AUGUSTA, Maine — The state ethics commission wants to tighten up Maine rules for publicly-funded candidates.
Candidates who receive Maine clean election funds would no longer be able to make cash payments of more than $50 under the proposed rules.
The state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices wants to make candidates ineligible for public funding if they fail to make sure their campaigns don’t collect fraudulent contributions.
The commission is also proposing that to avoid fraud and mistakes, candidates would also no longer be able to compensate people based on how many contributions they collected.
A hearing on the proposed rules is scheduled for Dec. 8.
The proposed rules also include amendments like doubling the seed money allowed for legislative candidates. Maine voters proposed those amendments in the 2015 election.