GOP fliers trigger funds for Dems

AUGUSTA – Nearly a dozen publicly funded Democratic candidates for the Legislature will share more than $110,000 in matching funds after the state’s ethics panel concluded the Maine Republican Party crossed the line with some independent campaign mailings.

In a 3-2 decision Thursday, the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices sided with Democrats who claimed their party’s Clean Election candidates had been placed at a disadvantage by the way the GOP candidates’ names were printed on the state party’s fliers. One unenrolled candidate and a Green Independent Party candidate also were entitled to matching funds as a result of the GOP fliers.

“We disagree with the decision, but we will comply with the commission’s request,” said Dan Billings, attorney for the state Republican Party. “I think [in the future] this is an area where both the Legislature and the commission need to give more direct guidance as to what the rules are.”

Maine Republicans sent fliers supporting their candidates to voters in more than a dozen Senate districts. The fliers addressed a range of topics, such as health care costs, Maine’s tax burden and regionalization of schools and hospitals.

In addition to concerns over the way some GOP candidates’ names or pictures were featured on the mailers, Democrats maintained that some ads mischaracterized the positions of their candidates on various issues.

The voter-approved Clean Elections Act allows candidates for the Legislature and for governor who agree to spending limits to receive limited public financing for their campaigns. The law also provides that they get additional funds to match outside “independent” campaign activity on behalf of their opponents.

Individual awards of additional matching funds from the ethics commission Thursday ranged from a high of $16,200 each to Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield, and Julia St. James, an unenrolled Hartford candidate in Senate District 14, to $2,025 to Anthony Cilluffo, a Wells Democrat, in Senate District 2.

Candidates in the northern and eastern areas of the state receiving matching funds included Sen. Pamela Hatch, D-Skowhegan, District 26, $12,150; Sen. Stephen Stanley, D-Medway, District 27, $4,050; Rep. Joe Perry, D-Bangor for Senate District 32, $4,487; and Edward Buckley, a Presque Isle Democrat for Senate District 34, $8,100.

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission, said his agency could begin discussions to tighten up language regulating independent expenditures under the Clean Elections law as soon as the panel’s next meeting on Nov. 4.