In his first term in office, Burns ran as a clean elections candidate and served on the Taxation Committee.
The ethics commission declared that Burns owed more than $2,000 for violating state law regarding the use of public funds, including the co-mingling of personal and campaign funds, the falsifying of documents and other chargers of malfeasance.
The commission also asked Maine Attorney General William Schneider to open a criminal investigation and impose a large fine for the violations which Commission chair Walter McKee called "mind-boggling".
Earlier in the same day, leading Democratic state representative Emily Cain had called for Burns's immediate resignation.
[3] After pleading guilty to misdemeanor forgery and theft charges in connection with his 2010 election campaign he was sentenced to six months in prison.