WASHINGTON – In his record-breaking campaign fund-raising effort last year, U.S. Rep. Michael H. Michaud proudly touted the fact that he raised 85 percent of the total from sources within the state.

This year, now that he is the incumbent, Michaud has started his fund-raising drive in Washington, closing the first-quarter reporting period with more than 90 percent of his funds coming from outside the state. In fact, there are only four Maine residents recorded as donors in the reporting period that ended March 31. They gave just $1,305 of the $69,645 Michaud took in, Federal Election Commission documents show.

The East Millinocket Democrat’s chief of staff, Peter Chandler, defended the congressman’s out-of-state donations.

“We just went through the most expensive election cycle in the history of the 2nd District,” said Chandler. “We needed to give Maine folks a break. The congressman made a conscious decision to give donors in Maine a breather, so we’ve focused outside of Maine” for fund-raising efforts.

Michaud, who has gained seats on three House committees, drew the bulk of his funds during the most recent quarter from entities that have business before those panels.

The congressman has seats on the committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Small Business and Veterans’ Affairs.

Nearly half of Michaud’s contributions came from transportation industry unions and trade associations. Prominent among those are the United Auto Workers, which gave $5,000; the Amalgamated Transit Union, $3,000; and the Airline Pilots Association, $2,500.

More than a dozen other associations that represent interests in the air travel, rail and trucking industries made donations ranging from $500 to $2,000.

The remaining donors also correlate roughly with the congressional committees on which Michaud sits.

Major U.S. corporations including Microsoft, General Electric, General Dynamics and Ernst & Young gave a combined $9,000 to Michaud.

Two sugar industry associations located in Minnesota and Louisiana gave a total of $2,500.

Two maritime associations, one for retirees, gave Michaud $1,500.

The campaign finance reports were filed April 15, just days before Michaud’s first post-election fund-raiser in Maine, which is scheduled tonight in Lewiston.

In November, Michaud won the most expensive election in the history of the 2nd District, beating Republican contender Kevin Raye by 4 percentage points.

Michaud raised $1,187,462, more than any previous candidate in a 2nd District race, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Raye raised $917,614.

According to the center, 83 percent of Michaud’s 2002 campaign money came from Maine.

But as an incumbent, Michaud now seems to be focusing his post-election fund-raising efforts outside the state.

“The congressman’s priorities have been hiring new staff, getting onto committees, and doing all the work that goes with being a new member of Congress,” according to Chandler.

But Carl Forti, communications director at the National Republican Congressional Committee, called the local-national imbalance “a sign that special interests are playing a big role” in Michaud’s office.

“Clearly, you’d like your congressman to show grass-roots support in the district,” Forti said, adding that his committee remains committed to electing Raye, who is considering running again against Michaud in 2004.

But Chandler calls the donations from players in the transportation industry “perfectly natural,” saying that contributions generally will reflect a congressman’s committee seats.

One Democratic strategist downplayed Michaud’s funding imbalance as a temporary aberration caused by the election cycle. Post-election months are slow for fund raising, the strategist said, and as such show imbalances that do not persist over longer periods of time.