AUGUSTA – Efforts by the King administration to siphon off $4 million from the Maine Clean Elections Fund are meeting with resistance from legislators who have reservations about tampering with an account created by a statewide referendum vote.

And those lawmakers who might have supported the proposal may be less inclined after today when the state Revenue Forecasting Committee is expected to paint a less gloomy picture of Maine’s economic outlook.

Gov. Angus S. King proposed withdrawing $4 million from the Clean Elections Fund after a November economic report predicted the recession would create a $248 million revenue deficit over the duration of the state’s current two-year budget cycle. State economists, however, have reconsidered those initial projections and expect Maine’s experience with the recession will not be as severe or long-lasting.

Last Thursday, the committee received revised estimates that pegged the state revenue deficit at $108.5 million. State economist Laurie LaChance thought those projections were a little too optimistic and requested more research, the findings of which will be released today. She and other state officials suspect that the revenue gap may be closer to $168 million.

If she is correct, that will be $80 million more in revenue than what King had believed he would have available to him when he submitted a supplemental budget package last month. At that time, the governor balanced the budget by a series of spending cuts in programs and services and with a $98 million withdrawal from the state Rainy Day Fund. In order to leave the Rainy Day Fund with an $8.8 million balance, King planned to withdraw $4 million from the Clean Election Fund to replenish the Rainy Day Fund.

The Clean Election Fund provides the money for legislative and gubernatorial candidates who refuse private contributions in order to run publicly funded campaigns. The campaign finance reform initiative aspires to reduce the amount of money in politics, reduce the influence of special interest groups and promote a level playing field in state politics.

Doug Clopp, of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, said the fund began 2002 with a balance of about $6.6 million, a reserve built up from direct contributions and income tax check-offs since 1997, a year after the fund was created by the will of the voters in a statewide referendum. King’s plan to draw off $4 million would not adversely affect the needs of Clean Election candidates in the current election or the next. But Clopp was more pessimistic about what would happen four years from now.

“The governor’s proposal will essentially bankrupt the Clean Election Fund by 2006,” Clopp said, noting that participation among legislative candidates in 2000 was about 33 percent and that those statistics are expected to dramatically increase this year.

A key legislative panel reviewing the proposal agreed with Clopp. Last month the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee voted to unanimously oppose King’s $4 million withdrawal. Rep. Janice Lebrecque, R-Gorham, compared the plan to a federal raid on Social Security.

Rep. John Tuttle, D-Sanford and House chairman of the committee, didn’t exactly embrace LaBrecque’s characterization of the plan. Still, he harbored some concerns over reactions from voters who may wonder why the Legislature is taking money that was supposedly dedicated to publicly funded candidates.

“Because the Maine Clean Elections Act was a citizen’s initiative, we need to be a little cautious; we need to be a little sensitive,” he said. “I’m hoping there will be some agreement among members of the Appropriations Committee.”

It was clear Wednesday that at least one leading member of the committee was already seriously evaluating the plan. Sen. Jill Goldthwait, I-Bar Harbor, said she would not support the proposal if the transfer of Clean Election funds includes the contributions made by taxpayers on the $3, voluntary check-off on state income tax forms.

“To me that’s an issue of trust between the public and their government and we should not be doing that,” she said.