The Maine College Democrats asked the state of Maine on Thursday to investigate the Maine College Republicans for alleged violations of campaign finance laws.
The organization is alleging that Maine College Republicans Chairman Nate Walton is improperly working for state Sen. Chandler Woodcock's gubernatorial campaign while also leading a Republican political action committee.
"I have no comment at this time," Walton, a Bates College student, told the Orient late Thursday.
The complaint was filed with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, which is an independent state agency that administers Maine's election rules.
In the complaint, Maine College Democrats Co-President Oliver Radwan, a Bowdoin junior, requested an investigation into the relationship between Walton's work with the Maine State College Republican Organization political action committee (PAC) and his role as a field director for Woodcock's campaign.
The Democrats alleged that Walton was working as Woodcock's field director while simultaneously leading a College Republicans PAC fundraising drive to collect $25,000 that would be used to hire Maine field workers.
Maine law prohibits political action committees from coordinating about expenditures with the campaigns of Maine Clean Election Act (MCEA) candidates. Woodcock is running as a MCEA candidate, which means that he is choosing to receive state campaign financing and cannot raise his own contributions.
A Woodcock campaign finance report filed in late September shows that Walton received paychecks from the Woodcock campaign in July, August, and September. The reported disbursements totaled about $4,600.
In the College Republicans PAC's filings with the state, Walton's phone number and address are listed for the PAC's contact information.
"Unless Nate Walton is able to firewall his own mind, keeping the knowledge of the College Republican's [sic] activities separate from his duties as a Woodcock staffer; there is a serious problem here," Radwan said in a press release sent to Maine news media organizations Thursday evening.
The Orient learned about the complaint after business hours had closed on Thursday and was unable to contact the commission for comment about the investigation.
Complaints to the commission by various Maine political entities have been common during this campaign season.
The Bangor Daily News reported earlier this week that the Maine Republican Party was intending to file a complaint with the ethics commission over Gov. John Baldacci's campaign over alleged impropriety leading up to former President Bill Clinton's visit to Maine on Monday.
The Maine Democratic Party is also planning on filing a complaint today against Woodcock's campaign alleging different violations, WGME-TV reported late Thursday.