No one at a legislative hearing Monday opposed a bill that would strengthen the Maine Clean Election Act, which was weakened last year.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t powerful opposition, however. Gov. Paul LePage’s spokeswoman has called the law “welfare for politicians.”

The LePage administration, however, has made it known that it considers taxpayer funding for candidates to be ‘welfare for politicians.’

A bipartisan plan unveiled Wednesday that would overhaul Maine’s tax structure met with a lukewarm response from top politicians, as well as criticism from interest groups who stand to win or lose from the proposed income and sales tax changes.

Legislators weighing control proposals Tuesday rejected four bills and recommended just one.