Today, the Maine Ethics Commission will take up the question of whether to increase the amount of seed money prospective gubernatorial candidates can raise to maximize their funding distribution under Maine’s public financing law.

Doubling or tripling the maximum threshold makes sense, making it tougher for candidates to qualify for a pot bursting with public funding but not so tough to discourage determined candidates who demonstrate they are willing to put in the effort.

The job of Maine’s chief executive is tough, and candidates who want to spend public money to win election to that office ought to be willing to put in enormous effort to earn the funds. Call it on-the-job training for the job candidates hope to have, since – if elected – the winning candidate would be trusted to decide reasoned expenditure of taxpayer money for the succeeding four years.

With the small exception of fines paid for Maine Clean Election Act violations, the clean election fund is public money, and we have an expectation, increasingly so as the economy trembles, that our money is spent well.

Doubling or tripling the threshold would give gubernatorial candidates who work the hardest to collect contributions something at or over $800,000 in primary and election funds, which is half the $1.6 million and considerably less than the $1.3 million spent in the privately funded campaigns waged by Gov. John Baldacci in 2002 and again in 2006, but considerably more competitive than the funds now available to publicly-financed gubernatorial candidates.

Once the commission supports increasing the maximum threshold to qualify for funds, the Legislature will have to amend current law. In so doing, it’s not enough to change the maximum financial threshold alone. Other thresholds in the law ought to shift as well.

If the maximum threshold is doubled from $50,000 to $100,000, the minimum requirement for gubernatorial candidates to raise $16,250 should be doubled to $32,500, and the minimum number of verified registered voters needed to collect the funds should increase from 3,250 to 6,500, maintaining the balance of work and reward written into existing law.

And, if the ethics commission and then the Legislature support tripling the maximum threshold, the minimums should follow along at the same rate.

Raising the maximum financial threshold without raising the required number of individuals who make contributions just means the same number of people may simply write bigger checks. That’s not in keeping with the spirit of the public financing law, which is intended to demonstrate broad community support for each candidate. If the financial threshold is raised, the demonstration of community support must likewise be broadened.

The thrust of Maine’s public financing law, passed by citizen initiative in 1996, is to provide a platform for organized, determined candidates to seek public office in a practical way: on a budget. It was intended to broaden the field of candidates, giving less-than-wealthy or less-than-connected candidates adequate funds to compete against entrenched and/or privately-funded competitors.

Raising $150,000 or $100,000 instead of $50,000 to qualify for public funding presents a higher bar for gubernatorial candidates, but the governorship is a serious job and it takes serious cash to win the post. It should also take serious effort in the early going to earn the campaign financing for Maine’s top job.