Naomi Schalit

127 posts

Naomi Schalit is a co-founder of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which operates The Maine Monitor.

Ethics board urges changing law that allowed legislator to pay himself from his PAC

Maine’s ethics agency has proposed legislation that would tighten up lax regulations that allowed a Sanford legislator to pay himself and family members from political action committee funds he controlled.

ByNaomi Schalit

December 3, 2014

Such a deal

The LePage Inaugural 2015 group, which is organizing celebrations to coincide with the official inauguration, is offering a discount to parties of four or more to attend “a thank-you event” for just $2,000 per person. That’s $1,000 off retail!

ByNaomi Schalit

November 23, 2014

The black dome of the Maine State House stands among the trees.

The party’s not over

The number of fundraising events appears to have slowed during this last month as campaigns have accelerated their efforts to raise money from everyday citizens, not just high-dollar donors, through phone calls and emails.

ByNaomi Schalit

November 4, 2014

Sydney Roberts Rockefeller sits in a sailboat

The ‘gatekeepers’: Ten wealthy Mainers giving $3.95 million to this election

The top 10 individual Maine donors to state and national political campaigns represent just .001 percent of Maine’s adult population of about one million. But that minuscule percentage represents 27.3 percent of all donations to candidates, parties and causes from contributors with a Maine address.

ByJohn Christie Naomi Schalit Marina Villeneuve

October 30, 2014

Sanford senator used PAC money to pay himself and family $17,000

A veteran state legislator has used a campaign fund designed to help other Democratic candidates run for office to buy tires, pay for car repairs, reimburse himself for travel and pay his wife and daughter for computer services and keeping his books.

ByNaomi Schalit

October 15, 2014

I voted stickers given out to voters on election day

How to survive Maine’s 2014 elections

Our role at the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting is to help citizens understand what is really going on in state government and elections.

ByNaomi Schalit

September 28, 2014

Pah-tay with the pols

A window into how politics really work in Maine, where readers can get the inside view of the soliciting that goes on behind the virtuous image promoted by many Maine politicians.

ByNaomi Schalit

September 10, 2014