A group of Republican Maine state senators on Monday sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting an investigation into the Maine Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS) and its Office of State Procurement Services (OSPS) following the release of a devastating audit.
The letter, signed by 14 Republican senators, including Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) and Assistant Republican Leader Matthew Harrington (R-York), cites the “grave findings” of the 2024 Single Audit Report published by State Auditor Matthew Dunlap last Friday.
“This report reveals systemic failures in oversight, apparent violations of federal and state procurement laws, and a pervasive disregard for internal controls—jeopardizing billions in taxpayer funds, including significant federal dollars,” the senators’ letter reads.
“We believe these issues demand urgent federal scrutiny, potentially including criminal investigation,” the senators wrote.
The GOP senators pointed to the “material weakness” identified in OSPS’s internal controls over procurement in Dunlap’s audit, that revealed $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2024 contract spending was under a system the audit describes as lacking basic supervisory oversight and controls.
Among the key violations outlined in the audit and specified by the senators include:
- Unjustified sole-source or non-competitive contracts: Of 31 sole-source contracts reviewed, 16 lacked required documentation proving a “reasonable investigation” into alternatives, violating competitive bidding mandates under Maine law;
- Unauthorized Work: In 24 of 45 contracts and 18 of 31 Procurement Justification Forms, approvals were signed after work had already begun, with delays ranging from 3 to 187 days, creating legal and financial risks;
- No Cost Analysis: None of the 45 procurement actions tested showed evidence of cost analysis, flouting OSPS’s statutory duty to secure the best value for taxpayers;
- Evasion of Competitive Bidding: Agencies exploited Low-Cost Service Contracts (LCSCs) by “stacking” multiple contracts under the $5,000 threshold—for example, one agency issued seven concurrent LCSCs to a single vendor—circumventing state policy;
- Poor Vendor Oversight: None of the 14 contract amendments reviewed included vendor performance documentation, risking payments for substandard work;
- Federal Noncompliance: Five of 23 federal contracts omitted required award information, and two of eight IT contracts bypassed mandatory Office of Information Technology review.
“These are not mere oversights but a pattern of negligence—or worse—spanning a procurement system handling $2.1 billion annually,” the senators wrote.
In justifying their request for federal investigation, the Maine Republican senators claimed the findings of the audit suggest misuse or mismanagement of federal funds, fraudulent procurement practices, failure to enforce federal procurement standard and “possible abuse of authority or cronyism.”
“With DAFS and OSPS overseeing contracts across all state agencies—including law enforcement—state-level accountability is compromised, necessitating federal intervention,” they wrote.
The group of Republican state senators urged the U.S. Department of Justice to review the 2024 Single Audit Report, launch an immediate investigation into DAFS, OSPS and other implicated parties, seek recovery of any misspent federal funds and to “assess whether criminal charges are warranted under federal procurement or anti-fraud statutes.”
“Maine citizens and American taxpayers deserve assurance that public funds are managed lawfully and competitively,” the senators wrote to Attorney General Bondi.
“The audit shatters that trust, exposing vulnerabilities that only federal action can address,” they wrote.
Read the full letter from the Maine Republican State Senators to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi below:
make an example of the corruption! maine is the perfect state to make an example of these career polit-thieves!! thier out of state backers will let them hang… it will cost more to defend them than finacially select new canadites..
At Last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mr. Tomic, it is because of ivestigative writing such as this article, on what appears to be gross mismanagement of my Maine tax money, that I regularly read the Maine Wire. I might well not see this in the other Maine papers, almost all of which are now under the control of George Soros and his fellow travellers. An old U S Navy expression: “Well Done!” Watch your six, you are stepping on some sensitive toes.
Fits Menace Mills perfectly. “cronyism.”
Democrats are like toe fungus. That’s it nothing witty.
This audit was announced and put out by a democrat, what’s going on? Maybe the DOJ gave Dunlop a heads up, tell us the truth and we won’t come after you. Just the crooks that have ripped off the taxpayers! C’mon man!
Start with, Milles, King, Pingree, Jaret.
Maybe a call to Fox News would help as well .
