Panel certifies Libby as Maine’s first Clean Elections candidate

AUGUSTA – Republican primary contender Jim Libby was packing new political clout Friday after state election officials certified him as Maine’s first publicly funded gubernatorial candidate.

The state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices concluded that the Buxton educator had collected at least 2,500 individual contributions of $5 in order to become eligible for funding under the Maine Clean Elections Act. Under the law, Libby will receive a little more than $228,000 immediately.

If Libby’s privately funded GOP opponent, Peter Cianchette of South Portland, outspends him in the June 11 primary race, Libby will be eligible for an additional $85,000 in public funds.

“This is a great day,” Libby said. “I always thought we’d make it, although there was a time when we had 500 signatures and one week to go.”

With the GOP state convention scheduled to begin next Thursday evening and the June primary a little more than six weeks away, Libby will be able to spend at least $38,000 a week on his primary bid. He already has received dozens of calls from a variety of pollsters and campaign management organizations.

“I think the most viable aspect [of our campaign] is demonstrated by cash on hand,” Libby said. “To have a quarter-million dollars in your pocket and not to even have spent one dime at this point, well, we’re going to be able to do the kinds of things we want to do.”

As the Libby campaign was celebrating its certification, a second gubernatorial contender for public funding was forced to wait for another ethics commission meeting May 1. In a response to challenges from the Maine Democratic Party, Green Independent Party candidate Jonathan Carter of Lexington Township has asked the commission for an exception under the rules governing the use of Maine Clean Elections seed money which is capped at $50,000.

While circulating a fund-raising letter last year for seed money, Carter included a memo giving the opinion and analysis of a private polling consultant. The memo substantiated Carter’s assertion that he would be a strong gubernatorial candidate.

Last week, the Maine Democratic Party asked the ethics commission for an investigation into Carter’s fund-raising letter, which contained polling information they claimed was worth more than the $150 limit allowed under the law. The panel deadlocked in a 2-2 vote.

William Hain, executive director of the ethics commission, said Friday his staff had finished its work on Carter’s efforts to become certified. Hain has placed the certification request on the agenda of Wednesday’s ethics commission meeting to resolve the issue posed by the work of Carter’s campaign analyst. He said that while Carter applied a value of $150 to the consultant’s opinion, Democratic critics claim the information could be worth as much as $8,000.

“It all has to do with the value of the memo,” Hain said. “The way to deal with it, as with any seed money issue, is with a case-by-case exception. The question then becomes can the problem be cured. If the commission decides the memo is worth $150, there is no issue. It’s done and I go forward with the certification.”

However, the commission could determine that the poll analysis is worth more, Hain said, and require Carter to remit the difference of up to $27,000 that he is still eligible to collect in seed money.

Carter continued to maintain Friday that his campaign has done nothing wrong. He charged he would not be subjected to this kind of scrutiny if the Maine Democratic Party weren’t worried about his potential impact on the Democratic gubernatorial candidacy of 2nd Congressional District Rep. John Baldacci of Bangor.

“Everybody knows what this is all about,” Carter said. “This is just the Baldacci Democrats playing dirty politics, and it’s that simple. They’ve got their gunslingers working.”

During previous outings as a Green party candidate for governor and Congress, Carter has proved popular with some Democrats. Some political analysts predict Baldacci could be vulnerable if he loses too much of his base support to Carter and David Flanagan, an independent from Manchester who served as a top staffer to former Democratic Gov. Joseph Brennan.

Baldacci also may face even more competition in the Lewiston-Auburn area’s important Democratic Party stronghold. Independent and former Democratic state Rep. John Michael of Auburn has announced his plans to qualify as a Clean Elections gubernatorial candidate by a June deadline. Former state Sen. John Jenkins of Lewiston also is trying to qualify for public funding in his independent bid for governor.