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Ethics Complaint Filed · Newsradio WGAN

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  Former fitness executive Ben Midgley and his gubernatorial
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  campaign filed an ethics complaint on Monday alleging
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  that rival Bobby Charles team created an anonymous political
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  site targeting Midgley without public disclosure as required by
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  Maine law. The complaint, filed with the
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  state Ethics Commission and obtained by the Bangor Daily
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  News, argues that Charles campaign appears to have skirted
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  campaign finance disclosure law and worse, purposefully lied by
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  creating a communication that attacked one of their opponents
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  and included an incorrect financial disclosure in this
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  negative communication. When the Charles campaign
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  thought that they had been caught, they then attempted to
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  cover up their involvement by removing the website.
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  Their desire to prevent a surging candidate from advancing
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  to the Republican nomination clearly clouded their judgment.
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  The complaint comes as the Republican primary heats up
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  among seven contenders seeking to replace outgoing Democratic
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  Governor Janet Mills. If you've been watching, by the
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  way, any of the debates, you would certainly agree with that
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  because it is starting to turn into a food fight.
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  It is getting much more contentious.
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  There are many more attacks crossing all over the place
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  amongst the candidates in these debates.
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  And, and well, now it now it's real.
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  Now it's real Before they could just kind of float above it all.
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  You know, they could be they're, they're, they're not going to
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  devolve or descend into that kind of gutter politics, Sir.
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  No, we're above that. And then once we get to 0 hour
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  and people are voting and there's absentee ballots and,
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  you know, decisions are being made, all of a sudden, you know,
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  now is the time to remind everybody that that guy over
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  there is a scumbag. Let's get him.
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  You looked at the that actually been Mitchley exposed.
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  Actually, you know, funny enough, I know it exists and
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  didn't bother. I'm looking at it right now.
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  Ben Midgley exposed. Woke Jim CEO wants to run Maine,
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  27 years a Democrat. There he is, Midgley.
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  Is Midgley exposed? It's Midgley exposed.com if
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  you're looking. For.
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  Right. Yeah, wow, what a what a evil
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  looking picture of him too. Well done.
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  I mean black and white. The way they doctor him up right
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  and then they they make. Yeah, I'd like to see that
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  original picture. Yeah, well, he shaded off over
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  on to the right there. You know, it looks like
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  sinister, I guess. Yeah, they get like a blackboard
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  behind him, which I bet you is not the original background.
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  And he's black and white and he's got a very serious that
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  looks like a general corporate headshot that they've made into.
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  A I just like woke Jim CEO. That's great.
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  I'm I'm surprised they didn't say Jim bro like Jim bro Jim
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  bro. Ben Midgley woke as F.
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  Yeah, but and to to go back and refresh everybody's memory, he
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  started, he was one of the people behind Planet Fitness, I
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  believe, and it started his own. I can't remember what.
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  Crunch. Was crunch fitness OK?
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  All right, that would be his. OK.
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  And both very successful. Corporate woke?
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  I'm looking through the thing here.
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  Corporate woke ISM It was built around DEI focused corporate
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  America and now he wants to bring the same progressive
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  corporate mindset to Augusta. Those are all buzz phrases for
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  for conservative Republicans. DEI woke, Yeah.
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  Yeah. Well, anyway, these things are
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  very. I've made these.
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  OK. I've made these.
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  These things are as old as time. As long as the Internet has
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  existed, there's been attack websites like this.
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  So it's kind of par for the course.
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  It's actually fairly well made, well made overall.
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  I'm sure that most of the stuff inside of it is just garbage,
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  but that's usually true of attack sites.
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  It's just, you know, opportunistically nonsensical
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  unless it's a grand planner attack site.
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  I got to tell you, like that stuff is just using what he
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  actually said and what he's actually done.
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  This is like interpretive. That's my that's always my line
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  with these like hit pieces that people drop in like oppo
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  research. Like if they're dropping, you
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  know, this person did this and it's true, you know, then OK,
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  it's like, that's fine. Like I have no problem with
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  that. And it's probably a service to
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  talk about when you talk like the woke CEO thing, like that's
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  definitely an interpretive analysis of his time as Aceo of
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  Crunch Fitness. Like was Crunch Fitness actually
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  like that? Was it not actually like that?
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  Like you'd actually have to do a little bit of a digging and
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  figure out what you think of it if you actually knew anything.
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  So it's interpretive, it's an analytical and that kind of
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  stuff I just don't really usually take very seriously.
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  So anyway, so he's suing over it.
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  He's suing over it. That was my story was that the
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  complaint has now been filed by the Midgley campaign.
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  I've been looking at the same story.
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  I'm going to make it into my mix here.
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  I'm, I'm trying to figure out if they actually can they know for
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  sure that he created it because one of his campaign strategist,
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  Charles campaign strategist doesn't remember being created.
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  I, I don't know, you know well. The disclosure on it says
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  independent political commentary not paid or authorized by any a
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  candidate or candidates committee.
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  So they are claiming to be just random, you know people.
