ReformNY

Money and Politics This Week

2012-02-03T11:23:00.004-05:00

For more stories on an ongoing basis, follow the Twitter hashtag #moNeYpolitics

NY Campaign Finance:

1. Today, over 100 organizations that support Fair Elections for New York wrote Governor Cuomo detailing the need for publicly financed campaigns, lower contribution limits, and better enforcement. The civil rights, business, faith, grassroots community, good government, environmental, and labor organizations who signed the letter, thanked the Governor for his strong support and expressed their enthusiasm to work with him and members of the Legislature to pass publicly financed elections and other campaign finance reforms during this legislative session.

2. Despite the annual $150,000 contribution limit by individuals to candidates in New York, luxury-apartment mogul Leonard Litwin gave almost $700,000 to candidates in 2011. A study by the New York Public Interest Research Group revealed that Litwin was the biggest individual donor in the state. Litwin was able to dodge the state’s campaign finance laws by utilizing the limited liability company (LLC) loophole, which allows companies to contribute multiple times through affiliated LLC’s, even when the LLC is completely controlled by a corporation or individual who has already reached the maximum contribution limit.

3. Governor Cuomo spoke with reporters about the need for public financing and campaign finance reform after participating in a fundraising event for the Democratic Governors Association. “One of the things we have to work on is getting money out of politics,” Cuomo said. In response to a reporter’s question about the meeting, Cuomo replied, “Your issue of, ‘You are in a room where people contribute money’ — that is the current state of politics and that is (the case for) every elected official in every fundraising forum.”

4. Manuel Ortega, law chairman of the Staten Island Democratic Party, filed a complaint with the FEC against Republican Representative Michael Grimm. The complaint alleges excessive and illegal cash contributions. A key fundraiser of Grimm’s is now being investigated for embezzling millions of dollars from a rabbi’s congregation. According to the New York Times story that Ortega used as the basis for his FEC complaint, unnamed followers allege that Grimm sought donations over the legal limit, and that he sought those donations in cash and from undocumented aliens.

5. The Democrat and Chronicle calls for Governor Cuomo to follow through on his election promises for public financing and campaign finance reform. The newspaper notes that “the governor continues to say the right things” and urges him to “prod the Legislature to deliver.”

Other News Nationwide:

1. In his State of the Union address, President Obama spoke about the “corrosive influence of money in politics.” He called for “a bill that bans insider trading by Members of Congress,” places limits on incumbents’ ability to own stocks in industries they impact, and restricts the ability of bundlers to lobby Congress.

2. The New York Times editorializes that under the federal lobbying law, “Newt Gingrich can legitimately claim that he is not a lobbyist.” The paper stated that Gingrich had “made a great deal of money in Washington peddling his influence, while carefully staying about half-an-inch short of the legal definition of lobbyist.” The paper calls for a better law limiting lobbyist activity and promoting disclosure. Part of the problem is that many Members of Congress use the revolving door—more than 400 former members have become lobbyists or consultants in the last decade.

3. In Massachusetts, Senator Scott Brown and likely Democratic opponent Elizabeth Warren agreed on a plan to stop outside groups from running negative ads. The agreement “requires each side to donate to a charity of the other’s choosing” when benefiting from a third-party ad, and also requires each side to write to outside groups and television station managers requesting a cease-fire. Brown, who is up for re-election to a full term, said that third-party ads “spend millions of dollars from anonymous donors portraying their opposition unfairly and misleading voters.” The question now is whether the agreement is enforceable.

4, In Montana, the State Supreme Court upheld by a 5-2 vote a law banning corporations from making political expenditures. A New York Times editorial praised the Montana Supreme Court, stating that “in Citizens United, the conservative majority turned itself into a copper kings’ court.” The majority rejected Justice Kennedy’s “misguided reasoning” that money does not “give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” The court’s dissenters, however, argued that the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision dictates the opposite result, and warned that the Supreme Court would not allow Montana to ignore precedent.

Former Representatives Voice Support for Public Financing

2012-01-25T13:09:00.007-05:00

In a joint op-ed in today’s Times-Union, former New York State Congressmen Sherwood Boehlert and Scott Murphy voiced their support for Governor Cuomo’s plan to enact a system of public financing of elections, an issue he gave prominence in his State of the State address.

