There's one more important result of the Williams decision that I didn't mention at Down East (thanks to newly-elected Bowdoinham Selectman Dan Billings for cluing me in).

Because there will be no publicly-funded Green candidate in the general, the clean elections fund should now remain solvent throughout the election.

According to calculations done by the Ethics Commission staff, even if all four candidates (McGowan, Mitchell, Richardson and Mills) likely to qualify do so, each receives the maximum disbursement of matching funds, and Mills and one of the Democrats go on to the general election and receive the maximum there, the fund will still have a small surplus.

Here's a scenario they proposed which is similar (but not identical) to the largest outlay of money that we could now see.

Under this scenario, the fund would still have an estimated $230,832 left (minus $200,000 if you replace the "other candidate" with a Democrat and if the Republican makes it to the general).

The candidates running clean now have one less thing to worry about.

Update: After a chat with Jonathan Wayne at the Ethics Commission, I realize that there's still a chance the fund could be exhausted. Changing the presented scenario to have four candidates running in the primary, all with maximum disbursements, would increase the cost by $400,000, not the $200,000 I wrote above, and would put the fund a bit into the red.

This however, is not a very likely scenario.

The probable response by the commission to such a series of events going into the general election, according to Wayne, would be for the two candidates to receive their full initial funds and be informed that they could raise a relatively small amount of money in private contributions to make up for any potential shortfall in matching funds. If the third, privately-funded candidate in the race (or independent candidate-supporting groups) spent enough to exhaust all matching funds, the candidates could then spend the money they had raised.

After a lackluster fundraising performance so far, and despite promising not to, Green Independent gubernatorial candidate Lynne Williams has announced she will switch to private financing for her campaign.

See my Down East column for the details and possible repercussions. Full campaign email after the jump.

MPBN picks up on the Green divide (basically Pat LaMarche vs. every serious environmentalist in the state):

LaMarche was featured at a Thursday event at a Westbrook car dealership promoting the More Green Now campaign. In response, the opposing campaign quickly issued a statement from another Green Independent, Lynne Williams.

"We wanted to make sure, and reiterate the fact, and set the record straight that environmentalists are not for this issue," says Lizzy Reinholt, a spokesperson for the NO on 2 campaign.[...]

The Green Independent Party, in the meantime, has not taken a position on Question 2, but plans to, says Anna Trevorrow, chair of the party's steering committee. She doesn't say which way the party is leaning, but says one question members will have is whether promoting new vehicle sales - and the production of new cars -- are in the best interests of the environment.

Full audio:

Pat LaMarche, the Maine Green Independent Party's 2006 gubernatorial candidate, apparently spoke at a rally today for "More Green Now," the group supporting the excise tax cut, likely as part of their attempt to greenwash the referendum. I'll be interested to see if the next expenditure report shows any payment for her services.

While the PAC may have found one member of the environmentally-conscious party to embrace their cynical ploy, other Greens aren't going along. Here's what Lynne Williams, recent Green Independent Party chair and now candidate for governor had to say about the initiative:

Passing Question 2 would decimate the municipalities, towns and counties in this state.

It’s not a green initiative. In fact, one of the ten key values for our party is decentralization and localization and the excise tax embodies local control. We want plowing done and local streets repaired and we want parks for our kids to play in. To take away that local control and that funding would be a disaster for Maine.

Former Green state representative John Eder posted an interesting comment to my Down East post on Lynne Williams, the Green Party chair and Maine's first announced gubernatorial candidate for 2010.

I'm not sure where Lynn heard I was not in the running. She and I have never discussed her candidacy or mine. I don't know if we've ever spoken two words to each other on that topic or any other.

-John Eder

Sounds like someone's running for governor.

For this week's Down East column, I spoke with the first official candidate for governor in 2010, Lynne Williams of the Green Party.

Williams sent out an official announcement of her candidacy last week, which you can download here.