PORTLAND — As independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler began his Monday news conference decrying the “character assassination” campaign waged against him by the proxies of his Republican and Democratic rivals, a man and a woman entered the candidate’s Commercial Street headquarters holding mailings distributed by the Maine Democratic Party.

One mailer, showing an image of oil-soaked pelicans, hinted that Maine could become the site of the next Exxon Valdez or BP oil spill if Cutler is elected governor. The other showed an open fortune cookie.

“Maine jobs could go to China,” the fortune read.

The two people left before the news conference ended. But midway through, Cutler’s campaign manager, Ted O’Meara, interrupted to say the two had told him that the mailers had prompted them to withdraw their support for Democratic hopeful Libby Mitchell.

“I swear, we did not plan this,” O’Meara announced as he waved the mailers in front of television cameras and photographers.

On Monday, there was denial from the Mitchell camp as well. Spokesman David Loughran said the oil-drilling mailer “didn’t come from us.” When asked if he thought its contents were truthful, he said, “It’s up to voters to weigh the facts of the flier.”

“Eliot Cutler didn’t hold a news conference when the (Republican Governors Association) was attacking Libby, but now he is suddenly against negative campaigning,” Loughran said.

Dan Demeritt, the press secretary for LePage, had a similar reaction, saying Cutler had been “whining” about cutlerfiles.com, an anonymous website that’s been attacking the candidate’s career and ties to China.

Cutler has called for investigation with the state’s Ethics Commission, saying cutlerfiles.com violates campaign disclosure laws.

“Did anyone ask (Cutler) if he was going to get the ads pulled because they weren’t true?” Demeritt asked sarcastically. 

Cutler hasn’t ruled out filing a complaint with the Ethics Commission, but said “truth should be a value of the political process.”

According to the candidate, the uptick in anti-Cutler ads by both Republicans and Democrats shows a marked change in the race for the Blaine House with Election Day just one week away.

“They’re attacking me because I am rising and they are falling,” Cutler said. “They’re attacking me because they’re afraid.”

Recent polls have given Cutler modest to significant gains, while support for Mitchell and LePage appears to have peaked. Cutler has since won endorsements from all of the state’s major newspapers, two of which have backed Republican congressional candidates. 

Last week the Republican Governors Association filed with the state’s Ethics Commission a $150,000 expenditure in television ads. More than $126,000 was spent opposing Cutler compared to $42,000 opposing Mitchell.

Democratic PACs have also targeted Cutler. On Monday, the Maine Democratic Party reported a $26,500 expenditure for more mailers against him.   

The negative attention from both parties shows that Cutler is a viable candidate, O’Meara said.

“On one hand, it’s good to be validated,” he said. “On the other hand, they’re pushing outright lies.”

Cutler was particularly incensed at the Maine Democratic State Committee mailer suggesting his ties to the Akin Gump law firm could result in offshore drilling in Maine.

Cutler, who helped craft environmental policy for former Democratic U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, has said anyone who wants to drill in the Gulf of Maine “will have to drill through me.”

On Monday, Edmund Muskie Jr. flew from Washington, D.C., to defend Cutler.

“My father would be shocked at this piece, by the outright lies it contains and the character assassination it represents,” Muskie said, holding up the mailer.

“He would be disappointed that his party, the party he built in Maine, the party that invokes his name every year at a major fundraising event, would stoop this low,” Muskie added.

Arden Manning, chairman of the Democratic Victory 2010 campaign, last week defended the mailing, saying Cutler worked for the same company that lobbied on behalf of oil companies and therefore profited from its work.

Manning, while defending the fortune cookie mailer Monday, said Cutler had been attacking Mitchell since the day “after the primary.”

“It’s disingenuous for him to complain when we are simply presenting the people of Maine with the facts,” Manning said in a news release.

Cutler said his statements against Mitchell and LePage are different because he was attacking their policies and records. 

“This is trash. This is lies. This is deceit. This is distortion,” he said.

During an Oct. 25 debate hosted by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Cutler called upon Mitchell to condemn the mailer. Mitchell refused, saying the Maine Democratic Party was acting independent of her campaign.

Demeritt said Cutler’s calls to end the negative campaign showed a “lack of toughness.”

“If you want to cut some program in Augusta, there’s going to be 300 people who come out and say you’re a bad person,” he said. “It’s tough work. The people of Maine want a fighter.”

When asked if Republicans’ sudden attacks against Cutler indicated concern that Cutler was drawing moderate Republicans from LePage, Demeritt said, “There are a lot of undecided voters out there that are going to determine the outcome of this race.”

Cutler, who denies ever representing oil companies or exporting jobs to China, said he didn’t believe his decision to publicly refute cutlerfiles.com or the attacks against him would backfire, as some pundits have suggested.

“Those comments are all based on the assumption that I was making a political calculation,” he said. “I wasn’t. There’s more at stake here than whether Eliot Cutler wins or loses.”

smistler@sunjournal.com