Ethan Strimling and his wife, Mary Beeaker, on Election Night. Beeaker was often featured during Strimling’s campaign, and her support was said to have been invaluable to Strimling’s victory. photos/Ethan Strimling’s public Facebook page

The Strimling Affair
by Chris Busby

When does a politician’s private life rightly become the public’s business?

There are no official rules governing how journalists answer this question, but there are some signposts to follow. For example, if an elected official commits a felony on their personal time, that’s always newsworthy. Reckless behavior that could potentially harm themselves or others — like D.W.I. (George W. Bush) or smoking crack (Marion Barry, Rob Ford) — also makes the grade at respectable media outlets.

But beyond that, the journalistic terrain gets murky. For example, I’ve seen elected officials break traffic laws before (those state Legislature plates are a dead give-away), but never felt compelled to write about it. And if I listed every elected official who’s ever passed me a joint at a party — well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be invited to many parties.

The media’s willingness to cover politicians’ sex lives has changed dramatically in the past 50 years. As Seymour Hersh noted in his devastating takedown of John F. Kennedy’s political career, “The Dark Side of Camelot,” reporters covering the president willingly turned a blind eye to JFK’s serial philandering. That sort of wink-wink, nudge-nudge collusion between the press and the powers-that-be is definitely gone for good, and that’s a good thing.

Reporters and editors have come to realize that the romantic entanglements of powerful people can have serious consequences for the public. For example, David Petraeus’ affair with Paula Broadwell could have critically compromised national security had the threat of making that secret relationship known been used to blackmail the former four-star general, who was the Director of the C.I.A. when the scandal broke.

There’s gossip, and there’s protecting the public interest, and it’s in the spirit of the latter than I reveal the following.

Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling has separated from his wife, Mary Beeaker, whom he married in 2004, and is now in a relationship with Stephanie Clifford, his former campaign manager. Strimling acknowledged these facts to me on Feb. 23, but does not intend to issue an official statement or make further comment on the matter. He and Beeaker had no children.

Clifford, who is also married, lives in Cape Elizabeth and has school-age children. Mayor Strimling has been staying at the Hyatt Place Portland hotel, in the Old Port, off and on for the past several weeks. He said he intends to rent an apartment on Congress Street and move into it soon.

Stephanie Clifford with her winning candidate on Election Night.

So, why does this matter?

First of all, the relationship has already raised suspicion that Strimling was romantically involved with his campaign manager last year, and hid that fact from his wife and the public until after the election, out of concern the revelation would sink his campaign. That would constitute a gross misrepresentation of character and a breach of trust that voters deserve to know about. I know of two local politicians, both female, who supported Strimling’s mayoral bid and are now outraged by his conduct.

I’m not aware, at this point, of any hard evidence that Strimling’s professional relationship with Clifford became a romantic relationship prior to the vote last November, but the timing certainly stinks. Are we to believe that nothing happened between them during the months of intense campaigning prior to Election Day, when the pair were working closely together, and suppose, instead, that it was only after the election, when Mayor Strimling would have little or no need of Clifford’s services — and while he was assuming the huge responsibilities of his new job — that they fell in love and decided to commit to a relationship that’s broken up both their homes? Strimling declined to comment on the record regarding when the relationship began, but the theory that it started after Election Day doesn’t pass the straight-face test. (Clifford also managed his failed mayoral campaign in 2011.)

There’s also the fact that Clifford is a partner and president of Baldacci Communications, a public relations and lobbying firm. One of her two co-partners is Bob Baldacci, the former governor’s brother and a real estate developer who previously led a high-profile effort to redevelop the publicly owned Maine State Pier. The firm’s lengthy client list includes Cate Street Capital, Central Maine Power, the National Resources Council of Maine, and numerous political figures of the past and present. Baldacci Communications continues to do work for Strimling, but the mayor said their role is now limited to filing campaign finance reports.

Strimling recently raised the issue of revisiting development of the Maine State Pier. Up till now, his discussions about this inside or outside City Hall have taken place without the participants’ knowledge that Strimling has a romantic relationship with the business partner of one of the prime movers behind the previous effort to privatize this public asset. Strimling seemingly would have allowed that to remain the case had The Bollard not made the relationship public.

My last area of concern involves the Hyatt Place hotel, which is owned by local developer Tim Soley. Soley has numerous commercial properties in town and is in the midst of a debate over legal noise levels in the Old Port that has significant financial implications for the Hyatt. The rooms there aren’t cheap, and it wouldn’t be affordable to live there for an extended period of time on the mayor’s salary. (One wonders why Strimling would decide to stay in an expensive new hotel, where rates easily approach $1,000 per week, rather than seeking less expensive options.)

If Soley has offered Strimling a discount of any sort for his accommodations during this difficult personal time, that would constitute a big favor that, at the very least, the public should know about. But Strimling told me he is not receiving any kind of discount for his stay at the Hyatt which, in any event, will soon end.

So, there you have it. And just for the record: I’ve never gotten stoned with the Strim.