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Ethics Hearing Finds Senator Accused of Double Dipping Broke No Laws

The Maine Senate Ethics Committee held an unprecedented hearing Thursday to review complaints that two GOP senators engaged in a double-dipping scheme to rip off taxpayers.

When it was over, Sen. Ron Collins was exonerated of any wrongdoing, while Sen. Andre Cushing awaits a future ruling. Election-year politics and heated words dominated the entire proceeding.

The election is less than two weeks away, yet its consequences for the balance of power in the Maine Senate loomed over an ethics panel that has never met since it was created 40 years ago. The central issue was whether Collins of Wells or Cushing of Newport used campaign funds to pay for travel and lodging while getting reimbursed by the Legislature for the same expenses.

The panel voted 4-1 to clear Collins of breaking any rules or laws. And the judgment on Cushing will have to wait until a separate investigation into whether he failed to disclose campaign contributions is completed by the Maine Ethics Commission. The panel also voted to review the legislator reimbursement system.

But Republicans on the panel were incensed that the Collins controversy made it this far. They accused Democrats of attempting to smear the Republican in their zeal to retake the Senate majority in November. And they had strong words for Sen. John Patrick, a Democrat from Rumford.

Earlier this week, Patrick called a news conference to accuse Collins and Cushing of defrauding taxpayers. But when the committee met to review Patrick’s complaint, he wasn’t there.

“I have to say Mr. Chairman, I find this to be stunning. Sen. Collins and Sen. Cushing have been trashed in the press based upon allegations of fraud made by Sen. Patrick,” says Republican Sen. Roger Katz, a member of the panel, who ripped Patrick for not attending. “He’s hiding behind a letter. You know, we’re talking about people’s reputations here. There are allegations of fraud. That means breaking the law.”

Katz proceded to grill Senate Minority Leader Justin Alfond, a Democrat from Portland who also participated in the news conference earlier this week. Alfond stood in for Patrick Thursday.

Alfond didn’t accuse Collins of breaking the law, but framed the senator’s receipt of $2,400 in travel per diems as an ethical violation.

“That is wrong. You are double-dipping my business. You are double-dipping the state of Maine,” he says.

But Katz focused on whether Collins committed anything unlawful. He repeatedly asked Alfond to prove that the Republican had broken any rules or committed fraud.

“We weren’t brought together in the court, we brought together around the conduct of ethics,” Alfond says.

“You have brought this into the court of public opinion, Sen. Alfond, and the word fraud has been used, which has a very clear meaning and that means violation of the law. So I’d like to ask you about the law,” he says.

The heated exchanges continued for several hours. Collins told the panel he was the victim of election year mudslinging. Josh Tardy, a lobbyist and attorney who testified on his behalf, described Democrats’ assertions as “hit and run” politics.

Tardy also argued that Collins’ travel per diem is an entitlement, considered part of his allowance as a state legislator and subject to income tax. Also, he said, the per diem likely didn’t fully cover Collins’ complete expenses. That’s why he used campaign funds, something which is also legal.

Ultimately the two Democrats on the five-member panel were unable to steer the debate from a legal issue to an ethical one. After the hearing, Collins demanded an apology.

“It’s an awful thing to be called a forger or a felon, or whatever I want to call it. I’m outraged by it. I was Monday and it hurt deeply, my family and friends,” he says.

The panel voted to table the complaint against Cushing, the assistant majority leader. The Newport Republican has been pulled into a wave of allegations, both sparked by a civil lawsuit brought by his sister, Laura Cushing McIntyre.

McIntyre also filed a complaint with the Maine Ethics Commission that her brother didn’t disclose donations to his political action committee from companies that he controls. The other complaint tabled by the Senate Ethics panel deals with Cushing’s receipt of $3,100 in travel reimbursements by the Legislature after he paid for the same trips with his PAC.

Journalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.