AUBURN — Independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler on Friday stepped up his effort to garner support from Republicans and Democrats, but not before blasting the establishment of both parties for unleashing a “clever but sinister” smear campaign about the Cape Elizabeth resident’s stint in China.

Cutler, speaking at 1 Great Falls Plaza, used the event to announce Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert’s endorsement of his campaign. The candidate then answered questions about his campaign’s apparent inability to gain traction with the electorate.

Recent polls show Cutler’s support hovering between 10 and 15 percent. By contrast, Angus King, the last independent elected to the Blaine House, was polling in the low- to mid-20s at about the same time in 1994.

Cutler said he’s been under pressure from Democrats to withdraw from the race because they believe he’s siphoning votes from Democratic candidate Libby Mitchell.

But Cutler said it’s too early to say his candidacy is stalling. He said the state’s Democratic and Republican parties had worked hard to sully his business matters in China with false accusations, including that he helped outsource U.S. manufacturing jobs while working with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Cutler was a lawyer and lobbyist for the firm.

“Both of them are spreading falsehoods that serve their own interests,” Cutler said. “The idea that I somehow exported American jobs to China? I never did that. I helped open markets for American companies to do business in China to sell services and products in China.”

Cutler said the parties were trying to convince voters that the only alternative to their candidates, Republican Paul LePage or Democrat Libby Mitchell, was the other.

“It’s what an economist would call a duopoly,” Cutler said. “It’s only a tiny bit less bad than a monopoly.”

Cutler, who compares his candidacy to that of King and Jim Longley, said the parties have since moved “heaven and earth” to make sure another independent doesn’t move their hold on power.

Arden Manning, of the Democratic Party, said Cutler’s accusations were “completely untrue.” He said Democrats hadn’t been paying much attention to the independent candidate, who was stalling in the polls.

“The dynamic is that this is a two-way race between Libby Mitchell and Paul LePage and that’s what we’ve been focusing on,” Manning said.

“This is basically an attempt by Cutler to insert himself into the debate,” Manning added.

Although Manning said Democrats aren’t targeting Cutler, he provided information he said linked Cutler’s firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, to lobbying efforts to move U.S. manufacturing jobs to China, including those with General Electric.

“When Cutler says he opened up markets for American companies, maybe it’s a matter of semantics,” Manning said. “It basically means the same thing.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Cutler’s firm spent more than $32 million in 2009 lobbying Congress on a variety of trade issues on behalf of dozens of companies.

Lance Dutson of the Maine GOP said, “There are so many questions unanswered, and frankly I think the people of Maine deserve to know at least which hemisphere Cutler lived in last year,” referring to rumors that Cutler lived in Beijing in 2009.

Cutler’s comments follow his campaign’s recent complaint with the state Ethics Commission against the website Cutler Files. The site is run anonymously. It has posted several stories about Cutler’s business history, calling him “a phony and a fraud.”

The site says it’s made up of “researchers, writers and journalists.”

Cutler’s campaign said the site violates the state’s election disclosure laws.

Dan Billings, who has worked on behalf of Republican causes, is representing the site’s owners. Billings said the ethics complaint should be dismissed because it violates the owners’ free speech rights.

Asked Friday who he thought was running the site, Cutler declined to comment.

Gilbert, a Democrat, said Friday he was supporting Cutler because Mitchell was the “embodiment of what’s wrong in Augusta” and LePage was a tea party candidate who is “too far to the right.”

When asked if he was worried that supporting Cutler would ensure a victory for LePage, Gilbert said, “I can’t envision anyone voting for Paul LePage.”

“The more he keeps talking, the better it is for us,” he added.

Said Cutler, “It seems that the strongest argument the Democrats have for Libby Mitchell is that a vote for me is a vote for Paul LePage. And the strongest argument Republicans have is a vote for me is a vote for Libby Mitchell. In fact, a vote for me is a vote for a bright future.”

Cutler also unveiled his Androscoggin County Committee.

It includes Jack Clifford, founder and partner in Clifford and Golden law firm; Lucien Gosselin, president of the Lewiston/Auburn Economic Growth Council; Jonathan LaBonte, Androscoggin County Commissioner; Kathie Leonard, president, Auburn Manufacturing; Jim Wellehan, founder and president, Lamey Wellehan.

smistler@sunjournal.com

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