SANFORD — The unenrolled candidate for House District 19, Victor E. DiGregorio, will be funding his campaign in the traditional manner. The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices has declined his bid for public funding under the Maine Clean Elections Act.

The denial came Monday, just 2 1/2 weeks before the Nov. 3 election. Ethics Commission Director Jonathan Wayne said funding was denied for a combination of reasons.

“First, each donor must sign a receipt and acknowledgment form affirming that they made a qualifying contribution from their personal funds in support of a candidate,” Wayne wrote in an email Tuesday morning. “If someone signs the form twice – for themselves and their spouse – the contribution given for the spouse is not counted as valid because the spouse has not made the required written affirmation. That resulted in two of Mr. DiGregorio’s qualifying contributions being considered invalid.”

“Second, when candidates receive qualifying contributions by cash, they are required to ask the donor to sign the money order,” Wayne further stated. “In a handful of cases, Mr. DiGregorio submitted money orders with the name printed, rather than signed. Those were not counted as valid.”

“Finally,” Wayne continued, “the commission staff was not confident that the candidate had received money from all of the individuals he had listed as donors.”

Wayne said DiGregorio may appeal the decision to the members of the ethics commission, which would result in a formal hearing.

“For now, Mr. DiGregorio must finance his campaign by paying for it himself or by receiving campaign contributions,” Wayne said. That means the candidate may accept up to $375 per donor, and may use unlimited amounts of his own funds for his campaign.

On Monday, Deputy Ethics Commission Director Paul Lavin estimated DiGregorio had garnered about 54 qualifying contributions of $5, less than 60 contributions House candidates are required to gather in order to earn public campaign funds.

DiGregorio, a Sanford city councilor, is in a three-way race to represent a part of Sanford for House District 19. That seat became vacant upon the July 15 death of Rep. Bill Noon, a Springvale Democrat. Noon died less than a year after his re-election. His widow, Jean Noon, is in the running for the seat as a Democrat, while Matthew Harrington is the Republican candidate. Harrington ran for the seat against Bill Noon in November 2014. He lost by 143 votes.

On Tuesday, DiGregorio said he unintentionally accepted some contributions from voters who turned out not to live within the sprawling district he is running in. He said he returned those contributions. In addition, he said, some people printed their names on money orders, rather than supplying their written signature as required.

Both Noon and Harrington are running publicly-funded campaigns under the Clean Elections Act

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].