A database of campaign finance records with the state Board of Elections requires that candidates enter the date a donation was received. There is no standard practice, and that date could represent when a check was written, received or deposited, Deputy Elections Administrator Ross K. Goldstein said.
O'Malley, for instance, logged $78,400 in donations during the special session. Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for the Democratic governor, said the "vast majority" of the contributions were related to one fundraiser held before the session.
"The campaign processed those checks over the course of the next few weeks as they came in," Abbruzzese said, referring to donations recorded in November.
O'Malley announced he would hold a special session and outlined his plans for tax increases - including a proposal to extend the sales tax to several services - in September.
Currie, whose committee helped to craft much of the legislation during the session, reported two donations totaling $1,500 from video game vendors and $500 from a landscaping company, two businesses that legislators considered including in the sales-tax regime. In the end, those ideas were dropped.
Currie, a Prince George's County Democrat, and the treasurer for his campaign committee, Olivia Harris, said the donations were related to a fundraiser in early October and were not processed until afterward.
"There was nothing untoward about this," Currie said. He also noted that his committee had voted to tax landscaping and arcade services.
Mary Boyle, spokeswoman for Common Cause Maryland, a watchdog group, said that during the special session legislators should have abided by the spirit of the fundraising prohibition that applies during the regular session.
"It looks bad when legislators are taking money from special interests when they are also making decisions that impact those special interests," Boyle said. "Is their vote being swayed? I don't know, but it doesn't look good."
During the regular session, neither legislators nor anyone acting on their behalf can receive a contribution, hold a fundraising event, solicit or sell a ticket to such an event, or deposit a contribution regardless of when it was received.
One of the biggest uncertainties during the special session was what services would be subject to the sales tax. O'Malley, who said the tax code was outdated, proposed taxing property management services, health clubs and massage parlors. Legislators rejected those ideas and fought for days over what services to include, finally settling on computer services.
