Originally Published: December 4, 2013
Like many New Yorkers, we at Citizens Union know that corruption and influence peddling are widespread, but the Moreland Commission did a great job bringing to light specific details of how wrongdoing – even when it is legal – takes place in our state capitol.
Here is a quickly assembled list of some of what we found to be the most revelatory.
Incompetent Enforcement of Campaign Finance Laws
1. The State Board of Elections fired in 2008 an employee for apparently being “too enthusiastic” in trying to improve the Board’s information technology.
2. The State Board of Elections sent referrals to District Attorneys on corporate over-the-limit contributions after the statute of limitations had expired.
3. A State Board of Elections investigator was prohibited from taking subpoenas into the field and auditing polls on Election Day by senior board staff.
4. State Board Commissioner Doug Kellner’s response to Moreland questioning on whether the bipartisan structure of the State Board of Elections impeded enforcement of election law – “Absolutely.”
Abuse of Legislatively-Directed Discretionary Funding
5. Lawmakers have at times swapped out their names on member item funds in order to avoid scrutiny, such as providing funding to an organization where the lawmaker’s relative was an employee.
6. In many cases, it was impossible for the Commission to determine the sponsor of legislative discretionary funds.
7. An organization receiving over $3 million in state discretionary funds supposedly to provide medical services had only one employee on site, a hotline that went directly to voicemail, and sublet its office space to another non-profit entity, while receiving a taxpayer-funded rent subsidy and having affiliated offices that appeared to be private homes.
Weak Campaign Finance Laws and Increasing Independent Spending
8. Republican and Independence Parties housekeeping accounts appeared to improperly target candidates rather than engage in party building by portraying State Senator Joe Addabbo as Count Dracula in negative ads right before the 2012 election. Weak campaign finance laws did not require disclosure of this activity (see photo at bottom).
9. At least 10 lawmakers were found to have “double-dipped,” using campaign finance funds and per diems to pay for the same travel expenses.
10. Of the nearly $14 million spent by special interests in the 2013 New York City elections, labor unions through 22 separate political committees spent $8.2 million and 7 business related political committees spent $5.2 million.