The. D.C. Council’s term officially ended Tuesday and passed no legislation to strengthen campaign finance reform laws.
Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh had proposed emergency legislation to ban money-order donations greater than $25—the same type of money linked to businessman Jeffrey Thompson that is at the center of much of the recent campaign scandals.
But Cheh withdrew the legislation after Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells said he would pile on wide-reaching campaign finance reform amendments to it that the council apparently had no interest in voting on.
Immediately after Cheh withdrew the legislation, Wells took to Twitter and wrote : "DC campaign finance reform will have to be up to the voters. Not the Council.”
The failure to pass any new campaign finance reform laws means that there will be no more campaign restrictions on the books for the at-large special election than there have been in previous campaigns.
IN OTHER NEWS:
* Marion Barry’s ex-con hiring bill is defeated, and Barry isn’t happy
* McDonnell wants to consider arming school faculty with guns . Rep. Gerry Connolly says that’s "outrageous."
* McDonnell and O’Malley take opposite sides in response to Newtown
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
* O’Malley still “having more conversations” about raising more money for transportation
* Editorial: Gov. McDonnell threw teachers a few crumbs, now has them right where he wants them
* Vincent Gray coming out as law-and-order mayor
* Corporate campaign contributions in D.C., less transparent
