Portland Mayor Ed Suslovic (with then-Ocean Properties executive Bob Baldacci in background) and challenger Dory Waxman. (photos: Busby, courtesy Waxman)
Ethics charges fly in Council race
Suslovic and Waxman wrangle over lobbying, campaign lit
By Chris Busby
Portland Mayor Ed Suslovic and one of the challengers to his re-election bid are trading accusations of ethical impropriety.
Challenger Dory Waxman has filed a complaint with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices charging that Suslovic improperly quoted Maine House Speaker Glenn Cummings in campaign materials.
Suslovic is challenging Waxman’s claim that she did not lobby city officials on behalf of her former employer, Ocean Properties, the New Hampshire-based hotel and resort development company that lost its bid to redevelop the Maine State Pier last year. He is also criticizing Waxman’s stance on whether she would recuse herself from any future council vote on the pier’s redevelopment, given her past work for Ocean Properties.
A third candidate, Tina Smith, is also running for Suslovic’s at-large council seat, one of four seats that represent the entire city.
Waxman said she worked for Ocean Properties during its pier bid last year as a “community liaison” in Portland, not a lobbyist like the lobbyists OP employs to influence lawmakers in Augusta, who are required by law to register as such. In an e-mail to The Bollard last August, she wrote that her job “was simply to bring the message to the neighbors and citizens of Portland on [OP’s] behalf.”
Waxman currently works for Bay State Gas/Northern Utilities, a job she also said involves “community liaison” work, not lobbying. [At Waxman’s request, The Bollard agreed to run a correction in our September print issue clarifying the nature of Waxman’s work for OP and the utility, based on the fact she is not a registered lobbyist; in our August cover story, “The Mayor Must Be Crazy,” we had reported that Waxman was a “paid lobbyist” for OP and performed “lobbying and communications work” for the utility. The city of Portland does not require lobbyists to register.]
Suslovic said Waxman has lobbied him during his time on the council on behalf of the developer and the utility. In addition to making several phone calls last fall “trying to influence my vote on the pier,” Suslovic said Waxman set up a meeting with him at an Old Port coffee shop that was also attended by Mitch Rasor, a landscape architect working for OP at the time.
“When I left that meeting, I didn’t feel ‘organized,'” Suslovic said. “I felt lobbied.”
“I did not meet with Ed to talk to him about Ocean Properties,” said Waxman. Asked about the 2007 meeting with Rasor, she acknowledged that she arranged and attended the meeting, but said, “I did not participate in that conversation. Mitch did…. I wasn’t selling the product. That was not my job. I was very clear about staying away from that.”
“If it wasn’t so sad, it’d be laughable,” said Suslovic. “That’s certainly not my recollection of the meeting… that she was playing Marcel Marceau the entire time.”
Given Waxman’s past work for OP — which lost its bid to Portland-based developer The Olympia Companies last December — Suslovic said she should not participate in any future votes involving Olympia’s redevelopment of the pier. (If Olympia is unable to proceed with its plans for the pier — due to financial or regulatory issues, or even, conceivably, city council action — some officials and observers involved in the process have said OP should be given an opportunity to pursue its proposal. Waxman told The Bollard she would not necessarily advocate for that, but would seek guidance from fellow councilors as to how to proceed should Olympia’s bid fail.)
Last week, The West End News reported that when asked whether she would recuse herself, Waxman replied emphatically, “No! … I’m the messenger. I’m not a lobbyist.” A couple days later, the Portland Press Herald picked up on the flap and reported that Waxman said she would recuse herself if other councilors raised concerns.
In a subsequent interview with The Bollard, Waxman said both reports were incorrect. She said she told both papers she would recuse herself if the city attorney — also known as corporation counsel — advised her to do so.
“That’s what I call leadership,” Suslovic scoffed sarcastically. “Let someone else decide.”
Suslovic said that though Waxman may no longer be on OP’s payroll, her campaign is getting a lot of money from supporters of the developer’s pier proposal.
An invitation to a fundraising reception for Waxman held at Shipyard Brewing Company on Oct. 1 lists 26 prominent individuals as hosts, at least half of whom publicly supported OP’s bid. Among them: former OP executive Bob Baldacci; former Portland City Councilors and Mayors Peter O’Donnell and Jim Cloutier; former Councilor Donna Carr; current Councilors Nick Mavodones, Jill Duson and Dan Skolnik; and attorney and lobbyist Harold Pachios, whom OP hired this summer to examine the city’s initial negotiation terms with Olympia.
Asked about the makeup of this group, Waxman said, “There were, I believe, a few people that were possibly supporters of Ocean Properties,” but said, “a lot of the other people are just regular people I know in Portland.”
“They put together this fundraiser because they believe in me,” Waxman continued. “I think it has more to do with their belief in my integrity as a fair and honest person who’s a community member who happens to make my life work… bringing people to the table. That’s something that’s missing from the existing council. My opponent is somebody who doesn’t have a knack for bringing people together.”
Waxman’s ethics complaint charges that Suslovic inappropriately included a quote from House Speaker Cummings on campaign palm cards and his Web site. The quote is from a Portland Press Herald article published last April, in which Cummings described Suslovic, a close friend, as “visionary.”
Waxman contends the quote’s use implied that Cummings, whom she also considers a close friend, is endorsing Suslovic’s candidacy. Cummings has not endorsed either candidate. The daily reported that Cummings asked Suslovic to remove the quote from his site and other campaign materials, which Suslovic has done. Reporter Elbert Aull also noted that a similar complaint lodged during a primary race two years ago resulted in a fine that is still under appeal before a state court.
Suslovic called the complaint “a groundless charge.”
“I think it’s a weak attempt to deflect attention from the real issue here, which is her attempt to hide the fact she was a lobbyist for Ocean Properties,” he said.
The complaint is still under investigation by state authorities.
