AUGUSTA — Proponents of the Maine Clean Election Act on Wednesday blasted the Republican majority’s vote to pass a bill that critics say weakens the state’s citizen-initiated campaign finance law.
On a party-line vote, the House of Representatives voted 74-66 to enact a so-called “do-nothing” option that simply conforms the law with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that prevents publicly funded candidates from receiving additional funds to combat outside spending or well-heeled opponents.
The GOP rejected several amendments that would have allowed Clean Election candidates to receive larger upfront disbursements than currently allowed. Lawmakers also spurned Democrat-sponsored amendments that would have allowed candidates to earn additional public funding during the campaign if they collected a certain number of individual, $5 contributions.
The latter measure, often referred to as the “requalifying option,” was rejected by the GOP because the party said it didn’t conform with the spirit of the court decision.
Responding to criticism that the absence of a requalifying option or additional upfront money threatened the viability of the program, Republicans cited abuses by Clean Election candidates and the prevalence of outside money and political action committees.
“The Clean Election law is anything but clean,” Rep. Dana Dow, R-Waldoboro, said. He added that lawmakers should consider changes to the program.
Dow, who recently lost a special election for a state Senate seat, has run as a Clean Election candidate. So have 80 percent of the lawmakers currently in the Legislature.
However, like Dow’s special election race, legislative contests are still targets for outside spending. Republican PACs outspent Dow’s opponent and Democratic PACs 4-1 during the February election.
Supporters of the law called those lawmakers hypocritical for voting against a program from which they once benefited. Republicans countered that Clean Election candidates have an inherent advantage; if they wanted to win, they had to use it.
Republicans have also argued that the law has increased the influence of outside money and leadership PACs, because more money was needed to counter the edge of Clean Election candidates.
Democrats, meanwhile, said Republicans were gutting the law because they were attempting to preserve their current majority in the Legislature.
Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, said in a statement that Republicans “just put up a welcome sign for the national super PACs, because that’s who will be buying our local races.”
Carey also noted that the Republican plan would raid the Clean Election funds of $1.5 million, in addition to $1 million already proposed in Gov. Paul LePage’s recently released supplemental budget.
House Speaker Robert Nutting, R-Oakland, noted in a statement that Maine taxpayers had spent more than $20 million to fund political campaigns since the Clean Election Act went into effect in 2000.
“I am quite certain that the intention of Maine voters was not to help politicians pay for campaign signs and negative TV and radio ads,” Nutting said. “That’s especially true during these tight financial times when the state is struggling to pay its bills.”
The House vote sets up additional votes in the Senate. While the Senate has already voted to sustain the “do nothing” bill, the House vote removed the emergency enactment provision to avoid needing a two-thirds majority to pass the bill.
The citizen group that helped bring the law to voters in 1996 has promised that voters will have the last word if the Legislature moves to weaken a system that continues to receive public support. Representatives for the group, Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, have indicated they’d consider another citizen initiative to repair the law if lawmakers dismantle it.
“Make no doubt about it, lawmakers are weakening Clean Elections,” said Andrew Bossie of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections. “The House and Senate have used a Supreme Court case as an excuse to dismantle our citizen-initiated law when a perfectly suitable budget-neutral replacement was on the table.”
Republicans and Democrats have made heavy use of the Maine Clean Election Act. Both parties see it as a recruitment tool for candidates who might be averse to asking constituents for campaign money.
House Roll Call Vote on Clean Election legislation
BEAULIEU of Auburn (R): Y
BERRY of Bowdoinham (D): N
BICKFORD of Auburn (R): X
BLACK of Wilton (R):: Y
BOLDUC of Auburn (D): N
BRIGGS of Mexico (D): N
CAREY of Lewiston (D): N
CRAFTS of Lisbon (R): Y
CROCKETT of Bethel (R): Y
ESPLING of New Gloucester (R): Y
GILBERT of Jay (D): N
HAMPER of Oxford (R): Y
HARVELL of Farmington (R): Y
HAYES of Buckfield (D): N
KNIGHT of Livermore Falls (R): Y
LAJOIE of Lewiston (D): N
LIBBY of Waterboro (R): Y
McCLELLAN of Raymond (R): Y
NEWENDYKE of Litchfield (R):Y
PETERSON of Rumford (D): N
ROTUNDO of Lewiston (D): N
TIMBERLAKE of Turner (R): Y
WAGNER of Lewiston (D): N
WATERHOUSE of Bridgton (R): Y
WINSOR of Norway (R): Y
WOOD of Sabattus (R): Y
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