Maine GOP Letter Below:

​Dear Rep. Tipping,

In anticipation of potential litigation, we are sending you this letter to instruct you to preserve any and all records related to the FOAA requests filed by Maine GOP on February 22, 2017 in regard to the ongoing situation regarding your acceptance of at least $9,000 from a Political Action Committee funded by the teachers’ union while serving as a member of the Maine House of Representatives, serving on the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Education.

If you need to be refreshed, please also review the Secretary of State’s policy regarding retention of public records, both paper and those that originate in electronic form. The authority from which this policy emanates can be found in the Maine Constitution, Article V, Part Second and 5 M.R.S. § 95(7). 

We have received your notification that you expect to deny at least some part of our FOAA request. As such, we are informing you that denial of our request will be met with an immediate filing of appeal in Superior Court of Kennebec County, under M.R.S.A. Title 1, Chapter 13, §409. Every willful violation of the Maine Freedom of Access Act, including any modification or destruction of records subject to the Maine Freedom of Access Act, is subject to a forfeiture of $500 per violation under M.R.S.A. Title 1, Chapter 13, §410. These fines would be in addition to any fines that you might face for violations of ethics law should the documents that you intend to withhold reveal violations of legislative ethics under governmental ethics laws.

Sincerely,
Jason Savage
Executive Director
Maine Republican Party
207.622.6247