A national campaign finance-reform advocacy group is seeking to calm the waters following a recent fund-raising flap between Democrats Ethan Strimling and Chellie Pingree.

The group, Public Campaign Action Fund, issued a press release today urging voters in Maine's 1st Congressional District to evaluate the candidates' positions on campaign-finance reform, rather than listening to the accusations flying back and forth between candidates over certain contributions. The group, which supports public financing of congressional elections, noted that all six Democratic candidates in the race have pledged to support federal legislation based on Maine's Clean Elections act.

"The First Congressional District in Maine includes an embarrassment of riches of candidates who support the Voters First Pledge," said David Donnelly, the group's national campaigns director, who was campaign mangager of the effort to pass the Maine Clean Election law in 1996 and also worked as a staffer for former Democratic Rep. Tom Andrews. "Since every candidate must play by the rules as they exist today, the real test of who is a reformer is whether they have pledged to overhaul campaign finance laws, not whether they have received donations from certain individuals.”

The press release heaped additional praise on Pingree and Michael Brennan for their work on campaign-finance reform issues.

Donnelly said in a phone interview that the Public Campaign Action Fund does not endorse candidates, but it decided to hasten its efforts to educate voters about the 1st District candidates' views on public financing of elections after fundraising became a negative issue in the campaign. He said that none of the six Democratic campaigns solicited the group's involvement.

– Kevin Wack

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