Maine Democratic legislative leaders unveil proposal to ban corporate contributions to political candidates

(WABI) - Maine Democratic legislative leaders are backing a bill to end corporate campaign contributions.

The bill is sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson, Assistant House Majority Leader Rachel Talbot-Ross, and State Senator Louie Luchini from Ellsworth.

Jackson says the amount of corporate money injected into the political system since the Supreme Court’s ruling on Citizens United in 2010 is too much for Maine people to compete with. He adds the bill won’t help solve all the problems brought on by the Citizens United decision, but it will help ensure corporations can’t tip the scales through campaign contributions.

”For far too long, large corporations have been able to buy state governments, and regular people just don’t have the money to buy them back,” Jackson said. “Maine has routinely led the nation on ethical reforms, campaign finance reform, and I believe this is the natural next step in the evolution.”

Today’s virtual press conference can be seen on Senator Troy Jackson’s Facebook page.