Qualifications for public financing in gubernatorial races will be put under the microscope Friday by the Maine Ethics Commission.

In 2006, five candidates ran for governor in the general election – a Republican, a Democrat, a Green and two Independents. Three ran under the Maine Clean Elections Act.

Since then, several bills have come before the legislature seeking to tighten restrictions on who can qualify for public financing in gubernatorial races. As a result, the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee asked the Ethics Commission to look at the issue and come back with recommendations by October of this year.

The commission will hold a public hearing on the issue Friday at 9 a.m. Click here for the hearing materials and the full information on the pending proposal.

The committee has asked for input on the sufficiency of the program’s current requirements, on its financial demands and for comparisons to other states’ programs.

The committee has also asked the commission to look at other options for the program – including eliminating public funding for gubernatorial candidates altogether.

In 2006, the candidates received the following amounts for their campaigns:

-Republican Peter Mills (primary election only): $200,000

-Republican Chandler Woodcock: $199,999 in primary, $1,103,728 in general election

-Green Independent Pat LaMarche: $199,993 in primary, $915,162 in general election

-Independent Barbara Merrill: $915,732 in general election.

Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat who won reelection in 2006, was privately financed. His spokesman, David Farmer, said the governor is reluctant to take a stance on public financing because he does not want to appear that he is seeking retribution against his three opponents who did.

Mills, a state senator from Skowhegan, has submitted a revised version of legislation that he had previously submitted to the LVA Committee for the commission’s consideration. His proposal combines seed money and qualifying checks into one qualifying system. He proposes a minimum of 2,500 people submitting a total of $25,000 – averaging $10 per person. Voters may not donate to more than one candidate for the same office.

During the 2007 session, the legislature did make several changes to the Clean Elections Act that affected gubernatorial races, according to a memo from commission staff:

-They made it 30 percent harder to qualify by increasing the number of qualifying contributions needed from 2,500 to 3,250

-They changed the payment system so more payments were received in June

-They required all gubernatorial candidates to be audited and for them to meet with commission staff early in the process to discuss requirements.

Currently, gubernatorial candidates must collect up to $50,000 in seed money (initial funds up to $100 per donor) and must collect 3,250 $5 checks from voters.