AUGUSTA — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has cleared Department of Conservation Commissioner Patrick McGowan of wrongdoing regarding allegations that he violated the Airborne Hunting Act during the 2007 moose season.
An investigation was launched by federal law enforcement officers after an e-mail surfaced that alleged McGowan had illegally used his aircraft to locate moose for on-the-ground hunters on Sunday, Sept. 23. Moose season began the next day.
It is illegal in Maine to use an aircraft to hunt or harass wildlife and to hunt on Sunday.
"Our agents thoroughly investigated the report of unlawful activity, reviewing pertinent records and interviewing more than a dozen potential witnesses — and found no corroborating information that Mr. McGowan violated the Airborne Hunting Act," Thomas J. Healy, special agent in charge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Northeast region law enforcement office, stated Friday in a prepared press release.
"When we receive information that wildlife laws have been broken, we make every effort to determine the truth of the allegations," Healy said in the statement. "In this situation, our investigation found no credible evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. McGowan, and we consider this matter closed."
He noted the service will not seek to bring charges against McGowan.
McGowan said Friday he was pleased the investigation had concluded. "This probe has been a humbling experience for me, and made for a very difficult few months," he stated in a prepared press release. "I am grateful to the agents for completing their investigation swiftly.
"Nearly everyone who works in the interest of the public — whether as a U.S. senator, a school board member, or a state commissioner — has a cause," McGowan said. "Since 1980, I have been involved as a citizen, small-business owner and legislator in environmental and conservation concerns. As a legislator, I co-wrote the endangered species law and sponsored the first Land for Maine’s Future legislation. Therefore, being falsely accused of violating a Maine hunting law has been deeply hurtful to me and my entire family."
It was former Col. Tom Santaguida of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife who sent the e-mail to his former supervisors alleging that a high-ranking state official had been hunting from the air in Caucomgomoc. That allegation was made by Santaguida after he had resigned from the Maine Warden Service for having been caught with several short lobsters.
The alleged hunting violation centered on a warden’s encounter with McGowan in a remote area in Piscataquis County a day before moose season opened. Santaguida said the warden had questioned McGowan’s flight activity when he landed in Caucomgomoc, and when McGowan returned to Augusta he complained to Santaguida about the way he was treated by the warden. He recalled McGowan said in an e-mail he had been taking photographs for the Department of Conservation on the trip.
McGowan said earlier he had been taking photographs of the foliage for the department on that September day when he flew his wife and another couple into Caucomgomoc, where he has a camp. He said neither he nor his passengers had a gun and they were not dressed in hunter clothing. McGowan said the group enjoyed a picnic lunch and then left the same day to return to Augusta.
Santaguida alleged DIF&W Deputy Commissioner Paul Jacques later said he checked with some hunters who had been in Caucomgomoc about McGowan’s trip and Jacques told Santaguida and Maj. Greg Sanborn that McGowan had been hunting or aiding in the hunt from the air, and he alleged both were warned not to say a "g-d word."
A copy of Santaguida’s e-mail was later submitted by another party to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Department, which initiated an investigation.
Santaguida could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.
Deborah Turcotte, DIF&W spokeswoman, said earlier that two internal reviews were conducted by the DIF&W and there were no findings of wrongdoing. When McGowan’s complaint was received about the warden, a review was conducted by warden’s supervisor Sgt. Ron Dunham while Santaguida was still employed at DIF&W. A second review was done by then-acting Maj. Joel Wilkinson, she said.
While Jacques declined to speak about the allegation in an earlier Bangor Daily News story, Jacques wrote in a recent e-mail: "I did not at any time or for any purpose speak to anyone at the Caucomgomac camp, nor did I ever tell anyone at any time that I had. I did not go anywhere near the camp at any time that week, nor did I see anyone from that camp while hunting. This can be easily confirmed by speaking to any of the men who stayed there, or any of the six other people who hunted with me that week. I at no time left their sight or spoke to any of the men from the camp while I was with them, which was virtually all week.
"There were two separate investigations and there was not a shred of evidence that anything was done wrong," Jacques said.
DIF&W Commissioner Roland "Danny" Martin said last month he had talked with Sanborn about the matter. "I don’t think Greg interpreted any of anything that Paul or Tom would have shared with him as being told to keep quiet about it."
Sanborn declined to comment at that time, citing the ongoing investigation.
When Jacques allegedly made the comment, Santaguida said he wondered what he, as a colonel, could do. Moose season was well over with and he was buried in budget work, consolidation efforts and the Legislature. "When your quasi-threatened before you make a move you have to think things through," he said. In the end, he said he did nothing.
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