Maine Democrats file ethics complaint accusing Republicans of spreading ‘fake news’

The Maine Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint Jan 23 accusing the state’s Republican Party of working hand-in-hand to spread bogus claims through a secretive website masquerading as a news organization. Democrats asked Maine’s ethics commission to investigate possible campaign finance violations by the Maine Examiner and Maine’s Republican Party in their publication of “fake news stories” about Lewiston (ME) mayoral candidate Ben Chin before December’s runoff election. “To put it plainly, this is the worst of politics: pushing misleading or outright false claims while hiding behind the safety of anonymity,” Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett said. Bartlett said the Republican Party “decries fake news, but then happily turns around and peddles it to achieve their political goals” by spreading tales from the online Maine Examiner, which provides no information about its ownership or leadership.