Speaking from their experiences as former members of Congress representing both major political parties, Boehlert and Murphy acknowledge the “corrosive role that private money plays in political campaigns and the legislative process,” both in Washington and Albany. The increased cost of running for office in New York means that candidates have to spend more and more time courting special interests to raise money for their campaigns. This has only contributed to Albany’s culture of dependence on big money.

The solution for our state: adopt a system of voluntary public financing of elections with matching funds like we have in New York City. If small donor contributions are matched on a 4-to-1 ratio, politicians would be able to spend less time raising money from lobbyists and special interests, and more time focusing on serving the interests of their constituents.

A recent Siena poll indicates that public financing of elections has broad support among both Republicans and Democrats in New York. Boehlert and Murphy have now added to the growing – and bipartisan – chorus of calls for meaningful campaign finance reform in Albany.

Money and Politics This Week

2012-01-20T12:19:00.002-05:00

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NY Campaign Finance News

1. Gov. Cuomo renewed his support for public campaign financing in New York in his recent State of the State address, calling on the legislature to send him a comprehensive campaign finance reform bill that includes public financing for state and legislative elections. The official text of Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address can be found here.

2. As Nick Nyhart writes in the Huffington Post, New Yorkers support the public financing of campaigns by wide margin. A new poll conducted by the Siena Research Institute shows overwhelming support for public financing and lower contribution limits: a full 74% of those polled are in favor of public financing of state elections. Siena’s press release highlights campaign finance reform as one of the three proposals in the governor’s address that garnered the most support. The full results can be downloaded here.

3. The Lower Hudson Journal News has joined the latest call for campaign finance reform in New York, mentioning Gov. Cuomo’s backing of public financing of elections in his State of the State, and quoting a election official on the notorious laxity of the state’s campaign finance regime: “Unless you out-and-out stick it in your pocket and walk away, everything’s legal.” The editorial also cites a long litany of former elected officials who have dipped into their campaign accounts—often to pay attorneys hired to handle their legal troubles—for years after they stopped running for public office.

4. The Utica Observer-Dispatch issued a similar editorial on Wednesday, praising Gov. Cuomo for his remarks on public financing in his State of the State, and citing the Campaign Finance Institute on the many incentives that voluntary public financing creates for small donors.

5. NBC New York singled out Gov. Cuomo’s call for public campaign financing as a key point in his address, noting that 24 states already have some form of public financing for elections, that only a fraction of New York’s 19 million residents currently contribute to campaigns, and that campaign finance reform has been a crucial issue since the Pataki era.

6. Likewise, NPR’s New York affiliate reported on a new study by the Campaign Finance Institute, which found that New York is “dead last” in terms of political donations by the public—less than one half of one percent of the state’s population makes campaign contributions for state or legislative elections. Gov. Cuomo’s State of the State address cited the CFI’s research, which is available on the CFI website.

7. Union leaders have rallied around Gov. Cuomo’s promise to back public campaign financing, issuing a joint letter on behalf of the UAW (United Auto Workers), CWA (Communication Workers of America), and SEIU (Service Employees International Union) to express their support. “To have a truly just and equal society, we must have elections that reflect the will of the people, not the privilege of the wealthy few,” the letter states in part. “We need public funding of elections to achieve this goal.”

National Campaign Finance News

8. Citizens United is “the worst campaign finance decision in Supreme Court history,” according to an op-ed by Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21 in Politico, in large part because it has unleashed an unprecedented wave of special-interest spending through the creation of super PACs. The op-ed emphasizes the need for a small-donor matching funds system that puts ordinary citizens at the forefront of campaign fundraising, among other legislative remedies such as better disclosure laws, a prohibition on candidate-specific super PACs, and the creation of a stronger enforcement agency to replace the failed FEC.

9. Mitt Romney’s repeated endorsement of Florida’s “Full Sail University,” a for-profit college whose curriculum includes an $80,000 program in “video game art,” has raised some eyebrows after revelations that Full Sail’s chief executive, Bill Heavener, is a major donor to Romney’s campaign as well as the super PAC run by Romney’s former aides. The New York Times also recounts how “Winning the Future,” the super PAC that shores up Newt Gingrich’s campaign, recently received a $5 million lifeline from billionaire casino owner and longtime Gingrich supporter Sheldon Adelson.

