This is how to start the Maryland legislative session off right. The Baltimore Sun has endorsed the Clean Elections bill expected to be introduced shortly in the Maryland General Assembly that would allow state legislators to run for office with public financing. The Sun urges the Senate to pass the bill this year, calling the Clean Elections option "better than anything else yet devised" to address the influence of money on elections and policy.Here's their rationale for advocating fast action to address campaign contributions and corruption in Annapolis:Turns out lawmakers may regret earning a cool half-million dollars or so in contributions during last November's special session.Apparently, it's just now dawning on some of them that cashing a check from anyone with a direct stake in pending legislation (and the special session had plenty of critical tax and spending votes) can be interpreted as something untoward.The solution is not - as some legislative leaders have suggested - to simply ban fundraising during the occasional special session. That would be helpful, but it's little more than a minor patch on the major problem of influence-peddling.After all, if depositing money in a legislator's campaign account immediately before or after a vote is unethical, why is depositing the money a few weeks later perfectly fine? A political payoff (or the appearance of one) is still a payoff.The real answer is to make legislators less dependent on large political donations by creating a system where incumbents and challengers alike could qualify to have their campaigns publicly financed. Not only would that reduce temptation, but it also should decrease special-interest influence.Great to see this early support for Clean Elections, and the call for the Senate to make progress on this.