Gubernatorial also-ran still raising funds to pay off debt

AUGUSTA – Republican David Emery came in third in his party’s gubernatorial primary, but he continues to campaign for money to pay off debts he ran up.

The former congressman from Tenants Harbor is using phone calls, mailings and his still-active campaign Web site to ask supporters for contributions to pay off debt he estimates at $26,000. If the appeals bring in enough money, he also hopes to repay a $15,000 loan he made to his campaign.

Unlike Emery, GOP primary winner Chandler Woodcock and second-place finisher Peter Mills used public money to finance their campaigns.

Emery’s predicament is not unusual.

Gubernatorial and legislative candidates sometimes close their campaigns in the red, and some still list debts from 2002, 2000 and even 1994, according to the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, which oversees campaign finances in state races.

“Raising money is never fun and never easy, but I will admit it was much more difficult than I had anticipated,” Emery said this week.

Emery fell short of his $200,000 fundraising target, but he said he does not regret his decision to forgo the Maine Clean Election Fund used by Woodcock and Mills.

“I don’t agree with that system,” Emery said.

Emery raised about $159,000 through June 1 and had spent almost $144,000 by then, leaving him with some money in the bank. But he also had $56,000 in outstanding bills at that time, and he continued to spend in the dying days of the campaign.

In an open letter to supporters, Emery said he and his family lent $15,000 to the campaign “to counter the massive television [advertising] buys” made by Mills and Woodcock, his publicly funded opponents.