AUGUSTA — The Legislature is on the verge of passing a bill that doubles the individual private campaign contribution limits for gubernatorial candidates.

Opponents say the late-session move will increase the role of special interest money and corporate influence in the next governor’s race and immediately benefit the incumbent, Gov. Paul LePage.

The bill, LD 856, was originally designed to increase the contribution threshold for county commissioner candidates. However, at the request of the LePage administration, the measure was last week amended in the Senate to increase the individual donor threshold for gubernatorial candidates from $750 to $1,500.

The move prompted the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Seth Goodall, D-Richmond, to vote against his own legislation. Goodall said the amendment deserved a public hearing.

Opponents say the amendment undermines Maine’s Clean Election law for publicly-funded candidates after efforts to repeal the law have thus far sputtered. They add that the change will allow candidates running for governor to garner more money from fewer people and potentially make them less accountable to a broad constituency.

“This is a move to increase the importance and influence of private money and special interests,” Alison Smith, the co-president of the Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, said. “The governor is Maine’s most powerful elected figure. If ever there were a place to reduce influence from private interests, it’s in that office.”

Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, sponsored the floor amendment. She  said she introduced it at the request of the LePage administration.

Plowman said the measure was designed to ease the burden of privately-financed candidates who find it increasingly difficult to run traditional campaigns with the current individual donor limit.

“It’s an awfully daunting task to raise $1 million at $750 apiece (per donation),” Plowman said. “There’s a lot of legwork in it. We just took into account the enormity of a statewide race.”

Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, said the bill will allow candidates to fund campaigns without having to appeal to a wide cross section of voters.

Carey also said the bill is a “sneak attack” on the state’s Clean Election system because it widens the contribution gap between publicly- and privately-funded candidates, thus removing incentives to run clean campaigns.

“Republicans couldn’t muster the votes to kill it (clean elections) quickly, so they voted to starve it instead,” Carey said.

Plowman denied that the amendment was introduced to circumvent a public hearing that would have yielded opposition.

“There’s nothing nefarious here,” she said. “This (a floor debate) is as open as it gets. We’re on the floor, people listen. They’re here.”

But critics question how, and why, the measure was introduced.

No bills have been submitted this session to do what the amended LD 856 now proposes.

However, the LePage administration has advocated to increase individual contributions for traditional gubernatorial candidates to match federal limits for congressional races, $2,500 from individuals and $5,000 from political action committees.

That initiative is also backed by the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a conservative advocacy group that supported the increase during its testimony on LD 659, a bill that would repeal Maine’s Clean Election Act.

So far, there appears to be tepid support among lawmakers to align gubernatorial candidate contributions with congressional candidates.

The proposal was included in the governor’s second change package to the budget. However, the administration pulled the proposal after the Appropriations Committee objected to it because it wasn’t a budgetary matter and represented a major policy change.

The increases were also included in an amendment to LD 120, a bill that would eliminate Clean Election funding for gubernatorial candidates. However, the bill was carried over after failing to garner much support.

Plowman said the administration originally asked her to include the congressional limits in her amendment. She said she settled on the current proposal after lawmakers in her caucus were reluctant to support the congressional limits.

The amended bill passed the Senate, 22-13, and the House, 77-70, mostly along party lines.

While less than the congressional limits, Smith, with Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, said the amendment is still troubling because the public did not have a chance to weigh in.

Additionally, she said, LePage would immediately benefit from the proposal if he sought re-election. She said the governor could build his war chest by advancing policy initiatives that appeal to a narrow, wealthy constituency.

“The current limits don’t just impact the role of big money in elections, but also in governing,” Smith said.

LePage, a privately financed candidate, won the 2010 election with a war chest of $1.2 million. Independent Eliot Cutler, also privately financed, received $2.1 million. Democrat Elizabeth Mitchell, a Maine Clean Election candidate, received $1.8 million.

Smith said LD 856 would roll back gubernatorial contributions to before 1996. That year, through a citizens initiative, 56 percent of voters approved a $500 individual donor cap on gubernatorial candidates and $250 on legislative candidates.

The Legislature increased the caps in 2009 to $750 and $350, respectively.

LD 856 still faces additional votes in the House and Senate before enactment.

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