AUGUSTA — A Democratic candidate for Franklin County treasurer has filed a complaint with Maine Ethics Commission against her Republican opponent.

Pamela Prodan, a Democrat, filed the formal complaint against Republican Joanne Karkos on June 10, claiming Karkos spent money on her campaign, despite signing a sworn statement saying she would not accept campaign donations or make expenditures.

Karkos, the East Dixfield postmaster, applied for exempt status under Maine’s election law and ran as a write-in candidate for the seat during a June 10 primary and now faces Prodan in a general election race for the seat.  

Karkos, who purchased newspaper advertisements and campaign lawn signs, told the state’s ethics’ commission staff that she did not understand that using her own funds for her campaign would violate her exempt status with the commission, according to a memo by Ethics Commission Executive Director Jonathan Wayne.

In her complaint, Prodan charges Karkos with intentionally trying to skirt the state’s campaign finance law and urges the commission to fine Karkos appropriately.

“It appears to me that Joanne Karkos intentionally intended to avoid public disclosure of all her primary campaign expenditures,” Prodan wrote in her complaint, “when (Karkos) knew she would be making or already had made expenditures.”

According to the commission’s research, Karkos admitted she purchased two newspaper ads for approximately $39 each and also ordered campaign lawn signs from a Bangor sign-maker. The newspapers featuring the ads were the semiweekly Franklin Journal and the weekly Livermore Falls Advertiser.

In a letter to the commission staff dated June 18, Karkos wrote she was “totally shocked, concerned and ready to resolve the problem and did so immediately.”

Prodan also asked the commission to investigate a flier that was distributed by Tom Skofield, a Republican candidate for the Legislature, that asked voters to support Karkos in her write-in bid. The fliers were not reported as an independent expenditure and Karkos said she had no knowledge of them. She also noted the flier contained incorrect information noting the post office she works at is closing, when it is not.

“Had I known about or helped with this, I would have changed the false information,” Karkos wrote.

Karkos has since filed a request to withdraw her exempt status and also filed a campaign finance report on June 11, 12 days past when it would have been due had she not received exempt status from the commission.

The Ethics Commission staff is not recommending any civil penalties for the violations, noting the amount Karkos spent on the campaign was so small it would warrant a fine of less than $10.

The commission is expected to discuss the complaint Wednesday when it holds its regular monthly meeting starting at 9 a.m. at its headquarters in Augusta.

sthistle@sunjournal.com