Maine could become the first state in the nation to provide public funding to candidates seeking the office of district attorney.

Lawmakers are considering the first expansion of the state's Clean Election Act since 1996 to help ensure county-level races are not influenced by wealthy donors.

Anna Kellar, executive director of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, said local and state law enforcement positions are increasingly gaining national attention and drawing large amounts of out-of-state spending.

"We see this really as a way of ensuring that this part of our justice system is fully accountable to the voters and able to be independent of their campaign donors," Kellar explained.

Kellar contended providing public funding for district attorney races will increase the pool of candidates with diverse career backgrounds, including public defenders. The legislation has passed a committee with bipartisan support.

Maine voters passed the Maine Clean Elections Act as a citizen initiative in 1996, creating a voluntary program of public financing of political campaigns for governor, state Senator and state Representative.

Candidates who participate can accept limited private contributions to start their campaigns but once they receive money from the state's Clean Elections Fund, they can no longer accept private donations.

Kellar argued the law ensures candidates have enough to run viable, fair campaigns.

"What we often see is if there are races where there are both clean elections candidates, they start out on that equal playing field and that also really helps reduce the need for that outside spending," Kellar observed.

Kellar emphasized the public should trust candidates for county-level law enforcement positions, including sheriff and district attorney, are impartial and will create agendas to benefit the public rather than donor's interests. She added Maine's "clean elections" have provided a great blueprint for other states, and wants the legislature to expand the law to ensure the example continues.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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Early voting for the Wisconsin Supreme Court race starts next week and, although the seat is technically nonpartisan, both candidates have clear political alignments and backers that are being heavily scrutinized. The topic prompted some of the sparks in last night's heated debate.

Republican billionaire Elon Musk has poured millions into backing Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the April Supreme Court race. Musk's company Tesla is suing the state for denying its request for dealers licenses - a case that could reach the high court.

University of Wisconsin-Madison mass communications professor Michael Wagner said the state's rule about justices making their own decisions about when to recuse themselves from cases makes the election outcome that much more consequential.

"It's in a presidential swing state, it's on a swing court," said Wagner, "and the cases that are going to come before the court are going to be cases where the donors in the election, most notably Elon Musk, have a clear interest and a clear path they want the winning judge to take."

Judge Susan Crawford of Dane County has been called out for receiving campaign money from Democratic billionaire George Soros and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Spending on this race is expected to top the historic $56 million spent on the last state Supreme Court race.

Millions have been spent on ads to sway undecided voters. A recent Marquette University poll found many say they still don't know enough about each candidate. Wagner said he doesn't think they'll have a dramatic impact on the election outcome, and predicted party allegiance will drive most voters. But he notes some of the ads egregiously misrepresent the candidates - such as a Schimel campaign ad that featured the wrong Susan Crawford - which speaks to today's contentious political climate.

"We live in this environment where it's just easier to take the shortcut that feels good in the moment," he said, "even if it's not true, even if it isn't good for the long-term 'project' of living together and governing together as citizens."

The April 1 election is already in the national spotlight, as it will determine the political influence of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Early voting begins next Tuesday.

Nearly 1,000 political scientists from across the U.S., including Montana, have signed a statement expressing how they feel the Trump administration's actions are threatening American democracy.

The letter, signed by experts at colleges and universities in both red and blue states, highlights six specific concerns. They include the administration's actions to cancel spending approved by Congress.

Montana State University Professor of Political Science Sara Rushing noted that while cutting expenses may be a good business strategy, democracy is not a business.

That's why, she said, there are checks and balances.

"We have these procedures and practices built in to slow things down, build consensus, abide by processes, and make sure that things are fair and transparent," said Rushing. "Efficiency has never been the preeminent value of democracy."

She encouraged her fellow political scientists not to strike a tone of neutrality because, as she put it, democratic procedures and stakes "shouldn't be up for debate."

In defense of its actions, the White House says it's ensuring all federal agencies are accountable to the American people, as required by the Constitution.

More than 29% of Montana's land base is public land managed by federal agencies.

Montanans who previously worked for those agencies were some of the first to be directly affected by federal cuts, after an initial round of firings in mid-February.

Rushing said she worries the government's commitment to efficiency will "break" the systems that protect public lands.

"So, you can break Yellowstone and make it function terribly," said Rushing, "and then you can make an argument for privatizing it and running it like a business. And that would be a massive loss - not just to Montanans, but to Americans as a whole."

According to a 2024 University of Montana survey, 95% of Montanans said they visited national public lands in the past year, and about half of those said they paid more than ten visits.

Support for this reporting was provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York.




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Nearly 1,000 political scientists from across the U.S. have signed a letter, saying American democracy is under threat based on the early actions of the new Trump administration. A North Dakota expert is among those speaking out. Those who added their names to the statement work for colleges and universities in both "red" and "blue" states. They highlight six specific areas of concern, including the administration acting unilaterally to cancel spending approved by Congress. They say moves like that undermine checks and balances.

Mark Jendrysik, a political science professor based in North Dakota, says he personally feels the nation is in a "constitutional crisis."

"The presidency is attempting to basically render Congress superfluous to almost every important decision, and the most important decision, which is how money is raised and spent," hew said.

He added that Congress, currently under Republican control, seems too willing to surrender that power and said this has been a crisis building for decades, with the executive branch trying to seize more control. In defending certain actions, the White House says it's ensuring that all federal agencies are accountable to the American people, as required by the Constitution.

But Jendrysik, who isn't speaking on behalf of the University of North Dakota where he teaches, says the arguments he's seen from the Trump administration don't hold up. He says he realizes some people choose not to pay attention to what's happening, but he thinks both Congress and citizens should be worried, too.

"Someone else smarter than me [once] said, 'When citizens stop saying "the public affairs aren't my concern," then the republic is lost,'" he continued.

The authors behind the statement say Trump fairly won last fall's election, but add that his
victory doesn't grant him the right to overturn the nation's constitutional and legal order. Other political observers say longtime dysfunction in Congress in addressing the nation's problems has allowed too many voters to consistently view the legislative branch as ineffective, giving rise to an administration willing to push legal and ethical boundaries.


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