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By Everton Bailey Jr.
M

 
d
lished: T esday, J ly 20, 2010 8:09 AM EDT

Two Democrats r nning for comptroller are d ing it o t over p
lic campaign financing.

Democrat Michael Jarj ra says the p
lic grant req est of his primary opponent Kevin Lem
o
sho ld
e thrown o t. He says Lem
o sed a portion of donations raised from an a
andoned r n
for lie tenant governor toward the $75,000 he needed to raise to q alify for p
lic f nds in the
comptroller race.

Jarj ra contends the money transfer violates r les of the p
lic campaign financing program and
has filed a complaint with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

³Raising those f nds is a very to gh process,
t when yo are dealing with taxpayers¶ money,
the r les have to
e followed to the letter of the law,´ the Water
ry mayor said Monday.

Disp tes over p
lic campaign f nding is nothing new in this year¶s statewide political races.

Lawyers for Rep
lican g
ernatorial candidate Thomas C. Foley were to arg e today
efore the
state S preme Co rt that fellow Rep
lican Michael Fedele sho ldn¶t have received more than
$2 million in p
lic grants from the State Elections Enforcement Commission. Foley contends
Fedele¶s campaign didn¶t q alify.

Jarj ra and Lem
o will face each other in the A g. 10 primary. The winner will compete with
Rep
lican John C. ³Jac´ Orch lli in Novem
er.

Lem
o, the state¶s health care advocate, anno nced in Novem
er that he was considering
r nning for lie tenant governor and created an exploratory committee, sed
y prospective
candidates to raise money
efore they officially r n for office. He said Monday the committee
raised more than $16,000.

In May, Lem
o switched his foc s to comptroller after his political ally and c rrent Comptroller
Nancy Wyman anno nced she was joining the lie tenant governor race. Lem
o had wored with
Wyman as assistant comptroller.

Lem
o, who won the Democrats¶ endorsement and their convention in May, said that since he
didn¶t officially enter the lie tenant governor race, at least $11,000 from his exploratory
committee contri
tions is fair game.

³This complaint is a
it of a stretch on his part, to
e honest,´ he said.

Beth Rotman, director of the Citizens Election drogram said as long as a candidate doesn¶t
p
licly anno nce his or her intentions to r n for office while holding an exploratory committee,
it¶s within the r les to transfer some of the f nds from an exploratory committee to an official
candidate committee.

B t Jarj ra¶s campaign said Lem
o forfeited his right to those f nds when he made p
lic his
intentions of r nning for lie tenant governor.

³The r les are q ite clear: Yo can¶t se money raised for one campaign to s pport another,´
Jarj ra said.

Lem
o filed for a $375,000 p
lic grant last wee and a decision is expected to
e made on his
req est Wednesday. Jarj ra was approved for a p
lic grant last wee.

Rotman said the commission will loo into whether Lem
o raised eno gh f nds to q alify for
the grant
efore it investigates whether any r les were
roen.

She said even if Lem
o¶s exploratory committee f nds are thrown o t, he might q alify for a
p
lic grant.

That¶s
eca se candidates seeing p
lic f nds are enco raged to raise more than the
prereq isite $75,000 in small contri
tions j st in case there are iss es with donations.

³It co ld
e possi
le that he¶s raised eno gh to where his exploratory committee donations may
not
e a factor,´ she said.

Rotman said candidates this year have challenged more p
lic grant applicants¶ q alifications
than since the program started in 2008.

³It¶ll
e interesting to see if this
ecomes a trend,´ she said. ³It might
e
eca se this is a new
program and everyone is still trying to fig re it o t, or it co ld
e a part of campaign strategy to
mae s re yo q alify
t yo r opponent does not.´

Lem
o said he isn¶t worried a
o t Jarj ra¶s complaint.

³I¶m confident my req est will
e approved,´ he said. ³Then we plan to mo nt an aggressive and
fact-
ased campaign, win the primary, and, event ally, the general election in Novem
er.´