Appeals court rules identity of political donors can be hidden from public view
A three-judge panel of the Appellate Court of Maryland has ruled that individual donations to a political fund are private financial information and must be protected from public identification.
The May 2 opinion, by Judge Kathryn Grill Graeff, said that public interest in government transparency and uncovering corruption do not outweigh plain language of the Maryland Public Information Act, which prohibits the disclosure of an individual’s financial activity, no matter how small.
The ruling came in response to separate lawsuits by the Baltimore Sun and the Baltimore Brew, which had filed Maryland Public Information Act requests with the city for records relating to a legal defense fund set up in 2021 by Council President Nick Mosby for himself and his then-wife, Marilyn, who was Baltimore City State’s Attorney at the time.
The city Ethics Board ruled in May 2022 that Nick Mosby had violated ethics law by soliciting and accepting monies from donors and by failing to disclose his interest in “the Mosby Trust,” the fund set up to collect donations. (A circuit court later found that Mosby had not accepted gifts from donors, but upheld the finding that he solicited the donations and failed to disclose his interest in the fund.)
https://marylandmatters.org/2025/05/10/appeals-court-rules-identity-of-political-donors-can-be-hidden-from-public-view/
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