Bobby Charles fined more than $22,000 for Maine gubernatorial campaign donation violations
Maine gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles holds a news conference in Congress Square Park in Portland on Sept. 9. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)
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The Maine Ethics Commission voted Monday to fine Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles more than $22,000 after finding that his campaign accepted contributions that exceeded the state’s per-donor limit.
Charles, who has consistently trailed Democrat Hannah Pingree by double digits in polls of the race to succeed Gov. Janet Mills, and his campaign accepted $45,315.98 from several dozen donors who exceeded the $2,075 limit on individual donations, the commission found.
After the Maine Democratic Party filed a complaint and the ethics commission notified the campaign in early October of the issue, the Charles campaign worked with commission staff to return the over-the-limit donations.
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Still, Maine Ethics Commission Executive Director Jonathan Wayne and his staff wrote in a memo last week that it was a “significant error” by the Charles campaign. Charles has raised a total of close to $2 million.
If the Maine Democratic Party had not filed the complaint and a commission staffer had not conducted a review, “there is a distinct possibility that the Charles campaign would have kept the $45,315.98 and spent it on general election services,” Wayne wrote.
Wayne and his staff recommended the five-member commission fine the Charles campaign at least $11,329, or 25% of the total overage. The commissioners, who include two Democrats, two Republicans and one independent, disagreed on that point.
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Commissioner Jill Goldthwait, an independent from Bar Harbor, proposed upping that penalty to 50% of the illicit donation total. Commissioners Brooke Bailey, a Democrat from Westbrook who chairs the panel, and Sarah LeClaire, a Democrat from Woodland, agreed with that.
Republican commissioners Colton Gross of Portland and Dennis Keschl of Belgrade initially sought to give the Charles campaign a few more days to respond to the proposed penalty before next week’s election.
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But after more debate, the 50% motion won out in a 4-1 vote, meaning the Charles campaign was fined about $22,700. Keschl was the only member to oppose the amount, while Gross joined the other members to support it.
The Charles campaign, represented at Monday’s meeting by attorney Brittany Hausle with the national conservative Lex Politica law firm, said it wanted more time to respond to a potential penalty. Hausle said the campaign “worked diligently” with the commission to return the illicit donations.
The Maine Democratic Party, represented by attorney Kate Knox with Portland law firm Bernstein Shur, argued in favor of a fine.
Charles, 66, is a Leeds lawyer who previously worked in drug and domestic policy roles under former Presidents George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Pingree, 50, a former Maine House speaker from North Haven who led Mills’ policy office, has led Charles and independent Rick Bennett, a former Maine Republican Party chair and state senator from Oxford, by decisive margins in not only polling but also fundraising.
Pingree had raised nearly $5 million ahead of Election Day next week, while Bennett had raised nearly $1 million.
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Tagged: bobby charles, election 2026, governor's race 2026, maine ethics commission
Billy covers politics for the Press Herald. He joined the newsroom in 2026 after also covering politics for the Bangor Daily News for about two and a half years. Before moving to Maine in 2023, the Wisconsin. More by Billy Kobin
