Campaign Funds

ANNAPOLIS -- U.S. Senate candidate Alan L. Keyes has defended his decision to draw an $8,500-a-month salary from campaign contributions, calling himself a workingman trying to make ends meet."

ANNAPOLIS -- U.S. Senate candidate Alan L. Keyes yesterday defended his decision to draw an $8,500-a-month salary from campaign contributions, calling himself a workingman trying to make ends meet."

ANNAPOLIS -- After vehemently defending his right to take a salary of $8,500 a month from campaign contributions, U.S. Senate candidate Alan L. Keyes now says he is reconsidering.Despite what he called "the palpable injustice involved," Mr. Keyes said he might forgo the salary, which has become grist for Maryland talk shows and political critics.But Mr. Keyes said he is in the race to stay, whatever the criticism or cost."I will campaign against [incumbent Democratic Sen.] Barbara Mikulski on foot in the streets and sleep in homeless shelters if I have to, but I will not give up," he said.

WASHINGTON -- Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett has more than twice the campaign funds of the leading Democratic contender in the 6th District, according to reports candidates filed recently with the Federal Elections Commission.The documents showed that of $143,481 Mr. Bartlett raised last year, he had $74,226 in the bank on Dec. 31. The primary election is March 5.About 62 percent of Mr. Bartlett's campaign funds -- or $89,400 -- came from individuals last year. About $46,745 came from special interests or political action committees.

It may be legal for Alan Keyes, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, to draw an $8,500-a-month salary from his campaign treasury to pay his mortgage and living expenses. But the amount involved certainly is unusual -- more than $100,000 on an annual basis. That much money hardly jibes with Mr. Keyes' portrayal of himself as just an ordinary working man trying to make ends meet.Since 1980, candidates have had wide latitude in how they spend money they raise under federal campaign finance rules.

THE ISSUE: -- Suddenly, they're everywhere. Do campaign signs simply clutter the side of roadways, or do they serve a purpose? Political signs are purposeful clutter They do both. Candidates have a need to get their names before the electorate and, as a voter, I want to know the names of the candidates and the offices they are seeking. Campaign signs are just one means of accomplishing this. Furthermore, demonstrating support for my favorite candidate with a campaign sign on my property ought to be a right I enjoy.

WASHINGTON -- Special interest groups have given Rep. Roy P. Dyson, D-1st, a sizable fund-raising edge over Republican challenger Wayne T. Gilchrest, who is now drawing a salary from campaign funds.In a five-week period from Aug. 23 to Sept. 30, Dyson took in $141,054 in contributions, including $99,500 from political action committees representing labor unions and industry. After subtracting expenses, he had $76,185 in the bank as of Sept. 30.Gilchrest received $30,853 in the same period, none of it from PACs.

No one is suggesting that Alan Keyes, the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, shouldn't eat, drive a car or have a house for his family to live in. That is not the issue. The issue is whether he should continue to draw $8,500 a month in salary from campaign funds to pay for those things, given the fact that the Federal Election Commission can't seem to make up its mind whether the practice is legal.To avoid any appearance of impropriety, Mr. Keyes should simply stop using money raised for his campaign to pay his mortgage and personal expenses.

An agreement for a plea Wednesday afternoon by Prince George's County Del. Tiffany Alston appears to have collapsed — though her lawyers maintained that it remains a "possibility" even as they continued negotiations with prosecutors. "It's a possibility. We're talking and that's good, so the possibility still looms [for an agreement]," said J. Wyndal Gordon, one of the attorneys for the freshman lawmaker from Bowie. Last week, both sides indicated that they had an agreement that would cover two sets of criminal charges against Alston.