Kruger Used Campaign Contributions to Pay Legal Fees

2012-01-20T09:41:00.002-05:00

New York’s notoriously weak campaign finance laws were highlighted this week as disclosure reports revealed that former Assemblyman Carl Kruger used nearly $1.4 million from his campaign funds to pay for his legal defense against federal corruption charges. While other states require that candidates set up a legal defense fund, New York allow candidates to use cash from campaign funds pay attorney’s fees.

Susan Lerner from Common Cause/NY notes that “when contributors give to a candidate, they want to support the candidate in his election campaign — not pay for his defense against fraud charges.”

Our former colleague, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, has pointed out that lawmakers have taken advantage New York's laws by using campaign funds to pay for cars, cell phones, country clubs, sporting events tickets, legal bills, meals and even pet food.

Senator Liz Krueger introduced a bill last year that would address the misuse of campaign funds for personal purposes. Among other restrictions, S3053 would forbid the use campaign funds to “pay attorney’s fees or any costs of defending against any civil or criminal investigation or prosecution for alleged violations of state or federal law.”

Of course, this incident highlights only one of the many problems with our state’s campaign finance laws and we hope that it will be among those addressed when the promised campaign finance bill is introduced.

Governor Reaffirms Commitment to Public Financing

2012-01-05T16:26:00.002-05:00

During his State of the State address, Governor Andrew Cuomo reaffirmed his commitment to clean up Albany, telling legislators he would send them a campaign finance reform bill that would include voluntary public financing of elections. The system would be modeled on New York City’s successful matching funds system which has increased the competitiveness of elections, diversity among candidates, and the participation of small donors.

In his written message, the governor called for additional campaign finance reforms, including lowering the state’s sky-high contribution limits, enacting pay-to-play rules, and improving the enforcement of campaign finance laws by creating a new enforcement unit at the Board of Elections. Given the recent corruption scandals involving elected officials and those seeking to do business with the state, this is a positive reform for New Yorkers that would reduce the dependence on money from special interests and help restore trust in state government.

The Brennan Center’s Michael Waldman appeared on NY1 and Capital Tonight to discuss the governor’s speech. "This exciting and vital proposal would make New York a national example of how to revitalize our democracy," Waldman said. "Meaningful campaign reform would curb corruption and boost accountability. It is the single most important next step to transform Albany. We welcome the Governor’s leadership on this issue and are looking forward to helping him make these reforms a reality."

Court to Rule on Primary Date

2011-12-16T11:09:00.001-05:00

U.S. District Court Judge Gary Sharpe indicated this week that he would reach a decision within the next few weeks on the date for New York’s primaries in a case involving the state’s compliance with the Federal MOVE Act. The MOVE Act was enacted to ensure that members of the military and other U.S. citizens abroad have the opportunity to receive and return absentee ballots on a timely basis.

The New York legislature failed again to pass legislation this session to change its September primary date to ensure compliance with the MOVE Act, which requires that absentee ballots be sent to voters overseas at least 45 days before a general election. In years past, the state was granted a waiver from the Department of Defense. This year however, the request for a waiver was denied.

A coalition of civic groups, including the Brennan Center, wrote Judge Sharpe urging him to favor a June primary. Senate Republicans on the other hand, arguing that since June is typically when the legislature wraps up its session, favor an August primary. Given that August is typically a month when many New Yorkers are on vacation, we believe that it would likely result in low turnout election. August is also the month when many students are going away to college. Moreover, if a there is a delay in certification of an election (due to either counting absentee ballots or litigation), there is a chance that an August primary may not allow enough time to comply with the MOVE Act.

The Election Commissioners’ Association of New York State has also come out in favor of a June primary. They have noted that many public schools used as polling sites are closed during the last two weeks in August and opening them up would result in an additional cost for local boards.

Given the legislature’s inaction, the matter will now rests in the hands of the court. We sincerely hope that Judge Sharpe will take these views into consideration when issuing his decision.

