Independent gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina will not return the approximately $28,000 in campaign contributions which are above the limit for an independent candidate to accept. The donations were thrown into doubt when Pollina, who raised the money while a member of the Progressive Party, became an independent.

Pollina’s campaign argued contributions of over $1,000 from supporters do not violate campaign finance laws as interpreted by the Secretary of State’s Office and Attorney General’s Office.

“We must be very clear that our campaign has not violated any campaign rules and have received no notice to that effect,” Pollina said in a statement Tuesday.

That is not really accurate, Secretary of State Deborah Markowitz said to the Rutland Herald. Her office spoke with Pollina's campaign about the money and said that keeping it could be a violation of the state's rules.

"This is pretty surprising," Markowitz told the paper. "Clearly the letter of the law would say that if you are an independent candidate you can only accept $1,000 per election."

The Secretary of State’s Office alerted the campaign more than a week ago about the dispute over the money after reviewing Pollina’s July 31 campaign finance report. According to Pollina campaign manager Meg Brook, there still has been no official notification from the Secretary of State’s Office to return the money.

If a complaint is filed with the Attorney General's Office or they decide look into the issue on their own, Pollina could face enforcement actions.

Under state law, candidates running under a party banner can receive donations up to $1,000 per person for each election, possibly raising up to $2,000 total for the primary and the general election. Independents do not participate in a primary and are only allowed to accept $1,000 from individual donors.

Pollina, whose campaign said he hadn’t intended to change parties, switched to be an independent last month as part of a strategic decision, Brook said.

“When we accepted the contributions and pledges for our campaign I was running in the Progressive primary,” Pollina said. “There was no violation of any law. The law says nothing about what happens if you change that party affiliation.”

Attorney Sam Burr, who is advising the Pollina campaign, said the law is far from clear in several ways.

“One thing that isn’t clear is that you can’t find the law where they say it is written,” Burr said. “The statues that are in the book are the ones that have been held unconstitutional.”

Burr questioned whether it is justifiable for the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office to determine the current campaign finance law which he said is pieced together from a law before 1996 and the act that was passed in 1997.

Vermont’s campaign finance laws were different before the U.S. Supreme court struck down a ruling in 1997. After the 1997 law was found unconstitutional, the Attorney General's Office and the Secretary of State's Office ruled that the state would revert to the pre-1997 law.

The Pollina campaign is trying to clarify the legal situation and make sure it has a valid interpretation of the law, Burr said. He has no doubt Pollina will comply with the law but does not believe the candidate violated the law.

Burr, who has advised Pollina to keep the money until all of the questions are sorted out, also questioned when the money has to be paid back.