Clean Election candidates jam ethics office

AUGUSTA – The state office that distributes public funds to qualified candidates was bustling with activity Tuesday as Maine House and Senate candidates raced against a deadline to apply for Clean Election funds.

Even before a crush of new paperwork materialized Tuesday, the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices had heard from more than 110 applicants and certified more than 60 of them as eligible for public funding.

As many as 110 additional candidates who were interested in Clean Election funding were filing their required paperwork Tuesday at the Ethics Commission office.

“I have a staff of six people and have hired four temps to assist in the processing of the paperwork,” commission Executive Director William Hain said as the crowded office buzzed with activity.

Maine legislative and gubernatorial candidates who forego most private donations and collect $5 contributions from a fixed number of supporters can receive public financing for the June 11 primaries and Nov. 5 elections.

This will be the second round of legislative elections in which public funding is being used under the voter-approved Clean Election Act. In 2000, nearly half the senators who were elected, and a quarter of the House members, used public funds.

Maine has 186 legislative seats, 151 in the House of Representatives and 35 in the Senate.

Based on preliminary numbers available Tuesday, the numbers of “clean” legislators to be elected next November could be much larger, Hain said.

“It would not surprise me if when all is said and done, when the 121st Legislature is elected, well over 75 percent and up to 90 percent of the Senate could be Clean Election candidates,” Hain said.

In the House, the new membership could be 50 percent to 70 percent publicly financed, Hain predicted.

The numbers reflect a 50 percent increase in participation in Maine’s pioneering system of public campaign financing. Arizona, Massachusetts and Vermont also have public financing laws.

A total of 220 legislative candidates in Maine filed initial declarations of interest in Maine’s program this year. A total of 388 Democratic and Republican candidates entered legislative races this year.

Qualified Maine House candidates who are uncontested get $622 in Clean Election funds for primaries, and Senate candidates who have no contests get $1,919.

House candidates who have primary contests get $1,379 in initial distributions, with a possibility of getting three times that amount, depending on their rivals’ spending. Senate candidates get $4,768 in contested primaries, also with a chance of getting additional funds.

In this year’s gubernatorial race, Maine’s first in which candidates can run “clean,” two candidates have filed for eligibility: the Green Independent Party’s Jonathan Carter and Republican Jim Libby.