Maryland campaign finance reports do not require candidates to explain themselves. A committee can log a $3,000 charge to a purpose code called “Meeting Expenses” or simply “Other” and move on. No memo field, no receipt, no explanation required beyond a dropdown menu.
A review of more than 57,000 expenditure records filed with the Maryland State Board of Elections through MDCRIS for the 2026 election cycle, covering committees from both parties across state and local races, found dozens of candidates using those vague categories to cover hotel stays, restaurant tabs, rental cars and, in one case, a campaign’s own donation to the candidate’s personal restaurant business.
None of the spending identified here has been flagged by state regulators as of this writing, and using a broad purpose code is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing. But it is a reminder of how little transparency the reporting system actually requires. Maryland election law bars candidates from converting campaign funds to personal use. Jared DeMarinis, the state’s administrator of elections, has said any expense must have “a nexus between the expenditure and the candidacy,” according to a March report by Fox45’s Spotlight on Maryland examining a similar pattern in a sitting delegate’s filings from Anne Arundel County. That review, which is not connected to any of the spending below, found a first-term lawmaker spent more than 90 percent of the roughly $28,000 his campaign raised in 2025, including thousands of dollars on meals, out-of-state travel and a Mississippi casino resort. Just over 14 percent of that spending was tied to reelection activity, according to the report.
“Maryland campaign finance reports do not require candidates to explain themselves.”
A publicly financed council candidate’s beach weekend
Gavin Buckley, the former two-term mayor of Annapolis now running as a Democrat for Anne Arundel County Council District 6, qualified this year for the county’s public campaign financing program, which matches small donations with taxpayer dollars and caps individual contributions at $250. Buckley’s publicly financed committee has spent more than $100,000 through mid-August.
Two line items stand out.
- On Aug. 17 and 18, Buckley’s campaign reported four payments coded “Meeting Expenses” reimbursing Buckley personally, at his home address, for an Ocean City weekend: $329.28 to Airbnb Inc., $83.24 to Hertz, $56.47 to Seacrets Jamaica USA, a beachfront bar and nightclub, $24.65 to Exxon, and $21.03 to a Denny’s location on Coastal Highway. Unlike most of the spending described in this story, these were not direct campaign-to-vendor payments. The filings list Buckley himself, not the businesses, as the payee, with each vendor named separately in the underlying record.
- Across four separate 2026 transactions, Buckley’s campaign paid a combined $2,070.01 to Metropolitan Kitchen & Lounge, an Annapolis restaurant Buckley co-owns with longtime business partner Jody Danek, according to prior MDBayNews reporting, for what the filings describe as fundraiser food and beverage costs and a primary-night party.
Buckley is the only District 6 candidate using Anne Arundel’s public financing system this cycle, according to county election filings reported by Eye On Annapolis in May. The Ocean City charges line up with the tail end of the Maryland Association of Counties’ summer conference, which ran Aug. 12-15 in the same city and draws several thousand local and state officials each year. But the reimbursements were dated Aug. 17 and 18, two days after that conference had already ended, and the filings do not identify what meeting, if any, took place at a nightclub, a rental car counter, and a diner on those dates. The conference explains why Buckley may have been in Ocean City. It does not explain the “Meeting Expenses” label, or why the campaign reimbursed him directly rather than paying the vendors.
“The conference explains why Buckley may have been in Ocean City. It does not explain the ‘Meeting Expenses’ label.”
State senators and hotel chains
Two Washington County Republican state senators reported similar patterns using the same “Meeting Expenses” or “Other” purpose codes. None of the charges below fall within the Aug. 3-5 special session called by Gov. Wes Moore in Annapolis to consider a constitutional amendment on congressional redistricting. Corderman’s charge predates that session, and Folden’s Residence Inn charges were reported both before it, in June, and five to 12 days after it adjourned, in August.
- Sen. Paul Corderman, who represents District 2 and is seeking reelection, reported a $3,036.42 Airbnb charge on July 31 coded “Meeting Expenses.”
- Sen. William Folden, who represents District 4 and is also seeking reelection, reported four separate charges to Residence Inn by Marriott in 2026 totaling roughly $3,255, the largest a $2,789.92 payment on Aug. 10 coded simply “Other.” Folden’s campaign separately paid $701.17 to a vendor called MyCustomGolfBalls on Aug. 6, also coded “Other.”
Democratic legislators reported comparable charges, also outside the special session window. Del. Ken Kerr of District 3 paid $2,082.28 to a Residence Inn on Aug. 17, coded “Meeting Expenses.” Del. Andrea Harrison of District 24 paid $1,627.72 to the Ashore Hotel in Ocean City on Aug. 11, also coded “Meeting Expenses.” Del. Deni Taveras of District 47B paid $980.80 to a Best Western on June 8 and $75 to a second Best Western location on July 28, both coded “Meeting Expenses.”
“The same vague purpose codes show up across party lines.”
Local and county-level filings
The pattern extends below the State House.
- Robert Stokes Sr., a former Baltimore City councilman now running for a House of Delegates seat in District 45, reported a single $2,765.07 charge to Avenue Kitchen & Bar in March, coded “Other” with no further description.
- Sen. Craig Zucker of District 14 reported an $863.28 charge to Lewnes Steakhouse in April, coded “Meeting Expenses,” alongside a recurring $200 monthly payment to a storage unit company that appears in nearly every reporting period this year, also coded “Other.”
- Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, a candidate for Howard County executive whose $600,000 fundraising haul MDBayNews examined in January, has made recurring payments in 2026 to Grillmarx Steakhouse (three charges totaling $1,536.27), Anthony’s Italian Restaurant and Wine Bar ($280.42), and a monthly storage unit rental, most coded “Meeting Expenses,” “Volunteer Meals” or “Other.”
“The pattern extends below the State House.”
The rules, such as they are
Maryland law requires campaign committees to itemize any expenditure and select a category and purpose from a fixed list in the state’s MDCRIS filing system. It does not require an itemized receipt, a business justification, or a description of who attended a given “meeting.” That leaves reporters, opponents and voters largely unable to tell the difference between a legitimate campaign expense and a personal one without further digging, unless a campaign volunteers more detail than the law demands.
“That leaves reporters, opponents and voters largely unable to tell the difference between a legitimate campaign expense and a personal one without further digging.”
None of this is evidence of or implies any wrongdoing. None of the candidates named in this story were contacted for this article. MDBayNews will update this story if any campaign provides additional documentation or if state election officials take action on any of the filings described here.
Sources: This story is based on MDBayNews’ review of expenditure data downloaded directly from the Maryland State Board of Elections’ MDCRIS campaign finance database, covering filings from Jan. 1 through Aug. 21, 2026. Additional background on Anne Arundel County’s public campaign financing program came from the Baltimore Banner and Eye On Annapolis. Candidate office and district information was confirmed through the Maryland General Assembly’s official member directory and Ballotpedia. Details on Del. Gary Simmons’ 2025 campaign spending and the state’s legal standard for personal use of campaign funds came from Fox45 Baltimore’s Spotlight on Maryland investigation, published March 4, 2026, and a related WJLA report published March 11, 2026. MACo Summer Conference dates were confirmed through the Maryland Association of Counties. Special session dates were confirmed through Gov. Wes Moore’s executive proclamation and Maryland Matters’ Aug. 3, 2026 coverage of the session’s opening.
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