Despite appearing jointly together, both Skelos and Silver are far apart on whether to
allow public financing of campaigns to move forward, a coming flashpoint in the effort to overhaul campaign finance and ethics laws in the wake of two corruption scandals.
Not exact matches
As for the end result
of all
of that enthusiasm, we already know the story: online fundraising
allowed Barack Obama to opt out
of the
public campaign financing system and outspend John McCain by hundreds
of millions
of dollars in the general election.
Koppell had been pushing for a more progressive agenda including a higher minimum wage and
public financing of campaigns, passage
of the Dream Act, which would
allow students in the country illegally access to state financial aid, along with all 10 points
of the Women's Equality Agenda, which includes a contentious abortion plank.
The governor is already running smack into a wall
of opposition in the Senate, where Republicans (and at least one Democrat) don't want to hold a vote on a measure to strengthen abortion laws or
allow for the
public financing of political
campaigns.
«The people
of New York are demanding change and it's time we took action to restore the
public trust by closing the LLC loophole and bringing fairness to our
campaign finance system,» Cuomo said in the May 24 statement announcing his bill menu aimed at closing the loophole that has
allowed tens
of millions
of dollars into
campaign accounts.
There's a continuing push for
public financing of campaigns, arguing it removes the influence
of big money and
allows challengers who would have trouble raising money to run.
«We must end the ability
of so - called not - for - profit advocacy organizations to elude regulation and to mock New York City's
public finance system, by
allowing campaigns access to virtually unlimited money from special interests,» he said.
Good government groups have for years complained that New York's
campaign finance laws make it difficult for the
public to determine the actual source
of campaign dollars, whether due to the so - called «LLC loophole» — which
allows business interests that control a network
of subsidiaries to vastly multiply their political giving — or corporate formation laws that
allow companies to obscure the individuals and other businesses behind them.
But while Cuomo was able to get several Republican Senators to vote to enact same sex marriage in 2011, he could not get them to budge on several issues that the Democratic left was pushing for, including, further increasing the minimum wage,
allowing children
of undocumented immigrants college aid known as the Dream Act, and
public financing of political
campaigns.
Klein, a former head
of the Senate Democratic
Campaign Committee, said the
public's mood over publicly
financed campaigns needes to be gauged first, noting that some voters may be uneasy with
allowing taxpayer dollars to fund political
campaigns (the Senate GOP, which has equal governing weight in the coalition, has cited this reason for its opposition to
public financing).
Cuomo's prescriptions in his 2016 State
of the State speech included closing a legal loophole that lets
campaign donors funnel unlimited sums to candidates through limited - liability companies; requiring office holders to report
campaign contributions every 60 days instead
of twice a year;
allowing lawmakers to earn no more than 15 percent
of their legislative salaries in private - sector work; and adopting a system
of voluntary
public campaign financing similar to what New York City has.
A variety
of compromise measures for
public financing were floated on Thursday at the Capitol, including proposals that would
allow the program for the comptroller's and attorney general's
campaigns.
Klein said the IDC had served as a «strong, stabilizing force» during its partnership with the Senate Republicans, but the time has come to reassess that relationship in light
of the fact that top progressive priorities like the DREAM Act, a statewide
public campaign finance system and the Women's Equality Act aren't being
allowed to the floor
of the Senate for a vote due to the opposition
of GOP Leader Dean Skelos.
When gaining the endorsement
of the labor - backed Working Families Party, he pledged to enact the
public financing of political
campaigns statewide, the DREAM Act for undocumented immigrants,
allow local governments to raise the state's minimum wage and accelerate the timetable for increasing the wage itself.
They include closing a loophole that
allows donors to skirt
campaign funding limits by forming multiple limited liability companies, as well as the
public financing of campaigns.
The report recommended
public financing of campaigns to limit big donors» influence, closing loopholes that
allow companies to ignore current state contribution limits and toughening bribery penalties.
Gianaris questioned the position
of Republican senators who oppose a
public campaign financing system, but support
allowing politicians to seek state reimbursement for criminal defense fees.
They include closing a loophole that
allows donors to skirt
campaign funding limits by forming multiple Limited Liability Companies, as well as the
public financing of campaigns.
Public financing allows candidates who show some threshold amount of public support to receive sufficient funding for their camp
Public financing allows candidates who show some threshold amount
of public support to receive sufficient funding for their camp
public support to receive sufficient funding for their
campaigns.
«
Allowing the Democratic party bosses to weigh in on the governor's behalf shows the fundamental unfairness
of New York's
campaign finance system,» said Blair Horner
of the New York
Public Interest Research Group.
Cuomo proposes to extend a system
of public campaign finance to all statewide offices and legislative races, ban the use
of campaign funds for personal expenses, require the disclosure
of outside income and the clients who supported it and change the state Constitution to
allow prosecutors to claw back the pensions
of officials convicted
of public corruption.
He identified a number
of reforms that the Assembly would advance, including closing the LLC
campaign finance loophole, limiting the influence
of big money in politics, and
allowing for the pension forfeiture
of corrupt
public officials.
«We must replace the
public embarrassment
of existing
campaign financing laws, which
allow enormous contributions and unlimited expenditures, with a system
of reasonable limits that levels the playing field and ensures that meritorious candidates are not discouraged by the costs
of running for
public office.»
«A system
of public financing allows individuals who are not beholden to any groups to actually run significant
campaigns for
public office,» said Horner.
«One, is the gerrymandering that occurs
allowing lawmakers to draw their own district lines... [two is] a disgraceful
campaign finance system that
allows them to hit up special interests for ridiculous amounts
of money,» said Blair Horner, executive director at the New York
Public Interest Research Group, referring to a lack
of «pay - to - play» restrictions on
campaign donors with government business.
Good government groups see the pension forfeiture measure as a token reform and have pressed for the closing
of the «LLC loophole» that
allows businesses to create multiple limited liability companies to donate virtually unlimited amounts
of campaign cash;
public financing of candidate campaigns; the end of lump sum appropriations in the budget; limits on political contributions by companies with business before the state; limits on legislators» outside income; and a renovation of Albany's ethics watchdog, the Joint Commission on Public Ethics (J
public financing of candidate
campaigns; the end
of lump sum appropriations in the budget; limits on political contributions by companies with business before the state; limits on legislators» outside income; and a renovation
of Albany's ethics watchdog, the Joint Commission on
Public Ethics (J
Public Ethics (JCOPE).
Schneiderman has been touting his «End New York Corruption Now Act» that would create a system
of public campaign financing, eliminate outside employment for legislators, extend legislative terms, and
allow the AG to prosecute
public corruption, among other things.
As the 2013 session
of the Connecticut General Assembly came to a close, Malloy and the Democrats passed legislation that
allowed candidates to keep the
public campaign finance funds while opening the flood gates to tainted
campaign contributions.