Ethics Muddle Reflects Poorly On Maine's Legislature [Corrected 02/ 01/06] ; Lawmakers Need to Take the Saviello Case Seriously to Retain the Public's Trust.

Summary

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Maine's Legislature has been largely free of ethics complaints in recent years, but a Wilton legislator's efforts on behalf of a paper mill where he works has shed new light on an old dilemma.

Critics of Rep. Thomas B. Saviello, a Democrat turned independent, say he has crossed the line with his repeated interference in the Department of Environmental Protection, the agency that regulates pollution discharges from International Paper, where Saviello is the environmental manager.

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Extract

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Ethics Muddle Reflects Poorly On Maine's Legislature [Corrected 02/ 01/06] ; Lawmakers Need to Take the Saviello Case Seriously to Retain the Public's Trust.

Saviello's conduct has had environmental groups grumbling since his election in 2002. The issue blew up this fall, when an open- records lawsuit produced documents that suggested he conducted ethically compromised negotiations with dismissed DEP Commissioner D...

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