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Wayne, Jonathan

From: Michael Blessing [cutlerfiles@yahoo.com]

Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2010 8:46 AM
To: Wayne, Jonathan
Cc: Gardiner, Phyllis; Lavin, Paul
Subject: Re: Notice of Ethics Commission Investigation

Dear Mr. Wayne,

Thank you for your letter of Sept. 13 notifying us of your investigation into potential violations
of Maine's campaign laws.

It is certainly not our intention to violate applicable campaign laws. Our goal is merely to
provide important information to the public which we
strongly believe is being ignored, perhaps intentionally, by the mainstream news media.

We have consulted two lawyers with experience in Maine's campaign laws and offer the
following:

1. We have made substantial changes to the website since you viewed it on Sept. 9. We
believe the site does not expressly advocate for the election or defeat of Mr. Cutler. All
references to his abilities or fitness to be Maine's governor have been removed. The site now
carries a disclaimer on each page stating that the site is not authorized by any candidate. If
there are other statements which you believe cross the line into advocacy, please let us know
and we will remove them as soon as possible.

2. As we understand the law, a violation does not technically occur until 10 days after
notification of the potential violation, and only if the potential violation is not corrected. We
have made changes to the website within that 10 day time period and are now in compliance.

3. We also understand from the statute that since our website does not expressly advocate the
election or defeat of Mr. Cutler, a more complete disclaimer is not required until 35 days before
the election. As of this writing, we are 48 days from the Election.

Again, we believe our website is in full compliance with Maine law. As we state on the website,
it is neither authorized or financed by a candidate or
political party.

Please don't hesitate to contact us again with any questions or concerns.

Thank you.

The Cutler Files

From: "Wayne, Jonathan" <Jonathan.Wayne@maine.gov>

To: cutlerfiles@yahoo.com
Cc: "Gardiner, Phyllis" <Phyllis.Gardiner@maine.gov>; "Lavin, Paul" <Paul.Lavin@maine.gov>

9/15/2010
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Sent: Mon, September 13, 2010 3:37:17 PM
Subject: Notice of Ethics Commission Investigation

9/15/2010