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Clean elections and the governor's race |
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by Gina Hamilton
Coastal Journal staff
 AUGUSTA - An incredibly varied field of players have entered the 2010 race for Maine governor this November, with primaries to be held in June of this year. So far, 24 candidates have confirmed that their hats are in the ring; several others are on the fence and may enter the race.
Among Democrats, confirmed candidates in alphabetical order are Donna Dion, former Mayor of Biddeford; Patrick McGowan, former State Conservation Commissioner; Elizabeth ŒLibby' Mitchell, State Senate President; John G.Richardson, Commissioner of Economic and Community Development; Steven Rowe, former Maine Attorney General, former State Representative; Rosa Scarcelli, business owner; and Peter Truman, also known as Peter Throumoulos, former state representative and convicted forger.
Potential Democrats who have not yet confirmed include Glenn Cummings, former Speaker of the House; G. William Diamond, former Secretary of State; Eriq Manson, who is said to be a professional pool player; and Mike Michaud, currently holding the position of U.S. Representative from the Second District.
On the Republican side, confirmed candidates include Steve Abbott, former chief of staff for Senator Susan Collins; William Beardsley, former president of Husson University; Matt Jacobson, president of Maine & Company, a private business attraction organization; Paul LePage, Mayor of Waterville and general manager of Marden's Surplus and Salvage; Peter Mills, State Senator; Les Otten, founder of American Ski Company and former Red Sox co-owner; Bruce Poliquin, business owner; and J. Martin Vachon, 2006 candidate for governor.
It is possible that Josh Tardy, currently State House Minority Leader, will also declare.
From the Maine Green Independent Party, Patrick Quinlan, former legislative aide and consultant for Green state representative John Eder is in the race, as is Lynne Williams, former chair of the Maine Green Independent Party.
This being Maine, there are also several independents running. Confirmed independents include Samme Bailey, Christopher Cambron; Eliot Cutler, who served as adviser in the Carter administration and was a Muskie staff member; Augustus Edgerton; Alex Hammer, business owner and author; Beverly Cooper-Pete; and John Whitcomb.
Another potential independent candidate is John T. Jenkins, former State Senator and mayor of both Auburn and Lewiston.
The sheer size of the field has made it difficult to cover individual races, and some of the candidates may drop out if they are unable to raise the requisite $40,000 to qualify for clean elections funds. Primary candidates are entitled to $400,000 each after privately raising $40,000 in seed money at no more than $100 per check. They are also entitled to up to $200,000 in matching funds to offset spending by privately funded candidates.
Democrats Donna Dion, Patrick McGowan, Elizabeth Mitchell and John Richardson have declared their intent to seek public funding. Republican Peter Mills, Green Independent Lynne Williams and independent candidates Christopher Cambron, Alex Hammer and John Whitcomb have also indicated that they will run as clean candidates.
If by the April 1 deadline, all of these candidates were able to raise the $40,000, and also $5 checks from 3250 citizens, cost of the primaries alone to the clean election fund could easily exceed $5.4 million dollars. Some, no doubt, will be unable to meet this threshhold, while others will drop out as the inevitable poll numbers take their toll.
The Maine Clean Election Fund was created by voters in 1996, and its goal was to help candidates steer clear of political action committes and other influence peddlers. And it doesn't cost as much to run a campaign in Maine as it does in many other pricier markets, so for the most part, the fund has remained healthy. However, this year may be a challenge.
The Clean Election Fund will have just under $10 million for qualified legislative and gubernatorial candidates heading into this election cycle, money that must last through 2011 for special elections and the like.
The fund is well used. Eighty-one percent of the House and Senate candidates ran 'clean' in 2008. So the ethics commission, which oversees the fund, has projected that this year's legislative campaigns will consume around $3.8 million. According to Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, the fund can only remain healthy if only a few candidates use it. "We would have enough money if we had four candidates for governor who qualified for the funding in the primary and then two of them were to be in the general election," said Wayne. Anything beyond that, and the fund goes broke.
The possibility of obtaining more clean election funding is next to nil in this economic climate, so Maine's noble experiment in democracy may be facing its most serious challenge to date.
Although Mainers support clean elections funding by a wide margin - more than 56% say they favor funding elections through this program rather than allowing special interests free rein - in a difficult economic climate, those who are choosing not to run as clean candidates are trying to make the case that doing so now is contrary to the best economic interests of the state. Democrat Rosa Scarcellli that while she considered using taxpayer money from the Clean Elections Fund to finance her campaign, she said the current budget shortfall in Augusta convinced her to take the more difficult traditional route.
Only one Republican - Peter Mills - is choosing to run as a clean candidate. He expects to face heat in the upcoming campaign for his decision. And the backlash has already started. Edie Smith, the spokeswoman for privately financed GOP hopeful Les Otten, said recently that "Les feels strongly that it's not a wise use of taxpayer dollars especially in this economy where there are a lot of other needs within the state budget."
From now until the primaries in June, the Coastal Journal will interview the candidates in the field. Our interviews will focus on the issues our readers believe are most important - taxes, business and community development, health and human services cuts, education, energy, and transportation. As soon as the interviews can be arranged, we will publish two or three per week until all the candidates are heard from.
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