Originally Published: June 5, 2007
Candidate Greg Camp gains support to fill shoes of Pete Grannis
We come together in support of the legislation announced today by Mayor Bloomberg and Speaker Quinn to strengthen the city’s nationally respected city campaign finance program. Our three groups commend not only the Mayor and the Speaker, but also the Campaign Finance Board Chair Fritz Schwartz and Executive Director Amy Loprest and their respective staffs for their collective abilities and leadership in reaching a vitally important agreement on how best to improve a program that has been essential to supporting viable candidates, ensuring clean campaigns, and providing more competitive elections in our city.
Proper disclosure, support for small gifts, strong public financing, and rigorous enforcement have been key elements to the success and integrity of the program. We believe these new changes will help lock in all of these elements for years to come.
We are also pleased to have been consulted throughout this entire process as the issues were discussed and solutions explored. We believe that the bill is stronger because of the collaborative style used in its drafting. Each of us now looks forward to the all important public comment period that will be essential to receiving additional citizen input and building public support for this needed piece of legislation. We also look forward to helping City government with the serious challenges that it will face in making the law work.
Gene Russianoff, Senior Attorney at NYPIRG offered these additional comments, “This legislation ensures that New York City will have the best local campaign finance program in the U.S. Our city continues to lead the nation in curbing the influence of special interests – and is way ahead of its own state government. Since 1988, the great strength of the city campaign finance program has been its ability to adapt with the changing times.
This legislation limiting contributions by people doing business with the City follows in the trail-blazing campaign finance tradition of past reforms, such as requiring city-wide candidates to debate if they receive public funds passed in 1995; and providing a 4 to 1 match for small ($250) contributions from city residents passed in 1998.”
Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizens Union, added, “Today’s proposed reforms of the city’s campaign finance program is an achievement of historic proportions, and rivals, if not exceeds, previous reforms like the 4:1 match or the banning of corporate contributions. The Mayor, the Speaker, Campaign Finance Board leaders, and their staffs deserve the heartfelt thanks of the citizens of New York for having found common ground. They have successfully resolved issues that protect the right of people to participate in campaigns, strengthen the value of small donors while limiting the influence of many big money interests who do business with the city, and let the public know more about those who raise money for candidates. It also makes the program more efficient and stronger because it settles many long standing issues that have chafed at the board’s proper enforcement of the law.”
Megan Quattlebaum, Associate Director of Common Cause/NY, concluded, “ There’s nothing New Yorkers want more out of their summers than sunshine, and that’s exactly what the City Council and the Mayor have given us today. These new provisions allow the light of public scrutiny to shine ever more brightly on the activities of city government by, among other things, requiring better disclosure of ‘bundled’ contributions and taking important steps to curb so-called ‘pay-to-play’ practices. We commend the city for advancing these forward-thinking reforms. Now, it’s time for citizens to demand that lawmakers in Albany get out from under their shroud of winter darkness and follow in New York City’s footsteps by dramatically overhauling what remain some of the worst campaign finance laws in the nation.”