More evidence has emerged tying Maine Republican Party Executive Director Jason Savage to an anonymous website that spreads news with a right-wing spin, including error logs on the site that name him.

The new information sheds more light on the shadowy connection between Savage, who has yet to comment on the developing story, and the secretive Maine Examiner that has been lending a hand to the Republican Party since its inception in September.

The Sun Journal reported Wednesday that Savage’s name appears in the metadata of some of the photographs on the Examiner’s website, the first solid indication that Savage might have unexplained connections with the online publication.

The state Democratic Party Maine has lodged an ethics complaint with the state alleging that the Republicans violated state ethics and campaign finance laws by working secretly with the Examiner to offer slanted news without disclosing who was funding or operating the site.

Error logs for the Maine Examiner show its account is hosted under a user named “jasonsavage207,” a moniker that matches the Instagram and Twitter accounts used by Savage.

The Maine People’s Alliance’s Maine Beacon reported the error logs Thursday that show Savage’s name.

In addition, the Beacon discovered “the design template for the website was downloaded from mythemeshop.com and installed on September 17,” the same date that someone with the username “jasonsavage207” last visited the site.

Together with the metadata from photographs on the Examiner’s site, the Beacon said the evidence “now seems overwhelming that the Maine Republican Party, and Savage specifically, is behind the website” that helped undermine Lewiston mayoral candidate Ben Chin’s chances in a Dec. 12 runoff won by Republican favorite Shane Bouchard.

Phil Bartlett, the Maine Democratic Party chairman, said Wednesday the revelation about Savage’s photos illustrating Maine Examiner stories shows “the Maine GOP has stooped to a new low” and called for Republican leaders to “condemn this dishonest behavior and tell the people of Maine that their party should not be led by liars like Jason Savage.”

Though the Republicans have said almost nothing about the Maine Examiner since questions began swirling about it this month, the party’s communications director, Garrett Murch, did mention the publication in a Dec. 7 email and provided a link to one of its anonymously authored pieces.

Passing along a tip that the Examiner had a story about Chin’s unpaid parking tickets, Murch said Republican officials “haven’t confirmed this report, but you may want to, particularly given other things about Chin that have recently come to light questioning his respect for the city he wants to represent. This website’s stories on Chin’s emails have checked out thus far, after all.”

Murch added a comment from him that the Sun Journal could use if the parking tickets story checked out.

The Boston Globe first noted the social media connections between Savage, Maine’s Republican Party and the Maine Examiner in a recent story.

Under the First Amendment, Americans are free to write and publish whatever they like — though they may be subject to libel laws after the fact — but campaign finance laws in Maine require that people who fund political campaigns disclose their contributions and spending.

The Democrats charge that Savage’s activity is an indication that Republicans failed to obey the relevant statutes.

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