DEMOCRATS URGE COMMON SENSE SOLUTION TO REVAMPED CLEAN ELECTION SYSTEM
AUGUSTA – The legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs committee heard public testimony today on a bill aimed at revising Maine Clean Election system. The measure, sponsored by Senator John Patrick, attempts to preserve Maine’s Clean Election system while maintaining compliance with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
“Maine’s clean election system is vital to keeping special interest out of Maine politics,” said Senator John Patrick of Rumford and lead Democrat on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. “This is a law that is understood and embraced by Maine voters. Clean elections is key to allowing regular Maine people to run for political office without the influence of big money.”
Last June, the Supreme Court overturned the portion of Arizona’s Clean Election law that allows candidates to receive additional “matching funds” to respond to attacks against them or in support of their opponent. Patrick’s bill, LD 1523, An Act to Improve Maine Clean Election Act, was drafted last session as a vehicle to address the impending Supreme Court’s ruling. Sen. Patrick, during today’s introduction of the bill to the committee, noted the importance of collaborating with advocates, voters, and other interested parties to get Maine’s Clean Election system to “work to its fullest.”
“Right now our Clean Elections system is like a stool with one leg cut off,” said Representative Mike Carey of Lewiston. “We need to fully address the problem created by the court decision to prevent the stool from toppling over.”
Following the Supreme Court ruling, the legislature directed the Maine Ethics Commission to study the impact of the Court’s ruling on Maine’s Clean Election Law. The Ethics Commission presented its findings including two alternative proposals to the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee in September 2011. On November 29, the committee, in a largely partisan vote of 7 – 6, voted to keep the status quo of Maine Clean Elections but struck the matching funds provision of the law. Democrats, in the minority report, backed a non-partisan plan written by the Maine Ethics Commission, referred to as “Legislative Option 2.” The proposal provides an initial minimum disbursement to candidates who qualify for funding and also provides an option for those candidates to receive more funds if they collect additional $5 qualifying checks.
Maine’s publicly financed campaign system was passed as a citizen initiative in 1996 and is widely used by Republican and Democratic candidates. Eight in ten legislators who serve in the 125th Legislature won their seats using Clean Elections funds.
LD 1523 is scheduled for a work session in Veterans and Legal Affairs on January 18.