Money and Politics This Week

2011-12-16T10:24:00.002-05:00

For more stories on an ongoing basis, follow the Twitter hashtag #moNeYpolitics

NY Campaign Finance and Ethics News

1. Gov. Cuomo’s office has released the names of the commissioners appointed to New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics. Gov. Cuomo appointed six of the commission’s 14 members, including chairwoman Janet DiFiore, the Westchester County District Attorney; six more were appointed by Senate majority leader Dean Skelos and Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver. Yet the picks have generated some criticism, particularly the appointment of Manhattan attorney Ravi Batra, a former legal partner of Clarence Norman, who was convicted of misusing campaign funds while he chaired the Brooklyn Democratic Party. According to Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, “It’s as if the Senate Democrats had not put on their eyeglasses.”

2. The corruption trial of City Councilman Larry Seabrook, charged with funneling over $1 million in public money to nonprofit groups that he controlled, as well as family members and friend, ended last Friday in a mistrial. Seabrook was interviewed earlier this week on NY1 to defend himself, an appearance that drew a scathing editorial from the New York Post, which wished US Attorney Preet Bharara “the best of luck” in retrying him.

3. On Wednesday, the New York Public Interest Research Group released a report tracking lobbying expenditures during the first 10 months of 2011. The report reveals that the Committee to Save New York, a coalition of business and real estate organizations, spent nearly $10 million in 2011, far beyond the $6.8 million spent by the next-highest lobbying group. The report can be downloaded here.

4. Carl Kruger, whose corruption trial is scheduled to begin in January, may also be finally facing some real competition for his senate seat. Although no formal announcement has been made, Brooklyn City Councilman Lew Fidler is rumored to be considering a run against Kruger in 2013.

Joint Commission on Public Ethics Appointments: A Good First Step

2011-12-13T14:27:00.001-05:00

We are encouraged that the Governor and legislative leaders yesterday announced a full slate of appointees to the new Joint Commission on Public Ethics (J-COPE). We hope this large group of citizens will set to work immediately and be given all of the resources it needs to begin the hard tasks ahead. This is an impressive group, with many years of experience so we should be optimistic.

We now further urge legislative leaders to also fulfill their obligation to jointly appoint the crucial ninth member of the Legislative Ethics Commission (LEC). The troubled LEC has operated since inception in 2007 without this ninth member, an outsider who was supposed to have been appointed by legislative leadership to ensure that a majority of members were not legislators. [1] Going forward, J-COPE will have some powers to oversee the ethics laws that apply to legislators, but the LEC will have authority to enforce most charges, which makes this ninth member vital. [2]

[1] The LEC’s other eight members are either legislators or persons appointed by legislative leadership.

[2] Section 14-a: “The JCOPE shall have jurisdiction to investigate, but shall have no jurisdiction to impose penalties upon members of or candidates for member of the legislature or legislative employees for any violation of the public officers law.” Findings of investigations are reported to the Legislative Ethics Commission.

New York State Ethics Oversight: Timely Implementation

2011-12-09T10:48:00.001-05:00

When New York State’s new ethics law was announced in June of 2011, editorial boards and citizens responded in typical New York fashion — some with praise, others with the proverbial “Bronx cheer.” The law is both a product of many political compromises and, at the same time, a vast improvement over the ineffective self-policing system of legislative ethics enforcement that existed before, so timely and orderly implementation of the new joint commission on public ethics will send an important message to New Yorkers.

The law requires that the new ethics watchdog be fully operational on December 12, just 120 days after enactment. This means that by next week, 14 new commissioners must have been appointed by legislative leaders and the executive branch, who in turn will have hired an executive director approved by a bipartisan majority of the new commission. The law requires that the new commission also approve a staffing plan for the day to day work, adopt rules and regulations to govern its procedures, make forms available, review financial disclosure statements, continue investigations that were suspended earlier this year and begin receiving and investigating complaints and referrals.

It is an ambitious mandate and we hope legislative leadership and the executive will ensure the new commission has everything it needs to roll up its sleeves and get to work.

From the archives:

We thought it worthwhile to reprint our reasons for supporting the new joint commission on public ethics:

For the first time ever, we will have an ethics overseer that includes both gubernatorial and legislative appointees, and excludes the persons being policed.

New commissioners will serve fixed five-year terms, and may only be removed for cause: we hope that this degree of independence, coupled with a broader mandate and penalties for leaks about proceedings, will enable people to have thoughtful deliberations and vote their conscious.

