s letter of resignation to House Speaker Glenn Cummings, citing “time commitments with employment outside the Legislature,” was dated Aug. 23 and set his date of resignation as Aug. 24.

A commission staff count says in the 2004 and 2006 elections, 621 general election candidates were publicly funded under the Maine Clean Election Act but that only six were believed to have tried to misuse the money.