Tuesday, March 27, 2007
AUGUSTA - Four unsuccessful legislative candidates who faced possible legal action for failing to return or account for thousands of dollars in state campaign funds by the December 2006 deadline have since paid up.
But a fifth candidate who apparently owes more than $4,500 from last year's campaign has yet to refund the money, according to the state agency that administers the Clean Election Act.
The lone holdout among the five candidates is Debra Reagan of Sanford, a Republican who lost her bid for the Maine House of Representatives last November.
Reagan has neither returned nor explained how she used the $4,518 that she received for her campaign from the Clean Election Fund, according to the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices.
The commission, which distributes tax dollars to publicly financed legislative and gubernatorial candidates, has sent Reagan at least eight reminders by regular mail, voice mail and e-mail over the last few months, according to executive director Jonathan Wayne.
He said the ethics commission referred Reagan's case to the Attorney General's Office on Feb. 27, and the state "will likely sue her" to get the money back.
Reagan could not be reached for comment Monday.
The state has had better luck with four other failed House candidates who, collectively, owed the Clean Election Fund more than $9,000 that they had yet to return by mid-February, about two months after the Dec. 19 deadline.
Wayne said those candidates have since returned the money or documented how they spent it, leaving Reagan as the only legislative candidate from last year who still has a substantial unpaid debt to the state.
The candidates who have returned or accounted for state funds include Democrat Arthur Clement of Clinton, who repaid $5,988 in two installments on March 7 and 20.
Also on the list is Democrat Thomas Bossie of Casco, who had failed to return or account for $4,080 from the Clean Election Fund. Wayne said Bossie returned $1,390 on Feb. 23, and he has submitted documents that appear to show he spent the rest of the money on legitimate campaign expenditures.
The other candidates are Republican Paul Nixon of South Portland, who has repaid $1,762; and Republican David Hughes of Lewiston, who has returned about $140.
Wayne emphasized that the vast majority of last year's publicly financed legislative candidates returned all of their unspent campaign funds on time, but "sometimes the commission has to be forceful in asking for the money to be returned."
More than 300 legislative candidates used public financing in last year's general election. The program, which was created by Maine voters in 1996 in a referendum, has been available for qualified legislative candidates since 2000 and for qualified gubernatorial candidates since 2002. The state does not provide public funding for municipal, county or congressional races.
Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at:
Reader comments
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I hope Ms. Reagan has a reasonable explanation for failing to return the money, or accounting for how she spent the funds.
Her failure to do either isn't commendable.report abuse
Theft. Nice work Mrs. Reagan.report abuse
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