MAINE'S CLEAN ELECTION SYSTEM GUTTED IN FIRST ROUND OF VOTES
AUGUSTA—The Maine Senate took initial votes on a measure impacting Maine’s Clean Election Act. In a largely party line vote of 18 – 15, Senate Republicans supported a “do nothing” option gutting Maine’s clean election system.
“The message from Maine people has been loud and clear—keep big monied, private interest out and keep clean elections strong,” said Senator Phil Bartlett of Gorham. “This is about making sure that Maine people have the same voice as the people who can funnel tens-of-thousands of dollars in to elections. We need to have a campaign of ideas—not a campaign driven by Corporate America.”
LD 1774 started as an attempt to put Maine’s clean election system in compliance with a 2011 U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the matching fund provision of Arizona’s Clean Election system.
For more than two hours, the Senate debated the issue including two proposed amendments. In a vote of 9 – 23, the Senate struck down an amendment proposed by Sen. Katz (R-Augusta). The Katz amendment proposed doubling the amount of “seed money” from $1,500 to $3,000 and offered no re-qualifying option for a total distribution of $23,000.
“When I decided to run for elected office I had to ask myself, ‘Do I want to take money from big corporations, donors and unions?’,” asked Sen. John Patrick of Oxford. “And I said, ‘no’. As a clean elections candidate, the only one I am beholden to is the citizens of the State of Maine.”
Senator Patrick, who also serves on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, the committee of jurisdiction for this bill, proposed an amendment that included a two-tiered re-qualifying option—which has been deemed the best mechanism for replacing the matching funds provision. Patrick’s amendment also doubled the “seed amendment,” and through the two tiered re-qualifying option of $12,500 each brought the total distribution to $50,000.
According to Patrick, the re-qualifying option is vital for candidates in competitive races. Statistically, only 30% of Maine’s races were deemed competitive and would necessitate the re-qualifying funds. In a vote of 18 – 15, Patrick’s amendment was indefinitely postponed.
“A vote to indefinitely postpone the amendment is essentially a vote to kill Maine’s clean elections,” said Patrick. “The re-qualifying option mirrored the intent of Maine voters when, in 1996, they supported the Maine Clean Election Act under a citizen’s initiative.”
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 of both political parties who serve in the 125th Legislature won their seats using Clean Elections funds.
The measure is expected to go to the House later this week and return to the Senate for a final enactment.
Neither the measure nor the proposed amendments would have required any additional appropriated funds.