Dana Beyer, MD, for Maryland State Delegate 2010

Public Campaign Financing 2010

Our campaign finance system needs reform. Again in 2010, as in previous sessions, a host of campaign finance reform bills were killed in the legislature. The “clean elections” and “voter-owned elections” that are being used in more and more states could, if instituted in Maryland, go a long way towards removing the impact of special-interest lobbying.

The impact of corporate lobbying is widespread. The continuing energy price debacle facing Maryland is one example, resulting from industry’s favorite program, de-regulation. Some may have adapted to higher energy prices, but the drain on the economy persists, particularly with gas prices rising this spring, and the less well-off cannot afford their bills when overwhelmed by the other aspects of the economic crisis.The anti-consumer bias in our state medical insurance system is another, allowing companies to ban people with pre-existing conditions, to deny coverage for procedures based on whim, to fund Viagra prescriptions but not contraception. The federal private health insurance reform recently signed by the President goes a long way to repairing many of these problems, but the dependence on private insurance has only worsened.

The heavy hand of the development community has led to the ICC program eating up an enormous portion of the state’s transportation budget, and the general budget crisis has put the Montgomery County mass transit programs, such as the Purple Line and Corridor Cities Transitway, at risk. And now, on top of the cutbacks over the past few years, state aid to county transportation departments has been slashed. Potholes will last much longer moving forward, and there are many more of them following this year’s snows.

The need to raise money to campaign makes it harder for candidates to concentrate on getting out the vote and discussing the issues. And for elected officials the dinners and other perks at best lead to subtle bias and at worst to legislation that benefits corporate interests over public interests.  An official who has been elected with public financing owes her seat to the public, and not to corporate interests.

Fixing the campaign finance system in the state will go a long way to restoring the state to the control of the people’s representatives. I will work assiduously to pass a public campaign finance bill similar to the ones introduced repeatedly over the years. I will also work to reform election law and the management of elections in the state and the county. We cannot afford confusion and mediocrity when it comes to the fundamentals of our system of representative democracy. The voters of Maryland demand it.