Officials will be required to provide unredacted financial information including sources and amounts of income, including the identity of clients for whom they perform state business, even clients of a law practice. And this information will be available, in its entirety, to the public.

A new database will identify all firms representing everyone with state business, and since officials must disclose their business partners on their financial disclosure forms, the public will be able to also evaluate these relationships.

Lobbyists now will be required to disclose their business relationships, if any, with public officials.

A review commission will look at the efficacy of this in 2015, after it has been up and running.

Criticism has been aimed at the make up of the commission: the legislative leaders appoint 8 of 14 commissioners and the Governor appoints the other six. Appointments are party based and will exclude minority parties. In order for an investigation to proceed, the votes of two of the target’s appointees are required in some circumstances. There is a danger that such a large commission will be unwieldy and that the provisions requiring affirmative votes could be exercised like vetoes, as per the commissioner’s appointer, not her conscious.

Money and Politics This Week

2011-12-09T09:26:00.002-05:00

Every Friday, the Brennan Center will be compiling the latest news concerning the corrosive nature of money in New York State politics—and the ongoing need for public financing and robust campaign finance reform. We’ll also be linking to dispatches from around the country highlighting the national scope of this crisis. This week’s links were contributed by Matthew Ladd.

For more stories on an ongoing basis, follow the Twitter hashtag #moNeYpolitics

NY Campaign Finance

1. Joan Mandle’s Sunday Op-Ed in the Syracuse Post-Standard issued a clarion call for voluntary public financing of elections in New York state. Drawing on recent visits to New York college campuses, Mandle observed that frustration with the political system is a direct result of the massive influx of corporate money in legislative campaigns, and encouraged Gov. Cuomo to return to his earlier outspoken support for a voluntary public financing system. “We believe in democracy,” Mandle wrote. “It’s time for our elected officials to prove that they do, too.”

2. The Times-Union also called for Gov. Cuomo to move forward with his campaign promise to prioritize public financing, pointing out that independent expenditure loopholes allowed a coalition of labor unions to pour $400,000 into the coffers of a challenger for Erie County executive during the final six weeks of the race. A state public funding remedy would guarantee that even “a candidate being overwhelmed by special-interest money... would be assured of funds by way of a constituency without a clear agenda.”

3. Trustees at Manhattan’s Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum encouraged other board members to contribute to Gov. Cuomo’s re-election campaign by attending a birthday fundraiser at the Intrepid, raising questions about when directors of a nonprofit organization may engage in political activity without risking their tax-exempt status. Although the email was sent from a trustee’s museum email address, a museum spokesman characterized the email as a “personal appeal,” implying that the sender—a co-chair of the Intrepid’s charitable foundation—did not send it in his capacity as trustee.

NY Corruption and Politics

4. William Boyland’s bribery scandal continues to make headlines, as his chief of staff, Ry-Ann Hermon, was charged this week with taking bribes from the same federal officers who recorded Boyland’s bribery solicitations. The arrest comes on the heels of Boyland’s latest charges, which include evidence that he took a $3,800 bribe from a federal agent at a Brooklyn fundraiser while claiming travel and lodging expenses as if he were in Albany on state business. The ongoing scandal has moved Republican State Sen. Steve McLaughlin to call for Boyland’s resignation.

5. Four associates of Queens State Sen. Shirley Huntley, including one of her aides, have been charged with misappropriating $30,000 in public funds that was earmarked for Parent Workshop, a nonprofit ostensibly created to help parents navigate the New York City school system. The indictments are the latest—and most high-profile—results of this year’s joint effort between attorney general Eric Schneiderman and city comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to target public corruption. Subpoenas, including one for Huntley’s daughter, were issued in March, but the state did not file charges until this week.

Campaign Finance and Politics Nationwide

6. The world’s largest ethanol producer is also a major contributor to New Gingrich’s presidential campaign, according to a study released by the Center for Responsive Politics. Individual donors from the corporation include CEO Jeff Broin, who also chairs Growth Energy, an ethanol lobbying organization that hired Gingrich as a consultant two years ago.

