Supporters of independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler have filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Portland, challenging state policy governing contributions to non-party candidates. The suit alleges that the restrictions are unconstitutional.
Under Maine law, party candidates can accept up to $3,000 from an individual donor, broken down int o$1,500 for the primary and another $1,500 for the general election. Non-party candidates, however, who don't have a primary, can only accept $1,500. And that, says attorney Melissa Hewey, just isn't fair or legal.
"As a matter of fairness and as a matter of constitutional requirements, people should be able to donate to the person that they want to without reference to what their political party is," Hewey says.
Hewey represents four Cutler supporters: Amy Woodhouse and Richard Tobey Scott, both of Freeport, William Hastings of Falmouth and J. Thomas Franklin of Portland. They've filed suit against the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices and Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, challenging Maine's law.
Hewey says the case raises questions about elections, such as this year's gubernatorial race, in which the party candidates do not have to fund a primary, as they had no challengers, yet Maine law still allows them to raise more money.
Hewey says the U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that money is a form of speech and that, in this case, Maine's law gives supporters of official party candidates a larger voice.
"So what the Supreme Court has said is that money is one type of speech and that states can't control that unless they're fighting corruption, and here, as we point out in our pleading, the state of Maine has already said that $3,000 dollars doesn't lead to quid pro quo corruption. So what the state is doing to our clients doesn't make sense," Hewey says.
Hewey is asking the court for injunctive relief to essentially set Maine's law aside for the moment to allow Cutler's supporters to donate more than $1,500 to their candidate. The state's attorneys must respond within nine days, and Hewey would like to see the issue resolved this month.
But some Republicans, including state Sen. Garrett Mason, of Lisbon Falls, question the rationale behind the suit. As a member of the Legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee that reviews proposed campaign finance laws, Mason says the state needed different contribution levels for primary candidates, and the fact that there were no party challengers this year is irrelevant.
"We don't have to look in the too recent past, in 2010 for the governor's race and 2012 for the Senate, but we do generally have primary challengers every time there is an open seat," Mason says.
But Sen. John Tuttle, the Sanford Democrat who co-chairs Mason's committee, says the Cutler supporters may have a point that lawmakers should consider.
"I think that that probably does have merit, and I think that we're going to have to follow the process through and give Jon Wayne a call from the Ethics Committee and maybe my staff will look into it," Tuttle says.
Hewey says the state needs to take the same approach for contributions as the Federal Elections Commission, which she says allowed Sen. Angus King to raise as much per contributor as a major party candidate.