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Casino Backer Criticized on Ethics

May 03, 2010 - AUGUSTA -- The ethics commission ruled Thursday that a casino lobbyist should have registered with the state sooner than he did, and that his company also failed to disclose pertinent financial information.


State law requires lobbyists to register with the state if they spend more than eight hours lobbying in one month.


Peter Martin told the commission he did not believe he had spent more than eight hours lobbying at the State House in March, when lawmakers were discussing a citizen initiative to put a casino question on the ballot.


Martin is spokesman for Black Bear Entertainment, the group that will ask voters in November for permission to build a resort casino in Oxford County.


Martin said he registered with the state as soon as he was alerted to a complaint filed by casino opponent Dennis Bailey of Casinos No!


"I didn't believe I reached the threshold," Martin told the commission Thursday. "But for the sake of transparency, I registered."


Martin said he later compiled a list of how much time he spent at the State House, which amounted to 10 hours.


But he said he believes state law does not require him to count as lobbying time he spent working with other stakeholders on a possible competing measure. Once he subtracted that time, he said the total fell to less than eight hours.


"He was spending a considerable amount of time at the Legislature," Bailey said. "I don't think it's his hobby."


Commission member Francis Marsano voted with the 4-1 majority to support a finding that Martin should have registered with the state sooner than he did.


"I did not find his testimony credible," he said.


The penalty for failing to file is $200.


Bailey also filed a complaint with the state because Martin did not disclose receipt of a $50,000 payment.


Black Bear attorney Dan Walker said he and others who prepare political action committee reports work closely with bankers to make sure all pertinent financial information is disclosed. In this case, the payment to Martin did not come through on a normal bank statement because it was drawn from a separate money market account, Walker said.


"It was inadvertent," he said. "It was a mistake."


But the commission voted 5-0 that the omission was significant enough to declare the report in nonconformance with state law.


The penalty could be up to $4,806 -- 1 percent of the total amount of expenditures for the reporting period.


Martin said it will be up to the partners in his firm to decide whether to appeal the penalty.


"That was a clerical error," he said. "We're not going to try to hide any payment."


Bailey said it was either sloppy record keeping or an attempt to avoid disclosure.


"Peter Martin is the head of an organization," he said. "I think he should know his $50,000 payment better be on the PAC report."


by Susan M. Cover, April 30, 2010, Kennebec Journal

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