Maine House speaker calls on lawmaker to resign over fraud allegations

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The Maine House speaker is calling on a state representative to resign over allegations he violated the Maines Clean Election Act during his 2022 campaign.

Rep. Clinton E. Collamore Sr., D-Waldoboro, was charged last month with multiple counts of aggravated tampering, tampering without oath and violations of the Clean Election Act, according to the indictment filed. on December 15 in Lincoln County Superior Court.

Rep. Clinton Collamore

House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, asked Collamore, 62, to step down.

In light of the allegations, the Speaker of the House is calling for the immediate resignation of Rep. Collamores, according to a statement released Tuesday afternoon by Talbot Ross spokeswoman Mary-Erin Casale. Casale said Talbot Ross would have no further comment on the matter.

Collamore’s 42-page indictment alleges he committed 20 counts of aggravated forgery, a Class B felony punishable by 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine; 11 counts of unsworn tampering (Class D); and one count of violation of the Maines Clean Elections Act (Class E).

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the Maine Commission on Government Ethics, released a memo Tuesday advising commission members of the election misconduct allegations against Collamore and Sanford’s Matthew Toth, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the district. 143 of the Chamber. Toth eventually withdrew from the November 2022 general election after being denied clean election funds. Both issues are to be submitted to the Maine Ethics Commission at its Jan. 30 meeting.

About 200 legislative candidates receive Clean Election Act funding each election year, Wayne said. To be eligible, candidates must collect Qualifying Contributions, or QCs, of $5 each from at least 60 registered voters in their district and submit them to the Commissions Office by April 20 in the election year. A contributor must give $5 and sign a form certifying that their contribution comes from personal funds.

Commission staff determined that Collamore had forged several signatures of contributors. He received over $14,000 in Maine Clean Election Act funds.

Staff re-examined the forms and identified more than 30 contributors whose signatures did not appear to be genuine. Our opinion was that the nominee signed for contributors, Wayne wrote in his memo to the committee.

The commission referred both cases to the Attorney General’s Office for further investigation. The AG office obtained indictments for both candidates, Wayne said. The indictment against Toth was released on December 5, 2022. Toth could not be reached Tuesday evening for comment.

Attempts to join Collamore on Tuesday were also unsuccessful. He did not answer his cell phone or respond to an email message, and a message left at his attorney’s offices in Boothbay Harbor was not returned.

Collamore won the House District 45 seat in November by a narrow margin over Republican challenger Lynn Madison. District 45 includes Waldoboro, Bremen, and the Isle of Louds in Lincoln County and the towns of Friendship and Washington in Knox County.

Lincoln County Democrats described Collamore, in a profile released after it was announced that he was running as a fourth-generation fisherman, a graduate of Medomak Valley High School and a graduate of the University of Maine Augusta, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration. He worked as a machinist at Bath Iron Works for 20 years and was president of the Dockyard Machinists’ Union. He is also a fisherman and was a Waldoboro coach for over 18 years.

According to state lobster license records, Collamore is the captain of Just Right, a 37-foot boat based in Bremen. In 2019, he landed 15,975 pounds of lobster.

Former Rep. David R. Burns, a Republican from Alfred, was charged with forgery and theft in 2012 after winning the House District 138 seat. He embezzled more than $1,000 in public campaign funds to pay his personal expenses, then filed fake campaign finance. reports, according to the indictment.

Burns was sentenced in June 2012 to six months in prison after pleading guilty to misdemeanor forgery and theft charges in connection with his 2010 election campaign. Burns represented House District 138 for just over a year before resigning from his seat.

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