Sen. Eldridge Implies Campaign Finance Law Should be Used as a Political Weapon

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance offered the following statement in response to state Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton).

“Senator Eldridge is implying that he’s proposing a campaign finance bill to help elect Democrats to the statehouse,” commented Paul D. Craney, a MassFiscal Board Member, and the organization’s spokesman. “We previously knew his bill was poorly written, and misguided, without any legitimate support from campaign finance law experts, but now we learn its hyper-partisan and intended to be used as a political weapon in state campaign finance law. Senator Eldridge would be wise to learn that just because he’s a state senator, it doesn’t entitle him to be a bully and propose campaign finance bills that settle scores with his political enemies. It's folks like Eldridge who demonstrate why our campaign finance regulations need to be crystal clear and completely objective. MassFiscal will always fight unfair regulations that tip the scales for or against a particular point of view,” concluded Craney.

BACKGROUND:

There’s a bill that would rein in Charlie Baker’s fund-raising, but Democrats aren’t touching it

THE BOSTON GLOBE

By: Frank Phillips

5/30/2018

The difference is stunning: Governor Charlie Baker was sitting on more than $8 million in his campaign account by mid-May, while his two Democratic challengers had less than $132,000 combined.

If Jay Gonzalez and Robert Massie are looking for someone to blame for that cash chasm, they don’t have to look far. Over the past two years, House Democratic leadership has repeatedly blocked campaign finance legislation that could have cut off a big source of funds to Baker and candidates on the GOP ticket.

“It’s very frustrating,’’ said Senator James B. Eldridge, Democrat from Acton and chief sponsor of the bill. “It seems like a lot of my colleagues [in the House] are not interested in electing a Democrat to the corner office.”…