The Brennan Center regularly compiles 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 Syed Zaidi and Katherine Munyan.
For more stories on an ongoing basis, follow the Twitter
hashtag #moNeYpolitics and #fairelex.
NEW YORK
Testimony from Jurisdictions with Public Financing Shows
That It Works
This Monday, the Moreland
Commission welcomed testimony from Michael Malbin, executive director at
the Campaign Finance Institute, and two agencies with experience in
administering publicly financed elections – the Connecticut Secretary of
State’s office and the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Connecticut Deputy
Secretary of State James F. Spallone said that adopting partial public funding
of political campaigns in the state has “been
a tremendous success” that has increased the number of contested races and
widened the slate of candidates that run for office. “Candidates can now spend
more time connecting with their constitutents, campaigning door to door,
attending events and participating in forums and debates and less time raising
money,” he said. Amy Loprest, executive director of the New York City Campaign
Finance Board, informed
the commission that tough enforcement via audits and investigations ensure
that public funds are not misused by candidates. “Candidates in New York City
know that their campaign will be held to strict standards – and that their
opponent’s campaign will be held to the same standards,” she said. Finally,
Professor Michael Malbin pointed
out that publicly financed elections in New York State would only cost
about $2.12 per resident per year. But this small investment, he stressed,
could save taxpayers millions that are currently spent on projects benefiting
special interests.
Moreland Commission Scrutinizes Election Board at Latest
Hearing
In its last hearing on the state of New York’s broken
election laws, the
Moreland Commission scrutinized the ability of the State Board of Elections
to effectively enforce laws and regulations. At the hearing, well attended by
community activists and members of the general public, State Board of Elections
officials stressed that a backlog of campaign and election complaints were due
to inadequate personnel and budgetary resources. The commissioners however,
asked why the board failed to hire enough staff when it had the opportunity and
to
follow-up on submitted complaints, in the face of evidentiary backing. The
partisan structure of the board, which has been faulted for impeding
investigations that would disfavor the major political parties, was also
called into question.
Assemblywoman Barrett: Public Financing Necessary to Clean
Up Albany
In a Poughkeepsie
Journal op-ed on Sunday, Assemblywoman Didi Barrett (D-116th) expressed her
support for comprehensive campaign finance reform as a solution to Albany’s
corrosive culture of money above all else. Barret competed in a special
election in March, 2012 and then a general election in November, 2012 for state
office. On the campaign trail, she witnessed firsthand the necessity of raising
large funds in order to compete against incumbents and other well-heeled
candidates. Political contribution limits are as high as $8,200 and $10,500 for
state Assembly and Senate general election races respectively. Barret
recommends comprehensive reform, including lower contribution limits and
partial public funding to match small donations, as an alternative to the
current system. “Some folks balk at public financing of campaigns, but if we
think that taxpayer dollars are not already being expended and public funds
grossly wasted in our current pay-to-play system we are fooling themselves,”
she said.
Daily News Op-ed: Real Estate Contributions Help Explain
Lack of Affordable Housing
In a Daily
News op-ed, Jaron Benjamin, executive director of the Metropolitan Council
on Housing, argues that heavy political contributions by the real estate
industry may explain the lack of affordable housing in New York City. Both
mayoral candidates for NYC have highlighted that high rents are a serious
issue, and dished out plans to expand affordable housing. A report issued
earlier this year by the Met Council on Housing found that four developers in
New York City used high contribution limits and loopholes to donate more than
$1.5 million to state elected officials, political parties and real estate PACs
between 2008 and 2012. These same developers also received tax breaks through
the 421-a program, an initiative that incentivizes reserving cheaper units on
new projects, even though all of the apartments are luxury condos. The city will forgo nearly $2.4 million in tax
revenue from just two of the penthouses in one of these towers. Once all five
of the towers are built, the true cost of the tax break will be revealed and it
is likely to be magnitudes higher.
Moreland Commission Has Historic Opportunity to Help Pass
Structural Reform
Karen Scharff, executive director at Citizen Action of New
York, writes
in the Huffington Post that if the Moreland Commission properly examines
the problems in New York State campaign finance law, it can help lead to the
passage of systematic reform. The Commission’s investigations into our current
state of election financing can expose just how serious these problems really
are: sky-high contribution limits, loopholes for real estate developers, unrestricted
donations to political party housekeeping accounts and weak enforcement, all of
which generate greater dependence on a small group of special interests, rather
than constituents. The final commission report, due December 1st, will
highlight the investigative findings, as well as recommendations for reform. It
is vitally important that the commission “document how things work now and why
structural reform is absolutely necessary to return state government to the
people.” Then, the commissioners “can make full throated recommendations for
that kind of reform.”
NATIONAL
Arizona Legislators Taking Campaign Contribution Limits to
State Supreme Court
Top legislators in Arizona, Senate President Andy Biggs and
House Speaker Andy Tobin, plan to appeal
to the state Supreme Court to lift an injunction issued by the state Court of
Appeals against higher campaign limits. The legislature passed
the higher limits this summer, which included raising the contribution limit
for individuals from $390 to $4,000. Supporters claimed that higher campaign
limits would allow candidates to fight back against independent spending, but
opponents worried it would disable the public funding system passed by voters
in 1998. The Citizens Clean Elections Commission, created as part of the 1998
ballot measure, filed
suit, arguing that the new limits violated the Voter Protection Act, which
requires changes to voter-backed initiatives be approved by a statewide vote or
with three-quarters of the legislature’s support. The higher limits did not
pass with either. For now, with the preliminary injunction by the Court of
Appeals, campaigns must abide
by the lower contribution limits while the case is remanded to a trial judge.
Obama Nominates Campaign Fundraisers to Diplomatic Posts
On Wednesday, President Obama nominated
Mark Gilbert and Ron Barber as U.S. Ambassadors to New Zealand and Iceland,
respectively. Gilbert has raised at
least $1.2 million for Obama since 2007, and Barber raised $500,000 for Obama’s
reelection campaign. Neither is a career diplomat. So far this year, 30 percent
of Obama’s ambassador-nominees
have been big campaign fundraisers, while 46 percent have been career
diplomats. This trend is not unique to
the Obama administration. Dating back to
Reagan’s tenure, every president has filled approximately 30 percent of
diplomatic posts with political
appointees, often top donors. Political fundraisers argue
that wealthy top fundraisers, as “captains of industry,” bring important
business skills and political acumen to diplomatic posts. State department veterans take a dimmer view.
Thomas Pickering, the retired U.S. Ambassador who led the investigation into
the Benghazi attacks, said
that abroad these political appointments have “the effect of diminishing
perhaps the sense that the US is treating these countries with the respect they
deserve.”
House Passes Bill Written by Bank Lobbyists
On Wednesday, virtually all the House Republicans were joined
by 70 Democrats to
pass H.R. 992, the Swaps Regulatory Improvement Act. The bill would weaken the financial
regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in the aftermath of the 2008
financial crisis. In the “push-out
rule,” the Dodd-Frank Act required banks to move trades of certain risky
derivatives, including swaps, to non-bank affiliates not insured by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation and less likely to receive government
bailouts—protecting tax payers from ending up paying for these risky trades. The new bill would eliminate this provision,
which is vastly unpopular in the banking industry – unsurprising, since Wall
Street lobbyists wrote
most of the bill. Seventy of the bill’s 85 lines directly reflect
recommendations from Citigroup lobbyists, and two paragraphs were almost word-to-word
duplicates of Citigroup drafts
obtained by The New York Times. The lawmakers backing the bill received almost
twice as much in financial industry contributions as the lawmakers opposing
it.
