183 Middle Street, Fourth Floor

Joshua A. Tardy, Esq. P.O. Box 7030

jtardy@itmlaw.com Portland, Maine 04112-7030
————
207.772.0303 T
207.253.8099 F

February 12, 2018

Maine Commission of Governmental Ethics

Johnathan Wayne, Executive Director
135 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333

Dear Mr. Wayne:

We represent the Maine Examiner and Jason Savage. Please accept the following information in
response to your letter dated January 26, 2018.

The Maine Examiner is a web-based periodical publication. Jason Savage is the sole owner of
the Maine Examiner. Mr. Savage acquired the Maine Examiner by purchasing it through
GoDaddy.com in early September 2017. Mr. Savage is the sole author and contributor to the
Maine Examiner, which has no paid staff. Mr. Savage operates the Maine Examiner in his free
time and separately and distinctly from his duties as a paid employee of the Maine Republican
Party.

Press Exemption

The Maine Examiner falls squarely within the requirements for the press exemption. First, by
way of this communication, the person who owns and controls the Maine Examiner has been
made public, thereby satisfying the criterion that the ownership be known to the public. Second,
Jason Savage is the sole owner and controller of the Maine Examiner. Therefore it satisfies the
criteria that it not be owned or controlled by any political party, PAC, BQC, or a candidate.
Finally, the Maine Examiner clearly satisfies the requirement of publishing news stories,
commentaries or editorials on a variety of topics and continues to do so to the present day.1 The
Maine Examiner meets the regulatory criteria set forth in the Commission’s rules and is therefore
entitled to claim the press exemption.

Expenditures

The Maine Examiner made no expenditures in connection with the news stories concerning Ben
Chin. The Maine Examiner has no paid staff, and the total costs for the Maine Examiner’s

1
See www.maineexaminer.com, which a cursory review clearly demonstrates there are objective
indicators, and an actual track record, of continued publication of news stories.
PORTLAND • AUGUSTA • NEWPORT • BRUNSWICK
operations, dating back to its acquisition by Jason Savage are only $74.00, which is the amount
paid for the web domain registration. As noted above, Jason Savage’s “work” in connection with
the Maine Examiner is on his own free time.

Consultation, cooperation or coordination

The Maine Examiner, as noted above, is a personal project of Jason Savage and is not related to
his work for the Maine Republican Party. Mr. Savage creates web postings for the Maine
Examiner on his own free time and does not utilize Maine Republican Party resources. There
was no coordination, consultation or cooperation between the Maine Examiner and any political
party or any candidate regarding the seven postings between December 3, 2017 and December
14, 2017 related to Ben Chin.

We believe the foregoing information clearly demonstrates that no campaign finance statutes or
rules have been violated.

Sincerely,

/S/ Joshua A. Tardy

Joshua A. Tardy, Esq.
Irwin, Tardy, and Morris

/S/ Colton P. Gross

Colton P. Gross, Esq.
Irwin, Tardy, and Morris