By Mark Pazniokas in the Hartford Courant:

BRIDGEPORT – — A political scientist strongly defended Connecticut’s new program of publicly financed campaigns Wednesday against discrimination claims by the Green and Libertarian parties.

Donald P. Green, a Yale University professor and expert on American campaigns, testified in federal court that the state has imposed reasonable requirements for minor candidates to qualify for public financing.

The Green and Libertarian parties are asking U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill to declare the new law unconstitutional, saying it is burdensome and unfair to minor parties.

Green disputed a contention by the minor parties, which was supported by a sworn statement from former Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr., that the law was designed to protect the two major parties.

“My view is that the [new law] makes it easier for minor parties” to compete, Green testified.

Another minor party, the Working Families Party, refused to join the challenge and instead has offered a sworn statement defending the law.

“The qualifying requirements, while challenging, are achievable,” the Working Families Party said.

To qualify for public financing, any candidate must demonstrate public support by raising seed money in small amounts.

For a state House race, candidates must raise $5,000 in seed money and collect donations of between $5 and $100 from 150 donors. Qualifying candidates then are given a $25,000 public grant for a general election. The grants for a gubernatorial campaign are $3 million.

Minor party candidates are eligible for the full grant only if their party won 20 percent of the vote for that office in the previous election — or if they gather signatures equal to 20 percent of the vote.

But Green said that the public financing law, known as the Citizens Election Program, accommodates minor parties by providing partial grants if they are supported by as little as 10 percent of the electorate.

In a House race, they are eligible for a one-third grant of $8,333 if they were supported by 10 percent of voters at the polls or by petition. At 15 percent, they can get a grant of $16,666.

A one-third grant of $8,333 is more money than 98 percent of minor-party candidates were able to raise in 231 races from 1998 to 2006, Green said.

Green testified that the requirements are necessary to weed out fringe candidates, who could undermine legislative or public support for using state money to subsidize campaigns.

“You have a system that is inherently fragile, as are all public financing programs,” Green said.

Maine and Arizona, the only other states with statewide public financing and whose programs became law through a referendum process, give full grants to minor candidates if they are supported by only 5 percent of the electorate.

The 20-percent requirement is reasonable as it reflects a standard that Connecticut and five other states use to define a major party, Green said.

Any party is considered a major party in Connecticut if its gubernatorial candidate drew 20 percent of the vote in the previous election — or if at least 20 percent of voters register as members.

Only Democrats and Republicans meet that standard, although Weicker’s A Connecticut Party enjoyed major-party status for four years after he won the 1990 governor’s race. It reverted to a minor party after its nominee, Eunice S. Groark, drew 19 percent of the vote in 1994.