WASHINGTON — Maine Attorney General William Schneider’s trip here to attend a Supreme Court health care law argument Wednesday has sparked a political charge from Democratic Senate candidate Jon Hinck.

Schneider is one of six Maine Republicans running in the GOP Senate primary in the wake of Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe’s decision not to seek a fourth term.

Hinck, a state representative from Portland and one of four Democrats seeking his party’s Senate nomination, said that Schneider shouldn’t have used “taxpayer dollars” or “public funds” to help finance his trip to Washington.

“If he wants to be in Washington to join a protest of the Affordable Care Act, he should do so with his Senate campaign funds, not our taxpayer dollars,” Hinck said. “The trip involves no legal work and offers no benefit to the people of Maine.”

Schneider’s office has said the attorney general paid for his trip partly on his own and partly by using a Maine Attorney General’s Office “settlement account.” That account is money that doesn’t come from taxes, but is won through litigation such as consumer anti-trust cases and used for litigation expenses, his office has said.

Schneider wasn’t one of the lawyers arguing the case. But Maine is one of 26 states that signed on to the lawsuit against the health care reform law, arguing that the law’s mandate for individuals to buy health insurance is unconstitutional.

Schneider said today in an interview outside the Supreme Court that it is traditional for Maine attorneys general to be on hand when the state is a party to a Supreme Court case.

“I think it’s important for the people of Maine to know that they’re a plaintiff in the suit and that they’re represented here by me,” Schneider said.

A number of attorneys general from around the country who were party to the anti-health care lawsuit also were in Washington this week to attend an oral arguments session.

Schneider could not be reached for comment Wednesday after Hinck’s campaign put out its release criticizing Schneider’s trip. Schneider’s office said the attorney general was on his way back to Maine.

But Hinck charged that the money in the settlement account is “still the peoples’ money,” saying it is money acquired with state resources by staff who are paid with money raised by taxes.

Hinck, an attorney, said in his release that he is one of more than 500 state legislators from around the country who signed on to a brief defending the health care law. He noted that Maine state Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Androscoggin, his campaign treasurer, and state Rep. Sharon Treat, D-Hallowell, also signed that brief and came to Washington to be on hand for the case.

Both Craven and Treat have said private, pro-health care law groups helped pay for their trips.

Jonathan Riskind — 791-6280

jriskind@mainetoday.com