• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, November 7, 2016

Among the many disreputable aspects of this election cycle, one questionable tactic is mostly flying under the radar, probably because it takes place in local races.

Across the country, candidates for office at the state and county levels have been printing and distributing fake “newspapers” touting their positions and achievements, while trashing their opponents with claims that are often untrue.

In the latest example of phony political publishing, uncovered last week, registered voters in Maine had been receiving fake local newspapers produced by a Republican political action committee associated with Ken Fredette, the party’s minority leader in the state House of Representatives.

The newspapers, with titles like the Berwick Gazette, don’t contain any disclosures that they are in fact paid political advertisements, and some contain false statements. For example, claiming that GOP candidates have received endorsements from a civic group, the Sportman’s Alliance of Maine, even though it actually endorsed the Democratic candidate.

Some of the bogus endorsements even contained a forged signature from the executive director of SAM, David Trahan, a former Republican state senator, who has angrily denounced the fake endorsements and demanded an apology.

The SAM endorsement is very important in Maine — it is based on candidates’ positions on gun rights and other issues affecting hunters.

In August, I wrote about a similar scheme in Illinois, where a political fundraising organization created by conservative talk show host and former gubernatorial candidate Dan Proft distributed fake newspapers to promote Republican candidates for state senate.

The Illinois State Board of Elections issued a finding that the fake newspapers violate the state’s election laws, which forbid so-called “Independent Expenditure” PACs from colluding with political campaigns. The newspapers also run afoul of the Campaign Disclosure Act, which requires all paid political advertisements to identify themselves as such.