Government by the people
Kittleman should respect the will of voters on public election financing
quite like offering candidates for public office an option to run their campaigns on something other than special interest money. Montgomery County has already launched a similar system for the 2018 election, and at least 17 candidates have already indicated they plan to tap the small donor fund.
Here’s howthe voluntary system works. Candidates for council or executive who turn down contributions over $250 as well as money from corporations, unions and political action committees can receive matching funds for small contributions made by county residents. To quality for those matching funds, candidates must demonstrate they are serious, viable contenders with sufficient community support by first raising a certain amount in small donations.
Common Cause and other political reform groups have been advocating for public financing of campaigns for years at all levels of government. They reason that it’s better for Howard County’s elected leaders to make major decisions like a tax increment financing package for the redevelopment of Columbia, a $2 billion project, without the decision-makers being tainted with large donations from the developers involved. Does that mean a candidate you don’t support might receive tax dollars to run his or her campaign? Absolutely, but your tax dollars finance the salaries of election winners you don’t support either, so why would this be different?
Mr. Kittleman ran for county executive as a pragmatic moderate, but there are times when he misses the mark. His opposition to a bill mandating healthy snack options in county vending machines two years ago (which was similarly overturned) and his veto of legislation protecting undocumented immigrants, chiefly by codifying existing county practices (and sustained on a 3-2 council vote earlier this year), suggest he isn’t committed to centrism when it conflicts with GOP orthodoxy.
The county executive is expected to announce his plan to run for re-election in the near future. Might this be an effort to stir the Republican base? That could make sense if he were running for statewide office, but Howard County rather likes its moderates. Given that Republican candidates can benefit from public financing of campaigns as much as Democrats (Larry Hogan providing the most recent example), we hope Mr. Kittleman will reconsider his position and respect the will of his county’s voters.