LEWISTON — The mailer campaign waged by the Maine Democratic Party against independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler is drawing fire from its own party, as well as the state’s representative on the Democratic National Committee.

On Wednesday, DNC Committeeman Sam Spencer, Cutler’s godson and a family friend, called upon the state party to cease its “xenophobic and borderline racist” attacks against the independent candidate for his ties to China.

In a separate release, 42 Democrats, including four state legislators and the former executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, called on the party’s campaign director, Arden Manning, to cease the “scurrilous, slanderous and intentionally deceitful” attacks against Cutler. 

Thirty of the 42 people who signed the letter urging Democrats to stop the attack flyers have donated money to Cutler.

Manning, responding to Spencer’s statement, said there are legitimate questions about Cutler’s business dealings in China. Manning said the claims made in the fliers — that Cutler’s law firm, Akin Gump, helped export U.S. jobs to China and that it represented oil companies — are accurate.

“We have no debate with Eliot Cutler about the work he did in the 1970s for Sen. (Ed )Muskie or Jimmy Carter,” Manning said. “We have a debate with the work he’s done in the last 10 to 15 years, which incidentally is the time in his life that Eliot doesn’t want to talk about.”

Ted O’Meara, Cutler’s campaign manager, said Cutler has refuted each of the allegations and pulled Akin Gump’s lobbying records to prove the attorney played no part in lobbying oil companies or exporting U.S. jobs.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Akin Gump spent more than $32 million lobbying Congress on more than two dozen policy matters. O’Meara said that was common for any large law firm and that Cutler had no involvement in exporting U.S. jobs or lobbying on behalf of oil companies.

Manning argued that while Cutler may not have directly lobbied on behalf of those companies, he and his firm profited from those activities.

Cutler is no longer a partner in the firm. However, O’Meara said he acts as senior counsel.

The specifics of Cutler’s business dealings have taken a back seat to the Maine Democratic Party’s portrayal of them.

Spencer called the claims “absurd and indefensible.”

“The Democratic Party should not engage in fear-mongering and xenophobia,” he said in his statement.

Spencer, a Portland resident, claims he has no involvement with Cutler’s campaign or business dealings.

His father, Richard Spencer, a former state legislator, is a lawyer for the Drummond Woodsum firm in Portland. O’Meara confirmed that Richard Spencer is counsel for Cutler’s campaign.

Sam Spencer said Cutler had previously asked for his endorsement, but Spencer declined because of his allegiance to the Democratic party. He said his public condemnation of the mailings was unsolicited.

“I haven’t heard from (Cutler’s campaign) before or since (the news release),” he said.

“I’m not only concerned about Eliot’s reputation, I’m concerned about the reputation of the Maine Democratic Party,” Spencer said.

He took issue with three of the mailings. One, released last week, showed images of oil-soaked pelicans and hinted that Maine could become the site of the next Exxon Valdez or BP oil spill if Cutler is elected governor. Another showed an open fortune cookie, while the most recent one shows a help wanted ad written in Chinese along with the country’s communist flag.

Spencer called the fliers “Karl Rove” tactics.

Manning acknowledged that the fliers had generated some backlash from Democratic party members who found their tone objectionable.

“We’ve had calls where people have said that, but there have been others who have thanked us for doing the research,” he said.

Manning said the fliers weren’t designed to create anti-Chinese sentiment.

“The fortune cookie was based on the idea of people losing fortunes because of jobs shipped overseas,” Manning said. “We contrast that with Eliot Cutler, who’s potentially made a fortune from jobs shipped overseas.”

“If these jobs were being shipped to Russia, we’d be talking about jobs going to Russia,” he added. “From our perspective, it really had nothing to do with where the jobs went.”

Spencer said he’d contacted John Knutson, chairman of the Maine Democratic Party, on Monday to complain about the mailings.

Asked to characterize Knutson’s response, Spencer said, “To be honest, (Knutson) said he didn’t know about it. … He said he would look into it and he would get back to me.”

Knutson couldn’t be reached for comment.

smistler@sunjournal.com

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