Good morning from Augusta, where the question of whether Maine will have enough money to finance all of this year’s publicly funded candidates is back in the spotlight.
The Maine Senate endorsed a bill on Tuesday to give the taxpayer-funded campaign system a $700,000 boost, but it’s an unlikely to survive a veto. In a 21-14 vote, Democrats and three Republicans turned back a Republican effort to kill a bill to give the state’s Clean Elections system another $700,000 to get through an uncertain 2018 campaign cycle.
The bill already got a party-line vote in the House of Representatives and faces more action in both chambers. But it needs two-thirds support in both chambers to survive any Gov. Paul LePage veto and he has called the system “welfare for politicians.”
But the system may need the money because of increased demand — including from one of the bill’s high-profile opponents. The fund, created by voters in 1996 for state campaigns and expanded in a 2015 referendum, is now in high demand and five gubernatorial candidates have filed to run as publicly financed candidates. The program could run out of money.
The County is pleased to feature content from our sister company, Bangor Daily News. To read the rest of “Bid to fund Maine’s Clean Election system survives — for now,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Michael Shepherd, please follow this link to the BDN online.
