Longtime legislator Sen. Joe Brannigan of Portland, who spent more than $20,000 in public funds in his run for Senate two years ago, is running a privately funded campaign this year because he thinks the Clean Election’s system caused him and his opponent to overspend in 2006.
“Last time my opponent had $20,000 and I had $20,000. We both spent $20,000 and I still got 70 percent of the vote. Is that a right use of taxpayer money?” Brannigan asked.
Brannigan, who has served 24 years in the Legislature as both a member of the House and Senate (with three terms off in the 1990s), said he’s always been a little ambivalent about the Clean Election’s process.
He supports it for candidates who need the money in order to run, but has run on private donations in the past, most recently in 2002 and 2004 for the House. And, Brannigan admits, he didn’t get organized this year to collect the needed $5 checks from registered voters in order to qualify for the public money.
“I don’t have to have it. At this point I’m going to fund my own and get a few donations,” he said.
Overall, the number of Clean Election candidates in the upcoming November race is down from two years ago, at least so far. In 2006, 81 percent of those in the general election ran on public money. This year the number is around 73 percent, but that’s not final since declared candidates have until next week to drop out of the race and can be replaced by those running on public funds.
The Clean Election fund is expected to spend about $4.6 million on this year’s legislative races. Senate candidates in the general election will get up to $19,078 each and House candidates $4,144, but not all of it will be spent.
Brannigan, whose district includes part of Westbrook and part of Portland, is facing Republican Nicholas McGee, who is running on Clean Election funds.
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