Before New York state legislators adjourned their session over the weekend, they approved a measure to alter the state’s fledgling public campaign finance system. It’s a change that critics and some legislators say undermines the original purpose of the program.
When lawmakers approved the public campaign finance system for statewide offices in 2019, they said it would empower small-money donors and weaken the influence of deep-pocket donors.
The program, which takes effect in the 2024 election cycle, would have provided a six-to-one publicly funded matching system for donations to candidates between $5 and $250. Donations above that amount would not be eligible for the matching funds.
But, just before that election season gets underway, the Senate and Assembly changed the rules. Now, donations of up to $18,000 can be eligible for public matching funds.
John Kaehny, with the government reform group Reinvent Albany, says the change subverts the intent of the original program.
“People should be really pissed,” Kaehny said.
Instead of offering an even playing field for small donors, he says it gives a taxpayer-funded windfall to big-money donors. While only the first $250 of the higher amounts can qualify for the six-to-one match, it still boosts the donation.
“So, I'm a CEO, I write my check to the state senator for $10,000, and then the state taxpayer pays another $2,300 in public matching funds, for a total of $12,300, from that $10,000 contribution,” he said. “That makes no sense.”
Kaehny’s group is not alone in their criticism. Editorial pages from the New York Times to the New York Post castigated the revisions, saying it sabotages the public campaign finance law.
The bill narrowly passed in the state Senate, 32-31.
Senator George Borrello is a Republican from the Southern Tier who voted no. He says the change will favor incumbents, who are mostly Democrats in New York, at the expense of primary challengers, as well as general election challengers, who are often GOP candidates.
“This has gone from being a grassroots effort to, essentially, an incumbency welfare program,” Borrello said.
Several democratic senators, some who co-sponsored the original 2019 law, also voted no.
Among them, Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger, and Senator Rachel May, who won her seat in a 2018 primary, where she challenged a longtime incumbent.
“I cannot support this bill, because I believe it betrays the original intent of New York’s path-breaking campaign finance law,” May said.
May says she can no longer tell her lower-income constituents that a public campaign finance system would give them a voice.
The bill next goes to Governor Kathy Hochul. The governor, speaking in Albany Tuesday said it’s just one of hundreds of bills that she will examine over the next few months.
“I need to look at each one very carefully, and make sure that there are no unintended consequences to anything we do,” Hochul said. “That’s going to be one of my highest priorities.”
Hochul says she was not part of the decision to change the public campaign finance laws, and has not decided whether to sign it.
