Bobby Charles Corruption & Ethics Maine

A Complaint Says Bobby Charles's Campaign Took 46 Contributions Over Maine's Legal Limit, Totaling More Than $25,600. His Campaign Admits Some Supporters Gave Too Much.

A complaint to Maine's ethics commission says Bobby Charles's campaign reported 46 contributions over the $2,075 limit, totaling more than $25,600. His campaign says some supporters gave too much and the money is being returned.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 03, 2026

A Complaint Says Bobby Charles's Campaign Took 46 Contributions Over Maine's Legal Limit, Totaling More Than $25,600. His Campaign Admits Some Supporters Gave Too Much. — Photo: WGME

Bobby Charles is running for governor of Maine on a promise to root out fraud and waste. Now his own campaign is admitting it took more money than Maine law allows.

Update, October 21: the ethics commission's own staff weighs in

The Maine Ethics Commission will take up the complaint at its October 26 meeting. In an interim memo dated October 19, the commission's executive director, Jonathan Wayne, told commissioners:

The commission's own registrar, reviewing Charles's September report before the complaint arrived, "noticed a high number of over-the-limit contributions relative to other gubernatorial campaigns and prior election year." She also found apparent over-the-limit contributions that the Democrats' complaint hadn't cited.
For a governor's race, staff "might expect to see a few or (at most) a handful" of over-the-limit contributions per report — and would expect the campaign to have already returned them.
Charles's campaign "accepted a significant number of contributions for the general election that exceeded $2,075" — "over 25 contributions at least."
After the commission wrote asking for the excess back, the campaign returned what Wayne's review of its latest spreadsheet indicates is more than $50,000 to contributors. He noted he had not yet confirmed that figure with the campaign.

The memo sets out the commission's options: find a violation and assess penalties, take no action, put it off to November 18, or order a deeper investigation. Under Maine law, a campaign that accepts an over-the-limit contribution can be fined up to the amount by which it went over.

Wayne's memo also narrows one part of the complaint: staff believes 25 of the 46 contributions it listed were $2,075 gifts made online, where the donor also chose to cover the processing fee. Staff's "over 25" estimate leaves those out.

WGME reported on October 2 that the Maine Democratic Party has filed a formal complaint with the Maine Ethics Commission. It says the Charles campaign's own reports show:

46 contributions totaling more than $25,600 over the legal limit.
Two donors who each gave thousands of dollars more than Maine's $2,075 maximum.
Refunds of more than $85 to two donors over the limit — which the complaint says shows the campaign knew illegal contributions had come in.

The campaign says it's giving money back

The complaint comes from the opposing party, so it's fair to ask what Charles says. His campaign's answer, per WGME: some supporters did give more than the allowed limit, and the money is being returned. The campaign called that "what accountability looks like."

Returning the money is the minimum. Contribution limits exist so that no single donor can buy outsized influence over a candidate. A campaign is responsible for checking those limits before it banks the check — and Charles's campaign reported these contributions on its own filings.

Not his first run-in with Maine's ethics rules

Before the primary, Maine's ethics commission voted to investigate an anonymous attack website aimed at one of his Republican rivals. His campaign denied building that one — while confirming it built two others.

And Charles, who has said lobbyists give money because "you're going to buy a favor," ran a lobbying firm that took at least $512,000 from clients that overcharged taxpayers, held no-bid federal contracts or ended up in fraud and bribery cases.

What the filings show

Bobby Charles's campaign reported 46 contributions totaling more than $25,600 over Maine's $2,075 limit, including two donors who each gave thousands too much, according to a complaint filed with the Maine Ethics Commission. His campaign acknowledged that supporters gave over the limit and says the money is being returned. The commission's own staff says the campaign accepted "a significant number" of over-the-limit contributions — at least 25, not counting processing fees — and has since returned more than $50,000; the commission takes up the matter on October 26.