On March 9, U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions upheld restrictions on Vermont candidates who qualify for public funding, but acknowledged that many details of the restrictions are still murky. Judge Sessions says that if a Vermont state court proceeds with punishment for Progressive Party candidate Dean Corren, that Corren is free to re-file his case in federal court.
Dean Corren was the Progressive Party nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 2014. The state fined Corren $20,000, and ordered him to repay $52,000 of public financing, because the Democratic Party (which supported Corren) had sent out a mass e-mail inviting Democrats to come to a rally at which Corren, along with other candidates who weren’t Progressives, were speaking. The state believed that the e-mail was an illegal campaign contribution.
Judge Sessions wrote, “Testimony before the Court revealed confusion on all sides as to what the law allows, and whether political parties in particular can play a role in publicly-financed campaigns.” He noted that a state court is considering whether the fine against Corren is proper or not. Judge Sessions wrote that in his opinion, the law “allows candidates to communicate freely with, and receive meaningful assistance from, their supporters. Political parties in particular may provide public-financed candidates with office space, voter lists, training sessions, and other forms of traditional party support without violating any statutory restrictions.” Therefore, if the state court upholds Corren’s fine, it is very likely a new federal case will countermand the fine.
Judge Sessions upheld the part of the public financing law that says publicly-financed candidates may not announce their candidacy before February 15 of an election year. That issue was in the lawsuit because a 2016 Progressive candidate, David Zuckerman, had intervened in the case to raise that point. As a result of that outcome, Zuckerman will not try to qualify for public funding. The case is Corren v Sorrell, 2:15cv-58.
