Government watchdog groups cheered in 2013 when the General Assembly closed the so-called LLC loophole, passing a law preventing business owners from having outsized influence in Maryland elections by donating to political campaigns through small corporations.
But donations in this year’s mayoral race — the first test of the new law — show the reform is having little effect, a review by The Baltimore Sun found.
Donors and the companies they own are giving to mayoral candidates through businesses located at the same address. Examples include:
•Developer Armando Cignarale — who tried unsuccessfully to build a 23-story tower along Canton’s waterfront — and his family have given $24,000 to state Sen. Catherine Pugh’s campaign. On top of that, Cignarale’s Timonium-based Cignal Corp. and three other businesses at the same address have given $12,000 to Pugh.
•Donors with ties to real estate developer David S. Cordish, the owner of Maryland Live Casino, have given more than $60,000 to lawyer Elizabeth Embry’s mayoral campaign, including six companies that gave about $6,000 each from the address of The Cordish Cos. headquarters.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Luke Broadwater over at the Baltimore Sun
