AUGUSTA – There were fireworks aplenty, but despite the smoke and popping sounds, a scheduled hearing before the state’s ethics committee to consider charges against a conservative think tank failed to take off Tuesday.

After dancing around the agenda most of the morning and early afternoon, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices was left without time to consider allegations of wrongdoing lodged against The Maine Heritage Policy Center.

The center is accused of not properly reporting campaign activities related to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which was on November’s ballot as Question 1.

Carl Lindemann, a former Maine resident living in Texas has accused the think tank of inappropriately working for TABOR’s passage without filing financial disclosure forms.

The group has denied directly advocating for TABOR and maintains it is not required to file any reports with the ethics commission.

As commissioners discussed a new date for hearing the complaint, they allowed members of the public – many had sat in the hearing room for nearly four hours – to comment.

John Branson, a lawyer representing Lindemann, took the opportunity to forcefully assert his case, and the commission’s chairman, Andrew Ketterer, appeared to lose patience.

Branson accused the commission of flaunting a conflict of interest and of giving the Maine Heritage Policy Center time to destroy evidence in the case.

Branson said that it is inappropriate for Commissioner Jean Ginn Marvin, who also serves as Maine Heritage Policy Center treasurer, to take part in the case. At one point, Branson requested that Ginn Marvin leave the room while a new hearing date was scheduled.

Ginn Marvin has recused herself from matters concerning the complaint against the think tank, but was in the room as a new meeting date was set.

Typically, panel meetings run with a familiarity bordering on chumminess due to the cast of characters who populate the proceedings. The lawyers and political professionals often represent multiple clients, appear before the commission often and are well-known.

Branson, who hasn’t represented a client before the commission this year, brought a more aggressive approach and was met with an uncharacteristic coldness from Ketterer, who at one point refused to answer a question or to recognize the lawyer and instead told him to sit down.

The commission, which received the complaint about the Maine Heritage Policy Center on Oct. 19, scheduled a new meeting on it for Dec. 20.