Allison Pickard and Pete Smith (along with 3 other council members) killed Bill 23-26 on Monday, 4/20/26. Allison and Pete are both running to be the Democratic nominee for County Executive.
Bill 23-26: Restricted developers with business before the County Council from donating more than $250 during a single campaign cycle. This was not a radical bill, this was the bare minimum.
Money in Politics is the Issue. Allison and Pete are both running to be the Democratic nominee for County Executive. If neither can vote to support such a basic initiative, how can they be trusted on issues that are far less clear?
Impact to Democracy. 14 people testified in favor of this bill on Monday. 0 people testified against it. It still failed. How can we call this democracy when it feels like corruption?
Side Note: It’s worth mentioning that another candidate for County Executive, James Kitchin, has shown greater clarity on this issue. He has chosen to run using public campaign financing (like Mamdani did in NYC) instead of the traditional donor-backed campaign strategy. He also testified in favor of the bill on Monday.
Additional Information
Bill - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/legislation/bill-no-23-26
Council Meeting Recording - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPjAQJv9e7M&t=9345s
Timestamp - 02:35:45 to 3:07:20
Below is how every member of the council voted, plus a link to their contact information if you want to share your thoughts on how they voted:
Peter Smith (D) - No
District 1 - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/district-1
Allison M. Pickard (D) - No
District 2 - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/district-2
Nathan Volke (R) - No
District 3 - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/district-3
Julie Hummer (D) - No
District 4 - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/district-4
Amanda Fiedler (R) - Yes
District 5 - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/district-5
Lisa D. B. Rodvien (D) - Yes
District 6 - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/district-6
Shannon Leadbetter (R) - No
District 7 - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/district-7
You can look up your County Council member here (I just learned who mine was in the last year) - https://www.aacounty.org/county-council/council-districts/who-my-councilmember