AUGUSTA— Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a funding fix that the Maine Legislature approved for the Maine Clean Election Fund.
The fund makes public money available to qualifying candidates. The legislature approved an act earlier this month that advances $500,000 to the fund in August.
Supporters of the act say it would provide the minimal level of funding needed to support candidates who are already running as “clean election” candidates for the upcoming election cycle.
LePage disagrees. The Republican governor says the clean election fund is perpetually underfunded because resources for election cycles are spent during the previous cycle. He says the bill would exacerbate the problem by a half million dollars.
Legislators will have a chance to override the veto.
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