{"id":62008,"date":"2017-11-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=62008"},"modified":"2017-11-01T09:52:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T16:52:32","slug":"ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices is investigating whether the campaign behind the proposal to bring a casino to York County<\/a> hid the source of more than $4 million in funding.<\/p>\n

\"Maine
Former campaign treasurer Cheryl Timberlake says she didn\u2019t know where funding for the casino initiative came from, but Lisa Scott disagreed. (Image: Steve Mistler\/Maine Public)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The commission ultimately listened to over 10 hours of testimony for attorneys representing several individuals closely tied to the campaign.<\/p>\n

Groups supporting Question 1, which would authorize the state to accept an application for a license to operate a casino or slot machines at a yet-to-be-determined site in York County, have spent nearly $9 million to drum up support ahead of next week\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

Business Ties Lead to Regulatory Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the key figures in the probe is Miami real estate developer Lisa Scott. She is the sister of Shawn Scott, the casino entrepreneur who would be receiving the York County license if the referendum were to succeed on November 7.<\/p>\n

The investigation is looking into the $4.5 million that was put into the campaign over a two-year period during which supporters looked to gather enough signatures from Maine<\/a> voters to get their proposal on the ballot. During this time, Lisa Scott formed four different ballot question committees, including Horseracing Jobs Fairness, which contributed funds to the effort.<\/p>\n

But all of those committees were also taking donations and loans from businesses with ties to Shawn Scott, and the complex financial ties drew scrutiny from state regulators.<\/p>\n

Questions include whether some parties were late in registering and filing campaign finance reports, and whether other groups who didn\u2019t file such reports should have done so.<\/p>\n

Campaign Leaders Trade Blame During Hearing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Two key players in the campaign engaged in a round of finger-pointing during questioning on Tuesday. Augusta lobbyist Cheryl Timberlake, who served as the treasurer for the ballot committee, claimed that she was completely in the dark about the source of the funding if it didn\u2019t come from Lisa Scott herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cLisa was the face and the manager of this initiative,\u201d Timberlake said during the hearing. \u201cAll of the behind-the-scenes discussions regarding money transfers and exchanges were not known to us.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Scott, however, says that she made Timberlake aware of her brother\u2019s involvement in funding the effort before the campaign began. She also says that as a close friend, Timberlake had to have known that she did not have the personal finances to fund such a project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hate to say this because I consider Cheryl one of my closers friends, but her testimony today simply was not true,\u201d Lisa Scott said.<\/p>\n

If regulators decide that violations did occur, they could impose stiff dollar-for-dollar penalties, meaning a fine of $4 million or more is possible. That would dwarf the largest fine in the commission\u2019s history, which stands at less than $60,000.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Lisa Scott and Progress for Maine (the political action committee now at the head of the casino effort) requested that the ethics committee delay announcing any decision or punishment until after next week\u2019s vote, but that request was rejected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices is investigating whether the campaign behind the proposal to bring a casino to York County hid the source of more than $4 million in funding. The commission ultimately listened to over 10 hours of testimony for attorneys representing several individuals closely tied to the campaign. Groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":62009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,60,13],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEthics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Maine regulators are investigating the murky finances behind a well-funded campaign to approve a new casino in York County.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maine regulators are investigating the murky finances behind a well-funded campaign to approve a new casino in York County.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-01T19:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-01T16:52:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/\",\"name\":\"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-01T19:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-01T16:52:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Maine regulators are investigating the murky finances behind a well-funded campaign to approve a new casino in York County.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg\",\"width\":2048,\"height\":1536,\"caption\":\"Former campaign treasurer Cheryl Timberlake says she didn\u2019t know where funding for the casino initiative came from, but Lisa Scott disagreed. (Image: Steve Mistler\/Maine Public)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\",\"name\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign","description":"Maine regulators are investigating the murky finances behind a well-funded campaign to approve a new casino in York County.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign","og_description":"Maine regulators are investigating the murky finances behind a well-funded campaign to approve a new casino in York County.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2017-11-01T19:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-11-01T16:52:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2048,"height":1536,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casino.org Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casino.org Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/","name":"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg","datePublished":"2017-11-01T19:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-11-01T16:52:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77"},"description":"Maine regulators are investigating the murky finances behind a well-funded campaign to approve a new casino in York County.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/37356848864_19b98d68cf_k.jpg","width":2048,"height":1536,"caption":"Former campaign treasurer Cheryl Timberlake says she didn\u2019t know where funding for the casino initiative came from, but Lisa Scott disagreed. (Image: Steve Mistler\/Maine Public)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ethics-commission-probes-financing-maine-casino-campaign\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ethics Commission Probes Financing for Maine Casino Campaign"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77","name":"Casino.org Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Casino.org Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62008"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}