Common Cause Maryland

The advocacy group Common Cause Maryland is asking members of the General Assembly to refuse contributions from gambling interests through Election Day, when voters will decide if the state should legalize the release of up to 15,000 slot machines at racetracks and other locations throughout Maryland.

In a statement, the group's executive director, Ryan O'Donnell, said Common Cause would make the request because the slots referendum "must be a decision-making process untarnished by political contributions from interested parties."

The organization has not taken a stance for or against slots.

ANNAPOLIS- Sen. Richard Colburn (R-Cambridge) would likely have voted against deregulating the electricity industry in 1999 “knowing what he knows now,” according to Jessica Stewart, the senator’s chief of staff.

Colburn, who voted for the 1999 bill, has received $7,615 in campaign contributions from the utility industry, the eighth highest among members of the current General Assembly, since deregulation, according to a report conducted by Progressive Maryland and Common Cause Maryland.

The senator chose not to comment when asked if the contributions created the appearance of impropriety or undue influence, as members of Progressive Maryland and Common Cause suggested.

Stewart said that if Colburn knew that electric rates would eventually be unfrozen, he “probably wouldn’t have voted” in favor of deregulation.