Bill to Prohibit Offering Incentives to Political Candidates Stumbles in Committee

A bill that seemed to have a simple premise came away with some bumps and bruises after a House committee hearing Wednesday.

The measure, sponsored by State Representative Earl Poleski, R-Jackson, would prohibit offering an incentive to someone to run for political office, or not run.

The idea is to keep cash or a job offer from swaying a potential candidate.

But a handful of lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, found gray areas in the legislation.

The bill was not voted on. The chair of the committee wants the measure fine-tuned before that happens.

The legislation comes a little over two years after former House Speaker Jase Bolger and former State Representative Roy Schmidt were caught up in a party-switching scandal.

Schmidt was accused of offering to pay a family friend to run against him, which would have set up an easy win.