AUGUSTA — A local House of Representatives candidate charged with attempted theft by deception plans to fight the charge and stay in the race.

Michael Hein, a Republican candidate for House District 57, was summoned on the charge by the state attorney general’s office for allegedly falsifying documents and using his own money to try to qualify for public campaign financing through the Maine Clean Election Act.

Hein is accused of using his own money to reach the required donation threshold to qualify for public campaign financing and falsifying forms confirming donors had given him the $5 contributions.

Hein, who has a June 6 district court date to answer to the attempted theft by deception charge, said he is innocent.

In an email Friday, he said he retaining a local attorney and anticipates pleading not guilty in court.

“I plan to stay in the race, at least through the primary, since I am not guilty of the charge,” he said.

Hein would not comment further.

An investigation by Maine Ethics Commission staff found Hein falsified forms signifying that donors had given him $5 as part of his efforts to qualify for Clean Election money.

The commission denied his request for the money, and Hein’s campaign, initially listed as a publicly financed campaign on the commission’s website, is now listed as a privately financed campaign.

Hein said he has decided not to appeal the ethics commission’s decision that he did not get the 60 individual donations of $5 each required of House candidates to qualify for the money. According to documents filed with the Ethics Commission, Hein submitted his paperwork two days before the qualifying deadline, saying he had received 67 donations, 35 in cash.

During his May 4 meeting with the ethics commission staff, according to a letter outlining the findings, Hein paid the donations because some of the people he approached “did not have the personal means to make a $5 contribution.”

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission, said Thursday that commission staff found at least 13 donors who said they did not give Hein a $5 donation. Wayne said commission staff spoke with people who had signed the donation form who said they had been told by Hein they did not need to give him money.

The complaint by Detective James Gioia of the attorney general’s office against Hein said he “did intentionally create or reinforce the impression” that he got qualifying contributions from “the personal funds of 67 contributors,” but that impression was false and Hein did not believe it to be true.

Qualifying for Clean Election funds could have given Hein access to about $1,400 in public money for his campaign in the primary, and $3,900 in the general election.

Hein, 42, works for Manpower Inc., a temporary employment agency, and his current job is a long-term assignment as an administrative staffer for Dirigo Health Agency in downtown Augusta.

The charge against Hein was incorrectly reported in initial media coverage as theft by deception. Hein is charged with attempted theft by deception, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, according to state law.

Augusta’s House District 57 includes most of northwest Augusta bounded by Sidney on the north and Manchester to the west. Hein’s apponent in the Republican primary is Andrew Worcester, of Augusta. The winner could face Democratic incumbent Rep. Maeghan Maloney in the general election, although she may be replaced as a candidate because she is also running for Kennebec County district attorney.

In a letter to the editor published in the Kennebec Journal in April, Hein extolled the virtues of the state’s Clean Election Act, saying it “promotes true democracy in Maine’s legislative races.”

“For more than a decade now, Maine voters, regardless of political party affiliation, have been able to support their own local House and Senate candidates who participate in Clean Elections with a $5 contribution,” Hein wrote. “With enough of these contributions, Clean Elections candidates qualify to receive public funding help for their campaigns. Very often, this is the only way for a candidate of modest financial means to be able to run an effective, local campaign.”

Keith Edwards — 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com