Councilman calls for Baltimore mayoral dropout Thiru Vignarajah to return all public funding
BALTIMORE - A Baltimore City Councilmember now calling on former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah to return all public funding he used for his campaign with interest back to taxpayers.
Vignarajah dropped out of the race on Wednesday and is now endorsing Sheila Dixon, a former Baltimore mayor running to win her seat back.
Vignarajah told WJZ that he acknowledges the election laws and fully plans on returning unspent funds after he dropped out of the race.
Baltimore City Councilman Kristerfer Burnett wrote a letter Thursday to the city solicitor calling on the State Board of Elections to freeze Vignarajah's campaign account and return all of the funding he received from the Fair Election fund, plus interest, based on the city's Fair Election Law.
It was revealed in a meeting last month that Vignarajah raised more than $600,000 in public funding.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott responded to Vignarajah, his former opponent, dropping out and throwing his support behind Dixon.
"I think voters are smart not to fall for late games," Scott said.
In a statement to WJZ, Vignarajah says, in part, "the campaign is familiar and in full compliance with the plain language of the regulations and will return all unspent funds as required by law."
Baltimore's Public Financing Law makes it clear that a candidate who drops out of a race is obligated to return campaign money to the Fair Election fund.
But what's less clear is how much of public funding will be returned.
"I think he should return it up until," Baltimore resident Ralikh Hayes said. "He should not spend anything after he announced the end to his candidacy."
This election shakeup is happening as Maryland early voting started on Thursday.
Voters tell WJZ they believe Vignarajah should return every penny.
"If you're not going to follow through with the election then I don't think you should have the benefits of what comes with someone running and follow through," Baltimore resident Kevyn Megginson said.
In that letter to the city solicitor, Burnett asks both the city law department and the State Board of Elections to step in.