Laura Ingraham might be interested as well .
SHINE THE LITE ON THESE ROACHES .
I thought I could smell corrupt pig leavins when I drove by the blain house today.
Now I know I it wasn’t my imagination.
I m hoping she ll do the four corners. Maine, Georgia, Washington and Arizona
And Janet Mills had the audacity to fire unvaxxed workers and go after Rick Savage, the owner of Sunday River Brewpub and restaurant and basically bankrupt his business for defying her draconian orders. I hope the Fed go after her big time. She deserves it.
The Maine Democrats and our civil servant labor organizers are a criminal organization.
Send in Elon’s chainsaw crew.
Why would State Auditor Matthew Dunlap write a truthful audit? True he’s a dejected Sec. of State that failed his certification exam in the past and could be simply a knucklehead. Or, is he afraid of prosecution if someone actually finds out how corrupt and lawless the administration has been?
We will see you in court Janet
The audit is complete. Dunlop is hoping for job security. No win situation on that front. What will Mills pull out of her box of magic tricks to discredit Dunlop. It ain’t over til it’s over. I will believe prosecution when i see it.
It seems all the corruption in government is not just in Washington D.C..
Taking payo from gov’t of Spain for electric corridor. Bring up in court she’ll resign
The mountainous corruption is because Toady Mills, Bellows, Frey and the Socialist Democrats in Augusta control every investigative agency in Maine, including MSP, the courts, judges and DA offices! No one dares investigate the corruption starting with Mills and funneling down through every branch and department of Maines government.
EVERYONE in Maine sees it, everyone knows it’s happening.
We live it every day!
DOJ only has to look and they will see it too. Question is, will they be able to fathom the magnitude of the Mills corruption, and how deep the rot goes? Hopefully we find out!
History is repeating itself — the Maine Republican Party was morally bankrupt and rather corrupt in the 1950s and that’s how an unknown lawyer named Edmund Muskie was able to build the Maine Democratic Party out of virtually nothing. Maine had been one of only five states that voted for Hoover in 1932, Maine and Vermont were the *only* states that FDR didn’t win in 1936, and almost all the small towns in Knox & Lincoln Counties went from being all Democrat to being all Republican because of Roosevelt. He was not liked in Maine….
Maine was as red as it’s blue now — and the Republicans let the railroads, pulp & paper and electric utilities (etc.) run the state. The rivers were open sewers and the politics wasn’t much cleaner. Burton Cross was not a popular Governor and people said “no mas” — the state changed.
Instead of Republicans like Cross & Reed, Maine now had Ken Curtis (D) 1967-75, Jim Longley 1975-79 (D/I), Joe Brennan 1979-87, Jock McKernan (RINO) 1987-95, Angus King (D/I) 1995-03, and John Baldacci (D) 2003-2011. (NB: Both Longley and King had been lifelong Democrats before running for Governor.)
This is what created what Paul LePage tried to fight, and then General Mills has made things worse. And like the stinking rivers, a mess of this type may well wind up smelling badly enough to clean out the corrupt Democrats.
The real question is if the Maine GOP is willing to build a bench like Longley did.
The other interesting thing is that there are different rules with Federal money.
It’s a Federal offense to steal Federal money — as some Massachusetts state troopers learned the hard way. Long story short, they were claiming to have worked hours that they hadn’t, except that this overtime was Federal funds and hence the US Attorney went after them and not the state. Some of them actually went to prison….
It’s funny the TV news channels in maine reported this earlier in the day and now all the stories are gone from their websites today…. some investigations need to go there as well. Either report it and stand by it or does anything that they’re reporting even have any merit.
As per Ken Mcmaster or the Fire Marshalls Office “if you rebuild it they will burn it down again.” And these are the people.
What a bunch of crap! Are these folks in government corrupt or incompetent or both? Sometimes you need an a-hole!
Of course this has absolutely nothing to do with the female governor standing up to Trump…Right?
Why doesn’t Bondi go after Soros? Hus crines are obvious and to the heavans
George Soros has got the darkest and worst enemy of the US