AUGUSTA – Pedaling softly on not-so-thinly-veiled allegations of partisan politicking by Democrats, Maine Republican leaders demanded Friday that state elections officials channel as much energy into investigating violations of election laws by Democrats as they have for Republicans.

In prepared remarks, state GOP Chairman Kathy Watson took aim at Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky and Attorney General G. Steven Rowe, both of whom have served as Democratic speakers of the House during the last eight years. Both men were elected to their current terms by the Legislature where Democrats outnumber Republicans.

Watson’s remarks came on the heels of this week’s decision by Gwadosky to refer allegations of false swearing against Matthew Allen, a former Orono Republican candidate for House District 123, to the Attorney General’s Office for criminal investigation. Among other alleged petition improprieties, Allen told Orono election officials that he thought it was acceptable for him to affix the signatures of local voters to his petitions as long as he had their permission over the telephone. The law states the signatures should have been signed in Allen’s presence. Last year, a Kennebec County Superior Court jury found an ex-House GOP staffer guilty of false swearing in a similar incident and he was sentenced to 30 days in jail with all but 48 hours suspended.

“Falsifying signatures on a petition is a serious breach of the petition process and is significant violation of the election laws,” Gwadosky said Friday.

While GOP officials offered no comment on the case against Allen, they pointedly questioned why Gwadosky did not refer admitted petition violations to Rowe by Democrats in five separate House races last week. The violations included improper notarization and adding signatures to a petition after the document had been sworn and notarized.

“I am troubled to learn that the Secretary of State’s office has neglected to conduct investigative hearings on the conduct of notaries in three of these cases in which a petition was apparently notarized on behalf of an immediate family member,” Watson wrote in letters to Gwadosky and Rowe. “I request that the Attorney General’s Office conduct a review of the violations to determine if criminal charges are warranted. … It is especially important that the Attorney General and Secretary of State do everything within their power to see that all candidates are held to the same standard.”

In an earlier press release, Gwadosky described the Democratic violations as “technical” errors.