A bill to create a public financing system for local political races in Prince George’s County advanced this week during a dramatic council meeting that was adjourned by Chair Dannielle M. Glaros and then restarted after one of her colleagues was elected temporary chair.
The bill was proposed in January but never voted on by the public safety and fiscal management committee because of concerns that the committee’s chair, Derrick Leon Davis (D-District 6), had about its fiscal impact.
Although progressive groups say offering public matching funds to candidates can level the playing field between newcomers and better-connected incumbents, Davis said he has “a lot of concerns about spending taxpayer money for political campaigns.”
On Tuesday, the last day a bill could be introduced and have a reasonable chance of passage this session, sponsor Mary A. Lehman (D-District 1) made a final attempt to move the bill out of Davis’s committee.
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