Baltimore’s experiment this spring in publicly financing political campaigns wasn’t without controversy.
For the first time in May’s Democratic primary, a handful of Baltimore candidates were able to draw on city funds to power small-dollar campaigns, an effort to level the playing field of expensive elections by providing matching funds to campaigns that eschewed large donations or support from corporations, labor groups and political action committees.
But when Thiru Vignarajah, a four-time candidate for citywide office, abandoned his publicly financed campaign for mayor and endorsed former mayor Sheila Dixon, some advocates for public finance accused him of abusing the new system.
A day after Vignarajah’s late exit, Councilman Kristerfer Burnett sent a letter to the city solicitor’s office requesting an opinion on whether a candidate who withdraws from a race before the election must return taxpayer funding. Burnett, who sponsored the 2018 legislation that helped establish Baltimore’s Fair Election Fund, asked that Vignarajah return all of the public funding he has received, plus interest.
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A provision in the law states that a candidate who withdraws from the public finance program must return all funding they received — plus interest compounding from the day of their exit. Whether withdrawing from the race meant withdrawing from the public finance program was less clear, though Burnett said in writing the law he had hoped to safeguard the fund by ensuring any campaign that ended early paid back the money it received.
In the end, though, Burnett’s demand didn’t come to pass. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Finance, Vignarajah ended up returning $201,303 to the Fair Election Fund in late June — all of what he estimates remained in his campaign account — but not the rest of the total $669,000 he received in city funds to power his abandoned bid for mayor.
It’s unclear how much the city will get back from the three other candidates approved for publicly financed campaigns this election cycle.
Former councilwoman Shannon Sneed, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council president, spent all of the money she received from the Fair Election Fund and owes nothing back, according to reporting to the finance department. Zac Blanchard, who ran a grassroots campaign to upset a powerful incumbent in the primary for the City Council’s 11th District seat, is continuing on to the general election and therefore not required to return funds.
The city is still waiting on an update from Steven Johnson, a former teacher and unsuccessful candidate for the council’s 6th District seat, on the status of his public funds. Johnson did not return a call Friday seeking information on any remaining funds in his campaign account.
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The finance department estimates it has just over $1 million in its Fair Election Fund, a pot advocates for public financing have called on the city to boost in coming budget cycles.
Read more coverage of Baltimore's 2024 Democratic primaries:
How publicly financed campaigns are working in Baltimore
Taxpayers funded Vignarajah’s abandoned mayor bid. Does he need to pay it back?
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott wins rematch against Sheila Dixon
For now, though, Burnett’s question of whether Vignarajah should have had to pay back all of the nearly $700,000 he received out of the Fair Election Fund appears tabled.
Days after the West Baltimore councilman sent his letter demanding Vignarajah return all funds, the city’s Fair Election Fund Commission sent its own letter reiterating that the campaign must return unspent public funds within 30 days but stopping short of mandating a reimbursem*nt of all funds. After the primary, the commission said it planned to review its rules and regulations with city attorneys and elections officials.
Asked about Burnett’s requested legal opinion, a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Scott declined to say last week whether the Law Department ever reached a determination, saying that any analysis provided by city attorneys to a member of the council is “protected by attorney client privilege.”
Burnett said he never received a formal opinion from the Law Department but did have conversations with city attorneys about the question. The Law Department told him the city’s public finance law makes clear that anyone who withdraws from the Fair Election Fund should have to return unspent funds, but didn’t expressly prevent a candidate from dropping out of a race and backing another candidate, as Vignarajah did.
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Burnett isn’t seeking another term on the council, but he said he hopes to remain involved in conversations with City Hall about how to manage the Fair Election Fund, and how to close what he thinks looks like “a loophole” in the law. Councilwoman Phylicia Porter last week called a hearing to discuss the city’s inaugural election with public financing, which the City Council is expect to hold later this year.
Vignarajah pushed back on arguments in May that he should have to return all of the public funding he’d received. He maintained that position in an interview last week, and pointed to the Fair Election Fund Commission’s May letter as validation.
Public financing is meant to make small-dollar candidates competitive with traditional ones, he said, and barring them from dropping out and endorsing another candidate only serves to put publicly financed campaigns “on a different footing.”
