NORTHPORT – Maine voters will be hearing a lot more about the Green Independent Party next year than ever before, thanks to the potential infusion of more than $200,000 of taxpayer funds in the gubernatorial primary.

Held on Saturday at the Blue Goose dance hall in Northport, the party’s fall assembly offered the state’s 8,700 Greens the chance to socialize, network and get updated on environmental and social issues. While state politics always serves as a backdrop for these events, this year’s conference was energized by presentations from two Greens who plan to compete in a gubernatorial primary contest funded under the Maine Clean Elections Act.

Jonathan Carter, a 50-year-old Lexington resident and the party’s 1994 candidate for governor, has not yet declared his expected bid to run for governor in 2002. Still, he asked about 35 party members who attended the Saturday evening presentation to support him on the basis of his proven track record at the ballot. Next year, Carter predicted that not only would he pick up the 5 percent of the general election vote necessary to maintain “official party” status for the Greens in Maine; he would make it all the way to the Blaine House.

“Polling backs up the fact that, after [Democratic gubernatorial candidate John] Baldacci, my name is the second-most recognizable to voters,” Carter said.

In and of itself, however, Carter’s name recognition may not necessarily be a plus for the Greens, according to Steven Farsaci (pronounced far-SAHSH), who has announced his intention to seek the party’s nomination for governor. A 46-year-old Baptist minister from Farmington who is taking a break from the pulpit while he runs for office, Farsaci said Carter may be perceived negatively by Greens who desire a candidate with broader humanitarian goals.

Farsaci plans to focus more on the humanitarian needs of disadvantaged Mainers who feel excluded from a political system they view as dominated by wealthy corporate interests. In contrast, Carter has campaigned largely on the need for greater accountability from the state’s paper companies and their forest-harvesting practices.

Both men plan to fund their campaigns under the Maine Clean Elections Act, which would provide $40,000 to the party’s candidate in an uncontested primary. But a primary challenge elevates the level of anticipated campaign funding needs, making each candidate eligible for up to $105,000 for the primary election. Carter, Farsaci and other party leaders said that in addition to promoting the agendas of each candidate, the campaign funds will generate an unprecedented effort to inform Maine voters about the philosophy and goals of the Green Independent Party.

Both candidates will have until March 15 to submit their nomination papers to state election officials. Each petition must carry the signatures of 2,000 registered Green party members. To qualify for clean election funds, each candidate also will have to obtain 2,500 $5 contributions from registered voters by April 15.

In order to reach those goals, Green activists plan to circulate Carter and Farsaci’s petitions simultaneously to offer party members the option of signing both. That tactic may reinforce the claims of some Green party and clean election critics, who maintain that the Green primary amounts to nothing more than the manipulation of public campaign financing to raise $210,000 for a Green Independent Party public relations blitz.

Not so, according to Ben Meiklejohn of Portland, one the GIP’s state co-chairmen.

“It’s hard work collecting those signatures and contributions,” he said. “This is by no means free money – we have to earn it.”

The Green philosophy places a high value on volunteering for public service and therefore a primary is not perceived as much as a money grab as it is a call to duty, according to Meiklejohn.

“The Greens who are trying to collect for both candidates don’t have any ulterior motive to get candidates more money,” he said. “I think they’re just impressed that both Steven and Jonathan have come forth and they want them to have the opportunity.”

With only 8,700 party members across the state, petition circulators are going to have to work hard to get the necessary number of valid signatures. Focusing too much on the concept of both candidates instead of one carries its own peril, according to Meiklejohn, who wants to ensure the Greens’ status as an official party.

“If an insufficient number of people fail to unite behind one candidate and we end up with 1,500 signatures for each candidate, we’re done,” he said. “So we have to make sure that we don’t end up with a divide that inhibits our ability to get on the ballot. It’s a lot of signatures and a lot of $5 contributions.”