By Naomi Schalit and John Christie
Senior Reporters
May 9, 2012 © Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
Philip Roy Jr., photo Jim Evans, The Kennebec Journal

Phil Roy wanted a camper. It cost $15,000, but he didn’t have the money. What Roy did have was access to cash – someone else’s cash. Roy, the longtime Republican politician from Somerset County, managed a federally funded agency’s checking account as well as the checking account of the state Republican Party, where he wasMore

By John Christie & Naomi Schalit
Senior Reporters
May 3, 2012 © Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
Richard Pattenaude, photo Bridget Brown, BDN

Hiring records at the University of Maine System show loopholes, waivers and personal and political connections played a significant role in the appointment of seven state officials into some of the highest paying non-teaching jobs in the system. Six of the seven worked for the same state agency during the administration of former Gov. JohnMore

By Naomi Schalit and John Christie
Senior Reporters
April 13, 2012 © Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
Maine State House in Spring, Photo John Christie

AUGUSTA — The state has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations run by legislative leaders or the spouses of high-level state officials since 2003. But because of a loophole in ethics law, the public didn’t know about it. That won’t happen again. A bill to require disclosure of state contracts with legislators andMore

By Naomi Schalit and John Christie
Senior Reporters
April 11, 2012 © Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting
Paul Gaynor, First Wind CEO, signs one of the blades for a turbine erected in the Stetson Wind project expansion. Photo: Gabor Degre, BDN

State regulators on Tuesday approved a multi-million-dollar deal that could fund construction of hundreds of wind turbines in Maine and the Northeast, despite a staff recommendation to reject the proposal. All three members of the Public Utilities Commission voted for a complex series of transactions among First Wind, Bangor Hydro and Maine Public Service andMore

By Naomi Schalit and John Christie
Senior Reporters
April 4, 2012 © Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting

When you get an “F,” there are usually two ways to respond: Blame the teacher or try to do better the next time. Maine leaders are taking the second route – vowing to do something about the failing grade the state got last month in a 50-state study of the laws and practices that couldMore

Recent Articles

Workforce Board Emails

May 9, 2012

Board Emails (PDF) Board Emails (Text)

Dept. of Labor letter to Hoffman

May 9, 2012

Dept of Labor Letter to Hoffman (PDF) Dept of Labor Letter to Hoffman (Text)

PUC staff: no-go for energy firms’ wind deal

January 19, 2012

Last April, Maine’s largest wind energy developer, First Wind, trumpeted a multimillion-dollar deal that would pay for the company’s ambitious plans to erect more wind turbines throughout Maine and the Northeast. But in just the last week,  the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) dealt a potentially fatal blow to the deal. Faced with what opponentsMore

LePage ethics bill would require more transparency in government

January 13, 2012

AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage is proposing legislation to close a loophole in ethics laws that has allowed high-level state officials not to report millions in state payments to organizations run by themselves or their spouses. The governor’s legal counsel said the bill was prompted by a Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting story lastMore

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“Wherever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”

— Thomas Jefferson