Brian Duff interviewed by MPBN for a story on Maine's Clean Elections Act

Brian Duff, Ph.D., associate professor of political science, was interviewed by Maine Public Broadcasting for a May 10, 2011 story on proposed bills in the Legislature that could weaken or eliminate Maine's Clean Elections Act. The act, approved by voters 15 years ago and in operation since 2000, allows political candidates to access public funds for their campaigns if they meet certain criteria.

Duff said the future of Maine's Clean Election Act could be affected by a case currently in front of the U.S. Supreme Court that concerns a challenge to the Clean Election laws of Arizona, which are similar to Maine's and which opponents claim have a chilling effect on free speech.  "And the logic behind that is that campaign contribution amounts to free speech, and what they're saying is that clean elections takes away some of the incentive for people to make contributions to a candidate because any amount of money that a non-clean election candidate raises over the basic amount that clean elections provides to their candidates, will be matched by the state," Duff says.  .

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