Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D), who is overseeing the investigation into 250 absentee ballots discovered in an Amazon box in Newburgh on Sept. 30, attended a campaign fundraiser in Lewiston on Tuesday evening.
Despite being mired in the largest election integrity scandal since the infamous John Martin ballot-stuffing scandal of 1992, Secretary Bellows nonetheless has found time to make fundraising calls to out-of-state donors and attend in-person events to boost her Democratic gubernatorial primary campaign.
[RELATED: Maine Woman Finds Bundles of Election Ballots in Amazon Package…]
The Tuesday evening event, hosted at the home of former longtime Democratic state lawmaker Margaret Craven, included an activist connected to a controversial migrant agency that has been accused by a former employee of committing MaineCare fraud over a period of more than five years.
Safiya Khalid, whose name appeared on the invitation to the Bellows fundraiser, was employed as a special assistant to Gateway Community Services CEO Abdullahi Ali until, just prior to the 2022 Maine gubernatorial election, Khalid started the Community Organizing Alliance (COA).
[RELATED: Migrant Agency Accused of MaineCare Fraud Boasts Extensive Ties to Maine Democrats…]
Although Gateway Community Services and COA are, on paper, supposed to be separate organizations, public records show that COA shared the same offices in Portland and Lewiston as the taxpayer-funded migrant services agency. During the time Khalid and COA were using Gateway’s resources to help Democratic candidates, including Gov. Janet Mills, win elections in 2022, Gateway received significant funding from MaineCare and additional funding in the form of no-bid contracts from the Mills Administration.
Despite on-the-record, specific, and credible allegations of MaineCare fraud leveled against Gateway Community Services by a former employee — allegations that Gateway representatives have not denied — Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) has declined to investigate the taxpayer-funded migrant agency.
The Maine Wire was on the scene when both Khalid and Bellows arrived, the secretary with a driver, and entered the fundraiser through the host’s garage to avoid questions from a reporter.
Fewer than 20 supporters appeared to be in attendance at the private event, which was posted to social media.
Bellows has faced mounting criticism over a potential conflict of interest, as her office continues to lead the ballot investigation into her own office while she remains an active candidate for governor.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has stated that Bellows should “step aside” and that an outside investigation with FBI involvement is needed.
Earlier Monday, at a press conference at the State House in Augusta, Bellows stated that the FBI is now involved in the ongoing investigation but declined to provide further details.
Critically, Bellows did not say whether the FBI was involved at her request or whether the FBI initiated an investigation on its own following Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson’s exclusive report exposing the unprecedented breach of absentee ballots security.
At the press conference, Bellows made a number of factually incorrect statements, including her assertion that Robinson reported on the misappropriated absentee ballots before election officials were alerted to the broken chain of custody for the five bundles of genuine 2025 election ballots. In fact, the ballots in question were delivered to Newburgh election officials and locked in the town safe before Robinson was alerted to the scandal.
After Bellows said “bad actors” orchestrated the ballot controversy and implied that Robinson may be one of the bad actors, she refused to take questions from the Maine Wire, the organization that brought the story to light.
