The Congressional campaign of Maine State Senator Emily Cain (D-Orono) acknowledged Wednesday that she spoke at a fundraiser for her campaign Tuesday night after missing a meeting of the State Senate Appropriations Committee on which she serves earlier the same day – an absence one of her colleagues attributed to her being “sick.”
Late Wednesday afternoon, the Cain for Congress campaign released a statement acknowledging that Senator Cain “missed time in Augusta [the State Capitol] due to concussion.” Senator Cain, the statement said, “had to take a few days off from her work campaigning, and her work in Augusta, due to a concussion she suffered last week. Questions arose about her whereabouts during an Appropriations Committee meeting when the committee chair, Sen. Dawn Hill, announced that Sen. Cain would not be present for the meeting because she was sick.”
According to the campaign press release, Cain said, “Thursday morning, I slipped on some ice while getting in to my car and hit my head on the vehicle’s door frame.” On Saturday, Cain was diagnosed with a concussion by a doctor, the release stated.
As Cain tells it, “I took time off Saturday and part of Sunday to lie low to allow myself time to heal. Monday, things were no better, so I had a CT scan, and the doctor ordered rest and to avoid driving and ‘screen time’ such as computers and television. Thankfully, Tuesday night I was able to resume my schedule and attend a local event for my campaign that has been on my schedule for weeks.”
The campaign release acknowledged that “Emily attended a private event for her campaign in her hometown of Orono on Tuesday night.”
The Maine Republican Party issued a press release Wednesday criticizing Cain for calling in sick to the Senate Committee meeting on Tuesday in order to speak at a fundraiser for her Congressional campaign that night.
In its Wednesday press release, the Maine Republican Party said, “Sen. Cain had Sen. Dawn Hill announce that she was sick and therefore unable to attend a meeting of the Appropriations Committee in Augusta Tuesday afternoon.” They added, “Shortly after Sen. Hill’s announcement, pictures of Senator Cain mingling at a Cain for Congress fundraiser surfaced online – exposing Sen. Hill’s statement on Sen. Cain’s whereabouts as blatantly false.”
A spokeseperson for the Cain for Congress campaign told Breitbart News via email Wednesday, “Sen. Cain did NOT ‘ask’ Sen. Hill to say that she was out sick, as stated in the press release put forward by the Maine Republican Party.”
Cain is running for Congress in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, a seat that opened up when the incumbent, Democrat Mike Michaud (D-ME), announced that he was running for Governor. Former Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) represented the district from 1979 to 1995.
Roll Call has called the race one of the few competitive contests in the House in 2014. Michaud won the seat by a 52 percent to 44 percent margin in 2010.
Cain has raised $300,000 for the Democratic primary, which will be held in June. Recent polls show that she leads fellow Democrat State Senate Majority Leader Troy Jackson by fifteen points in that primary contest.
Several candidates are competing in the Republican primary.
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