Poor Design Leads to Lost Votes Across New York State

2011-12-07T09:46:00.003-05:00

The Brennan Center released a report this week detailing the tens of thousands of votes that were lost in New York because voting machines read their choices as “overvotes” – the invalid selections of more than the allowable number of candidates. Instead of returning the ballot, as is done in many other jurisdictions, the ballots were retained and the machine displayed a screen message using complex election jargon that gave voters misleading cues about their options. In the 2010 election, this confusing message led to as many as 20,000 lost votes in the governor’s contest alone and as many as 60,000 lost votes across all contests. The Times, Daily News, WNYC, and Politico have all done a great job covering the story.

The Brennan Center and others warned state election officials about the potential problems that would arise due to this confusing message. Represented by the Brennan Center, the NAACP New York State Conference, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, and several individual plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the New York State and New York City Boards of Elections in June of 2010 over the discriminatory impact on minority voters.

Our new study confirms that people of color were disproportionately likely to lose their vote. One percent of black and Hispanic voters in New York City did not have their votes for governor counted. In two predominantly Hispanic election districts in the South Bronx, nearly 40% of all votes were not counted in 2010; despite our repeated requests for an investigation into the overvotes in the South Bronx, we are not aware that one has been conducted. Our report also details problems with ballot design, finding that voters were more likely to cast an overvote in a race where candidates for the same office were displayed across two rows of the ballot (such as in the governor’s contest and in Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s U.S. Senate contest).We estimate that if no revisions are made to the overvote message, over 100,000 votes in New York could be lost in the 2012 election, when turnout will be much higher.

Fortunately, as detailed in the report, the State Board of Elections has agreed to adopt a better overvote warning in time for the 2012 election. But more steps can and should be taken to prevent lost votes. Election officials should make election results available by precinct; those results should report the number of overvotes in each contest on the ballot. When problems are discovered, election officials should be empowered required to investigate the reasons for high overvote rates. Ballots should be treated as public records to allow members of the public and voting experts to determine if ballots were in fact overvoted or simply recorded as overvotes because of a machine error. And states should reexamine their ballot design requirements and provide election administration officials with the guidance and flexibility they need to create voter-friendly ballots.

The recommendations are not specific to New York and can serve as models for jurisdictions across the nation to ensure that votes are counted as they were intended to be cast. The new report is available through the Brennan Center’s website.

Money and Politics This Week

2011-12-02T09:39:00.004-05:00

For more stories on an ongoing basis, follow the Twitter hashtag #moNeYpolitics

NY Campaign Finance, Corruption and Politics:

The Buffalo News has issued an editorial calling for the state Senate and Assembly to work together to enact public financing of state elections in the next legislative session. Public financing would not only “help our state legislators clean up their collective act and limit the corrosive influence of money on their decisions,” the editorial argues, but would also “give challengers better footing to take on incumbents” and, combined with nonpartisan redistricting, make elections fairer and more competitive.
The $33,000 that Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner funneled to local candidates through the state Democratic Committee is “further evidence of a campaign finance system in disarray,” writes the Syracuse Post-Standard. Although Miner withdrew the contributions in the face of public criticism, steering money from PACs to campaign committees is business as usual in Albany. “It’s done all the time to get around the very lax campaign finance limits and nonexistent campaign laws in New York state,” says Barbara Bartoletti of the state League of Women Voters. “It’s not going to change until we reform the campaign finance laws.”
Fresh from his acquittal on corruption charges, Brooklyn State Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. has been arrested again— this time for soliciting bribes during his trial, apparently in order to pay the attorneys who represented him. Boyland is now charged with soliciting over $250,000 in bribes since he was charged in the first case; last April, mere weeks after he was released on bond, FBI agents posing as real estate investors recorded Boyland seeking money to pay his lawyers, but insisting that he needed to “stay clean” by working through a “bag man.”
One of the state’s key witnesses in the corruption trial of Larry Seabrook has given inconsistent accounts of her connection with the ex-assemblyman, inconsistencies that the prosecution attributes to age and memory loss. Another witness for the prosecution, Laila Yu, testified on Tuesday that three nonprofit groups connected to Seabrook received $2.1 million in city funds, in addition to overbilling the city for rent reimbursements.
Companies that drill for natural gas have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to state legislative campaigns, and spent over $3.2 million in lobbying, in the run-up to Gov. Cuomo’s decision on when and where to permit hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) in New York State. The energy industry has also contributed to campaigns in Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio in order to elect fracking-friendly legislators. In response to public debate over the issue, the NY Department of Energy has extended its public comment period to January 11, 2012.

