The Anne Arundel County Council voted down a public campaign finance resolution at its meeting Monday night after more than 50 people weighed in on the proposal.
The resolution would have put a question on the November 2022 ballot asking voters to decide if candidates should be given the option to raise money through local small dollar donors, with supplemental funding from county government. Under this proposal, candidates who choose this path would be banned from taking large-dollar donations from political action committees, corporations, unions and special interest groups.
The four Democrats on the council voted in favor of the resolution, while Republicans Nathan Volke, Jessica Haire and Amanda Fiedler prevented it from passing. A supermajority of five votes was required to bring the question to the fall ballot.
Forty people left comments online regarding public campaign finance. Fifteen speakers discussed their stances on the resolution at the meeting, most of whom were in favor of the plan, including representatives from Common Cause Maryland, the League of Women Voters and Women Indivisible Strong Effective and Get Money Out — Maryland.
“It’s an extremely important resolution. The county executive said it’s one of the most important we’ve brought forward in our entire term,” said Peter Baron, director of government relations for the Office of the County Executive.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman said Tuesday morning that he was disappointed by the vote. However, he said the proposal could still get on the ballot if 10,000 residents sign a petition in favor of adding it — an option he said he expects to see utilized soon.
“I feel very strongly that this small donor public finance option should be on the ballot,” Pittman said.
At Monday night’s meeting, Haire, of Edgewater, and Fiedler, of Arnold, voiced their concerns about the Charter Review Commission, a body designed to review county charter protocols, not having a chance to review the resolution. Democrats Lisa Brannigan Rodvien, of Annapolis, and Allison Pickard, of Glen Burnie, argued that allowing the commission to review the resolution would render it less effective as it would take up too much time. The commission only convenes once a decade in conjunction with the release of U.S. Census data.
Volke, of Pasadena, had a different perspective saying some of his fellow council members had won their elections with significantly less cash on hand than their opponents.
“Some of my colleagues up here have won with David and Goliath odds,” Volke said proceeding to ask why this resolution was necessary in the first place.
Baron responded that this option is designed for candidates who might have almost no name identification and even less money than their colleagues did to start off their campaigns.
“Candidates matter, campaigns matters — but money also matters,” Baron said. “Some don’t have the donors even to raise a couple of grand.”
Council member Sarah Lacey, a Jessup Democrat agreed saying the resolution would level the playing field for both candidates and donors.
“It takes money to make money,” Lacey said. “You might not even have anything to get started; it doesn’t mean you’re not a good candidate. This spreads the buy-in so that more people can play. This makes democracy more accessible to the common man.”
Rodvien said the council is limited currently due to its homogenous nature and said the public campaign finance option would allow for more perspectives on the council.
“We have seven white members and that is not a reflection of our county,” Rodvien said.
This vote disrupts a statewide pattern as several counties have begun adopting and using the public campaign finance option over the past few years.
Montgomery County has had the public campaign finance option since 2018 and Howard County is utilizing it for the first time this election cycle. Prince George’s County and Baltimore County will have it as an option in the 2026 election. Baltimore City is considering adopting it as well, said Maryland Board of Elections Candidacy and Campaign Finance Director Jared DeMarinis. It has also been used at the state level, including by Gov. Larry Hogan.
Another concern raised by the council Republicans was the cost. Haire said she felt uneasy about supporting a bill that had an unknown price tag. DeMarinis responded that the cost could be reasonably estimated based on other counties that have adopted it. He said Montgomery County budgeted about $11 million for it and only used around $6 million, while Howard County budgeted about $5 million for it and only spent a little over $1 million. DeMarinis said he estimated it would cost less than $6 million for Anne Arundel County.
The council also passed a new councilmanic district map by unanimous vote. The map was drawn by the Office of Planning and Zoning based on new census data. The most notable changes in the map will be in the center of the county where parts of District 4 have been added to District 5 and District 6. This is because District 4 was too large by the standards of the Office of Planning and Zoning, diluting the impact of each voter.
In terms of neighborhoods, the southern part of Millersville will now be split between Districts 5 and 6, the southern half of Severn will now be in District 5, the northern half of Crownsville will be in District 6 and the eastern half of Gambrills will be in District 5.
The map will now have the districts more evenly divided with each being closer to the target population of 83,633, which is about one-seventh of the county’s current population.
“The vast majority of county residents will remain in their same districts,” Rodvien said. “It’s everything you can want in a fair map.”
