Maine ethics commission gets tough with Lisa Scott

thics commission in Maine has issued a subpoena in order to gain personal financial records of casino lobbyist Lisa Scott. The issue has arisen out of the failure to comply with state law regarding to her successful campaign to hold a state referendum on the potential development of a new casino by her brother Shawn Scott in the state’s York County.

Politicians in Maine believe that the $4.3m funding received for the campaign was not solely funded by Lisa Scott. Earlier this year suspicions arose during the campaign when the court received amended financial filings which showed that the funding had in fact come from Las Vegas and Tokyo-based company loans.

Shawn Scott is no stranger to controversy himself. Having purchased the Bangor Raceway in Maine 2012 for $1m, he campaigned for the legalisation of slot machines, allowing him to sell on the project for $51m just a year later.

However, Lisa Scott’s campaign, under the name of ‘Horse Racing Jobs Fairness’, will still have the question on the ballot box asking voters on whether or not a new casino should be allowed on the ballot box this November, regardless of the court's decision:

If found guilty, Lisa Scott will be fined up to a maximum of the total she raised for the campaign, $4.3m. However, with the project worth an estimated $150m, it’s hard to imagine that the Scotts will come out of the court case out of pocket.

The judge was unimpressed with Ms Scott’s pleas of ignorance and both lawyers of the siblings deny any wrong doing.

Commissioner William Lee said: "She (Lisa Scott) could have completely avoided that risk had the money went directly to Horseracing Jobs Fairness or created a separate entity that had no other existence, and then we wouldn’t be asking for records from something that may have other records mixed in with it. She did this, we didn’t do this.”

The same companies behind the ‘Horse Racing Jobs Fairness’ campaign were fined $125,000 in the state of Massachusetts for attempting to conceal funding associated with Shawn Scott when attempting to introduce a slot parlour in the state.