AUBURN – Maine State Senator and independent candidate for governor Rick Bennett is demanding more transparency in campaign finance, asking opponents Democrat Hannah Pingree and Republicam Bobby Charles to disclose the names of who he said are anonymous donors funding their campaigns.
“The people of Maine deserve to know exactly whom their next governor will answer to,” he told reporters in Auburn Thursday.
Bennett said many donors conceal their identities through political action groups and other organizations.
“These dark money forces pull the strings from behind the scenes,” he said.
Specifically, Bennett called on Charles to disclose “his corporate lobbying and consulting clients, how much each has paid him, the work he performed on their behalf, and the government action he sought.”
“After his decades of representing powerful interests, Maine voters deserve to know whose interests he’s been advancing, and whether those relationships will follow him into the Blaine House,” Bennett said.
Charles is the founder and current president of The Charles Group, a consulting firm in Washington. The Charles campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Spectrum News.
Bennett also called out Pingree for accepting money from public interest groups that have not disclosed a list of their donors.
Bennett challenged Pingree to ask “the dark money organizations supporting her campaign to disclose the donors behind their spending. If they refuse, she should publicly reject their support.”
Pingree’s campaign also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bennett also called on both candidates to join him in backing a donor transparency law to help track the sources of campaign spending in Maine. He said he tried to pass a similar bill in the last legislative session, but it failed. If it had passed, Bennett said, it would have required any PAC disclose the names of donors giving $5,000 or more.
“If someone is trying to influence a Maine election, Maine voters have a right to know who they are,” he said.
Bennett did not say exactly how much money he believed both candidates raised through anonymous donors, but he said he believed a group affiliated with the Democratic Governors’ Association has already put aside $11 million in advertising funds.
“Maine voters deserve to know who is paying for those ads and what they expect in return,” he said.
Bennett also mentioned Planned Parenthood of New England and Maine Conservation Voters. Both groups, he noted, have endorsed Pingree and spent money on her behalf, but both opposed the bill he proposed in the last session to “demand truth in disclosure.”
Bennett said dark money was behind “the carnival of corruption that has infiltrated our government,” and pledged not to be bought out by special interests.
“As governor, I have made it clear that I will answer to the people of Maine, and only to the people of Maine,” he said.