New study charts utilities’ political spending and influence in Md. State House

As lawmakers and consumer advocates in state capitols — including in Annapolis — begin to more closely scrutinize the political activities of utilities across the country, a good government group is due to release a report that attempts to quantify the utilities’ level of political spending and lobbying activity in the Maryland State House. A new study from the Maryland PIRG Foundation, which is being released on Thursday, found that the state’s monopoly utilities have undue influence in state government policymaking. They employ an army of State House lobbyists, Maryland PIRG said, and spend millions of dollars on advertising and association membership in an attempt to sway state policy.