On February 17th, The Maine Heritage Policy Center testified in favor of LD 300 “An Act To Preserve Funding for the Maine Clean Election Act by Removing Gubernatorial Candidates from Eligibility” sponsored by Representative Paula Sutton.
This bill would exclude candidates for governor from receiving taxpayer funds to run their campaigns.
Proponents of publicly-financed gubernatorial races claim that the clean elections program limits the influence of special interest groups and constitutes a prudent use of taxpayer dollars. Both are false.
The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will be voting on this bill this Friday, March 3rd. Please contact them through the link below, and urge them to support this bill.
Take Action today and e-mail the committee to support LD 300!
Preserving funding for gubernatorial candidates, particularly now, as we approach the 2018 gubernatorial campaign with what promises to be a large number of primary candidates, would be a mistake.
Read MHPC’s full testimony on LD 300 here
Candidates for governor have been able to participate in the clean elections program in three elections over the last 15 years, most recently in 2010. Data from these elections shows that public financing has not been effective in keeping outside money out of gubernatorial campaigns. ln 2010, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent for and against each general election candidate. No amount of public money will prevent this–public funding encourages interested parties to fund outside groups instead of contributing directly to the candidate.
If you would like to get more involved or join our Activist Network, please contact me at mquatrano@mainepolicy.org or (207) 321-2550.