WMTW Channel 8| by Jon Chrisos | January 25, 2023
AUGUSTA, Maine — A Maine lawmaker is being asked to resign over allegations that he forged signatures to get taxpayer money to fund his campaign.
Rep. Clinton Collamore (D-Waldoboro) was indicted in December 2022 after an investigation by the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics, and Election Practices was sent to the Office of the Maine Attorney General.
He is indicted on 20 counts of aggravated forgery, 12 counts of unsworn falsification, and one count of criminal violation of the Maine Clean Election Act.
“During the summer of 2022, Candidate Registrar Erin Gordon noticed a pattern in the contributor signatures on Mr. Collamore’s forms. The staff re-examined the forms and identified more than 30 contributors whose signatures did not seem genuine. Our opinion was that the candidate had signed for the contributors,” according to a memo from Commission Executive Director Jonathan Wayne.
Collamore received more than $14,000 in Maine Clean Election Act funds, according to the Commission.
“In light of these allegations, the speaker of the House is requesting Rep. Collamore’s immediate resignation,” a spokesperson for House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) said.
Because it’s a pending legal matter, Ross had no additional comments on the matter.
Maine’s Total Coverage reached out to numerous Waldoboro residents listed on the indictment as having had their signatures forged. Two such residents confirmed that they had not themselves signed the form in question.
Collamore told Maine’s Total Coverage he would be talking with his attorney Wednesday afternoon to plot out his next steps.
He would not say if he had any plans to resign.
Collamore beat his Republican challenger by nearly 300 votes in November.
Source: Maine lawmaker asked to resign after fraud indictment (wmtw.com)