Sen. David Zuckerman, P/D-Chittenden, has met the threshold for public financing.
Zuckerman, who is running for lieutenant governor, said in a press release that he has raised a total of $18,672 from 753 registered voters in 10 weeks. No more than 25 percent of the donations are from any one county.
If the Secretary of State’s office qualifies Zuckerman for public financing, he would receive as much as $50,000 for the primary and, if he wins the primary, $150,000 for the general election. The amount that he has raised would be deducted from the public financing total.
The senator faces a primary with two other candidates — Brandon Riker and Rep. Kesha Ram.
The Zuckerman campaign is waiting to submit the paperwork for public financing until the federal court clarifies the state’s campaign finance law.
In 2014, Dean Corren, a Progressive candidate for lieutenant governor, used public money for his campaign and ran afoul of the state’s campaign finance law. Once a candidate qualifies for public financing, he or she is not allowed to accept private contributions.
Corren allowed the Vermont Democratic Party to send out an email promoting a rally for his campaign. The Vermont Attorney General determined that the email was an in-kind donation and fined Corren $72,000.
Corren has filed a countersuit that is still pending in federal court. His attorney, John Franco, has argued that the VDP email fits within “several different exemptions” in the public financing law.
The countersuit also challenges the constitutionality of Vermont’s campaign finance laws on the grounds that they violate the First Amendment by not giving publicly financed candidates the same freedom of political association as other candidates.