Clean Election provision on chopping block
An element of the state's clean election law is in jeopardy. Yesterday, a legislative committee voted 7-5 to eliminate the act's matching funds provision after a failure to agree on how to make the provision comply with a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee was tasked with retooling the provision -- which allows publicly financed candidates to receive more funding if their privately funded opponents raise more -- after the Supreme Court in July deemed the provision unconstitutional. However, Republicans opposed two proposals introduced by the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, and lawmakers yesterday voted along party lines to instead strip the provision from the Clean Election Act, the Sun Journal reported.
The full Legislature in January will debate whether to eliminate the provision or accept a proposal to change it.
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