A powerful legislator takes a state government job. Another loses her primary. A county executive considers a run for governor, but decides to shoot for Congress. A governor can't run for a third term.
These four real-life scenarios illustrate a little-known conundrum of Maryland politics: What do politicians do with campaign money when they're no longer campaigning for state office?
Maryland law gives defeated or retired candidates broad discretion on what to do with surplus campaign money -- as long as they don't spend it for personal use.
They can give it to charity. They can donate it to the local school system. They can refund it to donors. They can pay for continuing political activities. They can keep it in the bank in case they decide to run for state office again.
By far the most popular option, however, is to give the money away to their party or like-minded fellow politicians.
In some cases, when a politician is sitting on a heap of money, he or she can exert considerable influence through the use of leftover campaign funds.
Consider C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the former Baltimore County executive who was elected to Congress last month. Ruppersberger had raised $2.3 million when he was contemplating a run for governor. When he decided to seek a U.S. House seat instead, he was barred by law from transferring more than a few thousand to his federal campaign fund.
So Ruppersberger shared the wealth generously with fellow Democrats.
From May to the November election, Ruppersberger poured more than $250,000 into the campaigns of Democratic candidates. During the same period, he transferred almost $850,000 to party accounts.
In several key races, he donated the maximum of $6,000 to candidates who needed every dollar they could lay their hands on. One example: Democratic Sen.-elect Jim Brochin, who won his race over Republican Martha S. Klima by less than 1,000 votes.
As of Nov. 19, Ruppersberger had $234,824 in his state account. Rick Binetti, his spokesman, said the fund has been frozen until the Federal Elections Commission issues regulations to implement the new McCain-Feingold law. When that happens, Binetti said, the account will be liquidated according to those rules and state law.
Binetti said Ruppersberger's use of his campaign funds to help fellow Democrats is not new; he has done it in prior elections.
"He had this resource and knew it was going to be a tough year for Democrats and thought it was best for the party if he could help other Democrats," Binetti said. "He's always been willing to go the extra mile for his party."
Another candidate-turned-financier was Baltimore County's Thomas L. Bromwell, who left the Maryland Senate for a six-figure job as chief executive of the Injured Workers' Insurance Fund.
When the former Finance Committee chairman -- one of the General Assembly's champion fund-raisers -- left office in the spring, he was sitting on a campaign treasury of more than $200,000.
Bromwell spent much of the year doling it out. A few of his gifts went to charities, but most were campaign contributions to Democratic causes, political pals, former colleagues and his son's successful race for the House of Delegates.
In some cases, his donations went to lawmakers who serve on the committees that oversee IWIF. As of Nov. 19, Bromwell had more than $70,000 in the bank.
Ruppersberger and Bromwell are just two of several former Maryland candidates who are sitting on substantial sums of political money after retirement, defeat or a move into federal politics.
Former Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry, barred from seeking re-election this year, gave little to fellow politicians but invested more than $100,000 of his campaign funds in a legal challenge to Gov. Parris N. Glendening's redistricting plan.
He has $297,453, potential seed money for a future political race.
Glendening has more than $90,000 remaining in his political account, which he used aggressively this year to promote Secretary of State John T. Willis' failed primary challenge to Comptroller William Donald Schaefer.
House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., who lost his bid for re-election last month by 76 votes, gave away more than $50,000 in donations to other Democratic candidates during the campaign, ending with more than $40,000 in the bank.
Other prominent legislators who left or are leaving office with substantial balances in their accounts include Sen. Barbara A. Hoffman ($46,974), who lost in the September primary, and Sens. Michael J. Collins ($21,989) and Perry Sfikas ($17,822), who retired and received appointments from Glendening.
Closing committees
An informal survey of campaign finance records found that most Maryland politicians close their campaign committees down quickly after leaving the political arena -- to escape the hassle of filing campaign finance reports if for no other reason.
However, some ex-candidates keep their campaign committees going years after leaving the active electoral arena to fund their continuing political activities. Ellen R. Sauerbrey, the 1994 and 1998 Republican candidate for governor, has an active committee with more than $25,000 in the bank.
Others simply leave their money in the bank to finance a potential comeback down the road.
When Del. Cheryl C. Kagan, 41, a Montgomery County Democrat, surprised political observers by taking political early retirement this year, she had more than $40,000 in the bank. During the election she spent little of it and has kept her campaign committee going.
Few veteran politicians close their committees with surplus funds, however. A more popular option is to spend the accounts down to zero with contributions to favored groups.
Harford County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann, who ran for governor in 1998, had $2,724 left in her account last year. She wrote a check to the New Harford Democratic Club for that amount and closed her committee.
'Asking for trouble'
James Browning, executive director of Common Cause/Maryland, said the practice of ex-candidates keeping campaign committees active is especially troublesome when they have been appointed to state jobs.
That was the case with Sfikas, Collins and Del. Thomas E. Dewberry, who all received lucrative jobs from Glendening this year either shortly before or shortly after contributing a total of $17,000 to the governor's active campaign committee.
"That brings out the bad old days when political appointments were literally for sale to the highest bidder," Browning said.
The contributions from Bromwell to legislators raise additional concerns, Browning said. As IWIF executive director, Bromwell could represent the board before oversight committees whose members received contributions from him, Browning said.
"That's asking for trouble because if there's any interaction between these parties it would seem like there's a favor for a favor," Browning said. "Even if there isn't one, it just looks bad."
Bromwell could not be reached for comment.
Browning said that once an elected official is appointed to a state position there should be a freeze on any movement of money in or out of his or her campaign committee. He said his group will propose legislation to impose such a restriction.
"We're going to try to find a sponsor for that," he said.