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  Oh, I just started a very professional looking micro site
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  that was here to deliver very well researched background on a
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  major political opponent of the front runner.
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  We just randomly did this. It's like, yeah, sure you did.
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  Like if this is what you believe.
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  And if you think this guy sucks, like say so with your name on
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  it. I mean, one of the things I've
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  always believed about politics is that if you're actually, I
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  mean, you know, pick whoever, if you're talking about somebody
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  and you're, you're dropping negative stuff on it and the
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  negative stuff is accurate and true, then you shouldn't be
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  afraid of having your name on it.
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  And if it's not accurate and true, then you shouldn't be
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  saying it. So pick one.
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  If you believe in this, throw your name on it.
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  That's what I say. Back to that story.
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  The Charles campaign, which took down a site attacking Mason and
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  Marge, did not immediately respond to a request for comment
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  from the Bangor Daily News Strategist for his campaign said
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  Friday that he did not recall the site.
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  The trio and real estate executive David Jones have
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  ramped up criticism of Charles, the trio being Midgley, Bush and
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  Mason, as well as David Jones. They argue that he promises to
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  slash $4 billion from the state budget and that that is an
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  unrealistic plan and that he is a divisive figure who would face
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  a steeper challenge in the general election.
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  Midgley's campaign manager, Lauren LePage, called on the
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  Ethics Commission to review and investigate midgleyexposed.com
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  and a March 26th campaign expenditure of $50.00 to a A
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  Charles strategist for Godaddy's web services.
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  The site was registered on GoDaddy on that same day.
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  Even if the site was not from the Charles campaign, it marked
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  a clear attempt to influence voters without proper
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  disclosure. She wrote the site she cited,
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  excuse me, the state's required language for a non affiliated
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  political communication not paid for or authorized by a
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  candidate. This, by the way, has some very,
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  very familiar echoes of an old dispute from many moons ago.
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  If anybody remembers this, you should look this up, Jason
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  Taylor, just for your own, your own education, your own
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  background about this, that I'm about to tell you.
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  Back in 2010 when the gubernatorial race that year
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  happened, same situation wide open, like 8 Republicans
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  running. You had I think 7 Democrats, 6
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  Democrats, 7 Democrats. You had independents like Elliot
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  Cutler in that race. And Elliot Cutler started to
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  become a big problem, a big thing for the Democrats in
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  particular. In fact, he was the 2nd place
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  finisher that year. There was an anonymous secret
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  microsite that was created called the Cutler Files.
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  The Cutler Files. And boy, when they've liked to
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  have put some additional things in those files back then now in
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  retrospect right back, but it was, you know, it's like his
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  time as ADC lawyer is, you know, you know, the shady deals and
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  all the, you know, this is typical attack site stuff.
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  But it was there was no disclosure.
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  I mean, there was nothing. It didn't even say like, hey,
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  this is a whatever. It was just a site.
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  Like there's nothing on it. And it became a big story in the
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  thing because no one knew who did it for a while.
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  We do now, but nobody knew who did it.
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  And there were accusations that were go flying back and forth
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  all over the place about who was responsible for it and you know,
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  somebody's breaking the law or whatever.
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  There was lawsuits filed, Cutler got litigious, etcetera.
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  Eventually it came out that Dennis Bailey, who used to be
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  the communications director for Angus King, worked for Baldacci
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  too, I believe, and was the at the time campaign manager for
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  Rosa Scarcelli. Remember that name?
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  Anybody remember Rosa Scarcelli? I do not, but you do that.
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  I think my audience might. But anyway, she was one of the
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  Democratic candidates that year. So democratic in fighting here.
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  Well, sort of but but he he like that was Cutler was an
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  independent. So it was like Democratic
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  attacking independent. OK.
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  And I think it was just because Dennis didn't like Cutler.
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  Like I I don't even think it was a political thing.
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  I think he was just like this. Is so Cutler was independent
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  then OK, he. Was.
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  Well, yeah, I mean, he was a lifelong Democrat, just like
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  Angus King, but he decided my pathway is easier as an
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  independent, just like Rick Bennett did.
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  Rick Bennett's doing the same in reverse.
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  I. Just like the phrase, I'm
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  independent. Just like Maine.
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  It's on Angus's side right there, independent.
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  The original Angus King the. Original Angus, not the third
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  junior. He never goes by junior, by the
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  way. Never goes by junior, but he is
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  he is a junior. But it's it's the third or the
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  the third how the? 3rd is the third I I by the way,
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  Angus has, I think a good Angus. Little Angus has a good sense of
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  humor about that because he did not give me an ounce of crap
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  when he came in here and I did the interview with it.
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  I. Think he's Judy or two.
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  Chuckles about it, I think. I hope.
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  I hope because it's in good fun, friends.
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  I mean, when you have the last name King and you have 1/3 next,
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  I mean, how much more aristocratic can it sound?
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  You'd have to play with it. It's fun come.
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  On He's not even British. He's not.
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  Well, no, not that we know. Not that we know.
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  Maybe he's hiding an accent?