AUGUSTA – An Auburn independent gubernatorial candidate hopes to turn a June ruling from the state ethics commission to his advantage by either forcing the panel to grant his request for public campaign funding or also disqualifying his independent opponent.

In a complaint received July 28 by the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, John Michael maintained the panel had approved independent Barbara Merrill’s June 2 public funding report, after concluding the Appleton resident had incurred no debts or obligations as she worked to gather enough $5 contributions to qualify as a publicly funded candidate.

Michael, who is appealing the commission’s decision to deny his own request for public campaign funding, claimed Merrill’s 42-day post-primary report filed on July 24 reflected payments of $1,500 and $8,300 respectively to Harold James Webster and Dyer Associates. Both were paid on June 16 and Merrill listed “collecting $5 contributions and consulting” as the basis for payment. In order to qualify for up to $1.2 million in public funding, Maine Clean Elections gubernatorial candidates must each collect $5 contributions from 2,500 people.

In his letter to the commission, Michael claimed Merrill had committed a serious violation of state election laws because her campaign had received services during the qualifying stage from Webster and Dyer that she had not paid for. Michael is asking for a commission investigation into his allegations and a review of whether Merrill should have been permitted to qualify for public funding.

Already locked in a dispute with the commission staff which claimed Michael had committed various violations in connection with his request for public funding, including “possible fraud,” the Auburn conservative said his campaign would have collected more than enough $5 contributions to qualify had it been allowed to rely on the same rules as Merrill.

“The Michael for Governor Campaign is further asserting that if an equivalent expenditure [of about $10,000] was authorized for our campaign, we could have easily obtained an additional 2,000 qualifying contributions for our effort, and our effort to qualify for public financing, now on appeal, would not have been denied,” he wrote.

Philip Merrill, Barbara Merrill’s husband and the candidate’s deputy treasurer, said both Webster and Dyer were volunteers during the qualifying phase of the campaign and subsequently were hired after Merrill was certified as a Clean Elections candidate by the commission. He further stated that the campaign chose to “front-load” payments for retainers to Webster and Dyer who had depleted some of their personal finances when both were acting as volunteers.

Merrill said if the commission determines that payment of the retainers was not allowed under the law, Webster and Dyer would promptly return their checks to the state.

Michael’s complaint adds to the growing caseload facing the commission when it next meets on Aug. 23. Merrill already has filed a complaint against the Maine Democratic Party for allegedly engaging in unethical polling activities she maintains were crafted to negatively affect her campaign.

The Maine Democratic Party has filed a complaint against Merrill and Republican gubernatorial nominee Chandler Woodcock alleging both had illegally assisted the other with reciprocal $5 contributions.

In an unrelated case before the commission, the Maine State Building and Construction Trades Council, a labor organization with Democratic leanings, is charging that the Maine Economic Research Institute may have improperly acted as a special interest group. The group recently gave Republican candidates overwhelmingly high marks in a “Roll Call 2006” report that was inserted into several Maine newspapers, including the Bangor Daily News. The council also complained MERI did not provide enough information about who paid for the report and what its methodology was for ranking candidates.