National stories:
The New York Times criticized House Republicans for their attempt to repeal the voluntary public funding program for presidential candidate, created in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The editorial points out that the justification for attempting to repeal the program -- deficit savings -- is especially cynical given that the Republican Party recently requested, and received, $17.7 million in public money to finance next year's presidential convention.

Money and Politics This Week

2011-11-18T12:04:00.007-05:00

For more stories on an ongoing basis, follow the Twitter hashtag #moNeYpolitics

NY Campaign Finance and Corruption:

The Second Circuit overturned ex-state senator Joe Bruno’s corruption conviction, paving the way for a retrial and rejecting Bruno’s arguments for double jeopardy. The court found that “the government’s evidence... would permit a reasonable jury to find that Bruno performed virtually nonexistent consulting work for substantial payments.” As an example, the court observed that a new jury could reasonably conclude that a payment to Bruno of $40,000, ostensibly for a racehorse, was “an illegitimate gift.”
William Boyland’s acquittal on corruption charges related to his ‘no-show’ consulting job continues to generate controversy. A member of the jury that exonerated Boyland stated that the assemblyman “clearly did things wrong,” but that the jury “could not connect the dots” to reach a consensus on the legality of Boyland’s acts. After a relieved Boyland told reporters that he was “going to sleep and breathe” after the acquittal, The Capitol blog remarked that this “doesn’t seem much different from what he had been doing all year in Albany.” Commenting on the Boyland case, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, “It should be a jarring wake-up call. Instead, it seems no matter how many times the alarm goes off, Albany just hits the snooze.”
Citing a dizzyingly long list of New York state legislators either convicted of or facing charges for corruption—including Joe Bruno, William Boyland, former comptroller Alan Hevesi, former Assemblymen Clarence Norman, Roger Green, and Brian McLaughlin, and former Assemblywoman Diane Gordon—City Room wryly remarks that perhaps New York’s official state motto, “Excelsior,” should be changed to “Ubi Est Mea?”, or “Where is mine?”
The federal criminal trial of Bronx City Councilman Larry Seabrook continued this week, as prominent Bronx lobbyist and lawyer Stanley Schlein took the stand against Seabrook, testifying that Seabrook steered him to a local contractor looking to contract for work at Yankee Stadium. Seabrook is facing 12 counts of money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and receiving corrupt payments.
Further proof of the value of strong campaign finance enforcement: An undercover FBI sting culminated in the arrest Wednesday of Xing Wu Pan, a fundraiser for NYC Comptroller John Liu, for illegally funneling thousands of dollars into Mr. Liu’s campaign account. After an FBI agent posing as a businessman offered to donate $16,000—over three times the legal limit for individuals—Mr. Pan recruited 20 straw donors to circumvent the limit. He is charged with two counts of wire fraud. Mr. Liu released a statement Wednesday disavowing any knowledge of the fraud. Meanwhile federal officials continue their investigation of the comptroller’s campaign finance operations.

Other News Nationwide:
A study released November 16 by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington examined campaign donations to members of key House committees and found that becoming chairman or the ranking member leads to a massive jump in donations from regulated industries. House Financial Services Committee chairman Spencer Bachus has seen contributions from all sources increase by 234 percent since 1998, while contributions from the financial industry jumped 620 percent. CRE Executive Director Melanie Sloan said, “People who are giving you that much money – it is not out of the goodness of their hearts – clearly they want something.”
The New York Times criticized the proliferation of “super PACS” and unlimited contributions in this election cycle, calling them a “noxious weed . . . in the lawless jungle of campaign finance.” The editorial called for the Department of Justice to pursue criminal investigations against fundraisers who improperly attempt to influence the candidates, observing: “It is now clear that giving to a candidate’s PAC is equivalent to giving to his campaign; the leaders of the PAC, for all practical purposes, are the campaign’s bag men.”
In a New York Times Op-Ed, Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig advocates for a national small-dollar public funding system for Congress. He suggests giving every voter a “democracy voucher” that could then be given to any candidate for Congress who agreed in advance to finance his or her campaign by either those vouchers or individual contributions capped at $100. Lessig argues that such a program would “weaken the power of the very few to demand costly kickbacks for their contributions.”

