BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 15, 2021
Maine’s campaign finance watchdog rejected a request from Central Maine Power Co. allies to investigate a top opponent of their $1 billion corridor project over a large contribution from a political group she runs to a nonprofit she also runs. The Maine Ethics Commission called a snap meeting on Friday afternoon to handle the complaint from the CMP-run political committee Clean Energy Matters accusing Sandra Howard, who leads the nonprofit Say No to NECEC, of failing to register as a political action committee after records showed the group received $140,000 from an affiliated group. Another nonprofit, Stop the Corridor, is in a protracted legal battle with the commission to not disclose its donors. It has resisted efforts to turn over that information confidentially so the state can determine if it violated campaign finance laws.