Key senators gave a favorable reception yesterday to legislation designed to limit the influence of campaign contributors in Annapolis, but the state's budget crunch may still stymie the chances for reform this year.
Some Senate leaders, including Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, remain opposed to the most ambitious of the proposals, which would establish public financing of campaigns. But members of the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue, appeared receptive to the idea.
"There is influence, as much as we say there's not," said Sen. Paul G. Pinsky, a Prince George's County Democrat, one of the sponsors of the public campaign finance effort.
He said the public financing option would help eliminate the perception that campaign contributors have undue influence on the political process.
Opponents of the measure say that given the financial uncertainty the state faces, now is not the time to dedicate millions of taxpayer dollars to pay for political campaigns.
"Government-financing programs have never lived up to their promises," Sean Parnell, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, a nonprofit that fights against campaign finance regulations, said in a written statement. "This proposal is simply an entitlement program for politicians."
According to the legislation, candidates could qualify for funding by getting contributions of $5 or more from several hundred donors, which would ensure that public money goes to serious candidates. Senate candidates would get $50,000 for contested primary and general election races. House candidates would get $40,000. The legislation would establish a $7.5 million-a-year fund that would be administered by an "election financing commission."
Sen. Joan Carter Conway, who chairs the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, where the bill was heard yesterday, said she supports the measure.
"Maybe we'll win, maybe we won't," she said, noting the opposition of other Senate leaders.
The committee also considered another bill that would close a long-exploited campaign finance loophole. Under state law, an individual or business may give no more than $4,000 to a candidate during a four-year election cycle and no more than $10,000 total in that period. But big donors have gotten around those regulations by making contributions from separate but related limited liability corporations.
Donors who could benefit if voters approve slot machine gambling in a referendum this November made use of that loophole to give tens of thousands of dollars to Maryland politicians. But Sen. Brian E. Frosh, the Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored the bill, said it still faces "a steep uphill climb."
"It's an issue that's exploited by folks in both parties," Frosh said.
bradley.olson@baltsun.com