2012: Year of the Albany Corruption Trials?

2011-11-16T17:47:00.002-05:00

It seemed that we had just risen from our seats at the corruption trial of Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr. when we got the news that former New York State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno will be re-tried by federal prosecutors after his attempt to have his corruption conviction overturned was denied by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

This means that trials of New York State legislators will be filling New York newspapers for the foreseeable future: both State Senator Carl Kruger and former State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. will be facing federal prosecutors in the coming months as well. And, we expect that the Legislative Ethics Commission will soon be processing the Notice of Reasonable Cause issued last May against Assemblyman Boyland.

The Trial of Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr.

2011-11-09T16:16:00.003-05:00

The fate of William Boyland, Jr. now rests in the hands of the jury on the 13^th floor of the new federal District Courthouse on Pearl Street. Should elected public officials in New York State ever be allowed to hold no-show consulting jobs, much less for businesses dependent on public monies? In closing arguments Mr. Boyland’s attorneys all but admitted that the Assemblyman did no actual marketing or community outreach work during the time he was paid $35,000 per year as a consultant to Medisys, a hospital corporation with operations in Brooklyn and Queens. Mr. Boyland’s defense is that his job was given to him because of his family legacy (Mr. Boyland’s father, brother and sister had all held elected office from Brownsville): as his attorney explained yesterday, “the name is what he was paid for.”

Regardless of the outcome of this trial, New Yorkers should be asking whether they are okay having elected officials who collect large checks in the name of “goodwill.” This is not the first time we have heard of fees paid to lawmakers for dubious “consulting work” (recall Anthony Seminerio and Joseph Bruno). The Public Integrity Reform Act of 2011 attempted to at least shed some light on lawmakers’ consulting work by requiring financial disclosure forms to disclose client names and amounts, but the new law still contains some loopholes: officials will not be required to disclose existing client matters, or clients who pay them less than $10,000 per year, or who pay the official for insurance brokering services in any amount, whether for an existing or a new client. While the legislation creates an important public database meant to disclose every person who acts as a representative before a state agency, this will not address “no show” arrangements like Assemblyman Boyland’s.

Brennan Center Testifies in Support of a Better Ballot

2011-09-22T14:35:00.004-04:00

The Brennan Center submitted testimony today before the New York City Council Committee on Governmental Operations. The Committee held a hearing on a resolution calling on the New York State Legislature and the Governor to pass legislation to improve paper ballots in New York State. One of the bills supported by the City Council’s resolution is the Voter Friendly Ballot Act of 2011 – the product of collaboration between the Brennan Center, the Usability Professionals Association, AIGA, and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh.

Brennan Center City Council Testimony on Res. 671-A

Major Victory for Minor Parties!

2011-09-16T15:56:00.000-04:00

Late last week we were happy to announce a big win for New York's minor parties and all of New York's voters, as we settled our lawsuit on behalf of three of New York's minor parties against the state Board of Elections. The lawsuit challenged a discriminatory vote-counting practice called "double voting."

Essentially, when a candidate ran for two different party lines for the same office, some voters were choosing to "double vote": that is, mark in the paper ballot with multiple votes for the same candidate on the different party lines. Under the old practice, New York's new voting machines accepted such ballots, counted these ballots as having a single vote for the candidate on the major party line (e.g. Democrat or Republican), and ignored the voter's attempt to vote on the minor party line as well. Now, voters will be notified of the problem and given opportunities to make sure their vote counts for the party of their choice.

Sam Roberts at the New York Times City Room reported:

Under a consent decree signed approved Thursday by Judge Jed S. Rakoff of United States District Court in Manhattan, the board agreed to reprogram voting machines before the 2012 general election to prevent people from voting more than once for the same candidate.

“They have to put a very bold message on the screen that says basically: ‘You voted incorrectly. Your candidate preference is clear, but your party preference is not,’ ” said Daniel Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party. “Then you get to press a button and get your ballot back so you can fix it. Our view is that voters who mean to vote for us will want it to count.”

The improvements that will come from this settlement will help improve elections for all New Yorkers.