Judge order LePage to distribute clean election funds

Press Herald

Maine Superior Court judge has ordered Republican Gov. Paul LePage to release about $1.4 million in campaign funds for candidates running under the state’s clean elections law.

The order by Justice William Stokes would provide public funding for the campaigns of about 174 candidates for the Legislature and one candidate running in the governor’s race.

Under Stokes’ order, LePage has three days to release the funds so they can be distributed by the state’s Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, which oversees the Maine Clean Election Act.