The staff at the state Ethics Commission denied Democrat John Richardson Clean Election money because some campaign workers “falsely stated that they collected qualifying contributions,” according to a letter from commission Executive Director Jonathan Wayne.

Richardson had applied to participate in the state’s public financing system earlier this month. Three other candidates qualified for the money, which can be as much as $600,000 to pay for expenses leading up to the June 8 primary.

“The campaign submitted forms signed by the circulators described above in which those circulators falsely stated on the forms that they had received contributions from the personal funds of voters, when in fact they had received no such funds,” the letter states. “The staff’s investigation did not reveal any indication that the candidate himself made false statements in documents submitted to the commission.”

Richardson is having a press conference at 11 a.m. today in Brunswick.