5 candidates get nod for election funds Court order opens way for ‘clean’ money

AUGUSTA – Five Clean Election candidates will receive additional campaign funds after a review of preprimary spending patterns in more than two dozen legislative races.

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices this week notified the five House candidates, all Democrats, that they are entitled to more public funding. The amounts range from $117 for Judd Thompson in House District 106 to $4,257 for Frank McDermott, a candidate for House District 38 in Raymond.

The extra money comes about as a result of a court order last week challenging the commission’s procedures for distinguishing between expenses used in primary elections and those in the general election.

Clean Election candidates receive one set of funds for the primary and another, larger one, for the general election. If a privately funded opponent raises more than a threshold amount, the Clean Election candidate is entitled to additional matching funds.

By prepaying expenses for the general election, privately funded candidates prevented opposing Clean Election candidates from receiving matching funds. Several Republicans acknowledged they sought advice from William Hain, director of the ethics panel, and used the legal loophole to their advantage.

The issue came to the forefront last week when a legislative candidate from South Portland received $8,500 in matching funds after originally being denied the money by the ethics commission.

The commission voted to give the money to Democrat William Collins after a Cumberland County Superior Court judge ordered the panel on Wednesday to meet within 24 hours and review the case.

Rich Pelletier, the caucus leader for the House Democratic Campaign Committee, said there is little time for candidates who received the last-minute infusions of public money to use it effectively.

“It looks like the Republicans gamed the system sufficiently to deny the voters access to both sides of the issues,” he said.

Joseph Bruno, the Republican floor leader in the House and McDermott’s opponent in District 38, said Republicans played by the rules that were set by the commission.

“Those were the rules that were given to us a long time ago,” he said. “When you change the rules in the middle of the game, it’s tough to run a campaign that way.”