“The purpose of bringing this committee together and creating the report was to determine whether Maryland's existing laws are out of date or are otherwise ill-suited to today's campaign finance environment,” said Attorney General Gansler. “The committee members took on the monumental task of reviewing Maryland's laws and regulations and developed well-thought out recommendations that will assist all of the key players who create, regulate and interpret Maryland's campaign finance laws.”
See a summary of the report here and the full report in .pdf format here.
The Committee contained three state legislators as members--Sens. Allan Kittleman (R-Howard) and Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery) and Del. Jay Walker (D-Prince George's)--as well as well as attorneys with experience in working for both parties and the FEC, and people who work for the State Board of Elections.
The specific recommendations of the report begin on page 51. I won't repeat them here but they call for specific legislative action by the General Assembly as well as the Office of the AG. The questions faced by the committee include adapting to a spate of recent Supreme Court decisions with major implications in this area as well more generally improving the campaign finance system in the State.
No one can say that the Attorney General--sworn in yesterday in Baltimore--intends to avoid tough or controversial issues in his second term.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Attorney General Gansler's Advisory Committee on Campaign Finance Submits Final Report
