AUGUSTA, Maine — UPDATE: Craig Hickman (D-Winthrop) has won Tuesday's special election in Senate District 14. Results can be found here.
The Maine Ethics Commission met Monday morning to consider a complaint by two Gardiner residents about electronic signs used by a candidate for the Senate District 14 seat.
The complaint alleges four electronic signs used by William Guerrette of Pittston as part of his campaign for the Senate District 14 seat did not include information about who paid for them.
After deliberating for more than two hours, the Ethics Commission found that there was a violation made by the candidate in that the four signs in question did not say whether they were authorized by the candidate, nor who made them or financed them. The motion on whether or not a violation was made met a four to one vote, with Commissioner William Schneider as the single opposing vote.
The Ethics Commission did not find the violation met the threshold of receiving a penalty. The vote to not deliver a penalty was also four to one, with Commissioner Meri Lowry as the single vote in opposition. Lowry had suggested a penalty of $50 to $100.
Guerrette, a Republican, and Democrat Craig Hickman of Winthrop are candidates in a special election Tuesday to fill the Senate District 14 seat left vacant when Shenna Bellows was elected Maine secretary of state.