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 Syed Zaidi.
For
more stories on an ongoing basis, follow the Twitter hashtag#moNeYpolitics and #fairelex.
CAMPAIGN
FINANCE REFORM AND ETHICS NEWS
NEW YORK
Cuomo Outlines List of 10 Priorities:
Campaign Finance Reform is No. 2
Governor
Cuomo refused to endorse more than two candidates in New York State Assembly
and Senate races this year. Now, with the Senate leadership undetermined, he is
still unwilling to put his weight behind individual legislators, rather, the
Governor is asserting that he
will support Senators based on their positions on a list of ten issues he
deems to be the most important over the coming year. In a victory for
reformers, campaign finance reform is high on the list, along with other
progressive initiatives such as raising the minimum wage and changing New York
City’s “stop and frisk” policy. It remains to be seen whether the newly emerged
Senate coalition composed of Republicans and a breakaway
group of 5 Independent Democrats will be responsive to these requests from
the Governor, or if they will simply continue the tradition of dysfunction that
the New York State Legislature has become well-known for. It is up to the
citizens of New York to keep the pressure on their elected officials in order
to ensure that public matching for small in-district donations remains a
crucial aspect of any campaign finance reform proposal.
New
York Times
Editorial Asks Governor Cuomo to Support Fair Elections
In an excellent editorial, the New York Times urged Governor Cuomo
to make New York’s system of electing legislators the fairest and most
transparent in the country. The editorial emphasized the need for a public
financing mechanism modeled on New York City’s successful small donor matching
program, where the first $175 of any donation is matched at a 6-to-1 ratio. According
to the New
York City Campaign Finance Board, a majority of contributors in City
Council elections in recent cycles were giving for the first time, and of those
first-time contributors, 83 percent gave $175 or less. Lower limits on
individual and corporate contributions are also necessary, along with closing
loopholes like unrestricted donations to political party “housekeeping”
committees. And given that campaign treasuries can be used for almost anything,
including veterinarian bills, pool parties and birthdays, clear rules regarding
campaign funds are paramount. As the Times
put it, “By setting a national standard for public financing, New York
State could go from laggard to leader.”
NY Business, Civic and Philanthropic
Leaders Insist Governor Cuomo Include Campaign Finance Reform in his State of
the State
In addition to the editorial by the New York Times, other New Yorkers are
also emphasizing the importance
of Fair Elections in the upcoming legislative session. The New York
Leadership for Accountable Government (NY LEAD), a bipartisan group of
business, civic and philanthropic leaders, sent a letter
to Governor Cuomo asking him to make citizen-funded elections a priority in his
State of the State Address. "A Fair Elections campaign finance system would encourage voter
participation, incentivize diversity among candidates and help curb the
corrupting power of big money,” the letter stated.
Public Financing of Elections in NYS Would
Cost Only $2 per Person
A new study
from the Campaign Finance Institute by Professor Michael Malbin concludes
that the cost of running a public financing system in New York State would be
roughly $40 million, which works out to $2 per New Yorker—not a bad trade
considering the millions more the state government wastes in handouts to
special interests. Additional taxes are unnecessary; the current revenue stream
can simply be redirected towards ensuring our elections are clean and fair. In
2012, 76 percent of the money raised by New York State legislative candidates
was from large donors that contributed $1,000 or more. By contrast, only 8
percent came from donors who gave $250 or less. The research evaluated the
consequences of implementing a public financing bill (A9885) introduced by Assembly
Speaker Sheldon Silver last session. Four alternative scenarios, involving
changes in the number of donors and election contests yielded cost
estimates from $25 million to $40 million.
NATIONAL
Why the Faith Community Supports Campaign
Finance Reform
Ministers, rabbis, nuns, priests, imams
and theologians across the U.S. are joining forces to call out the dangers of
unchecked money in our elections and advocating for large-scale reform. Faith
leaders were crucial for the passage of state-level ballot measures calling for
campaign finance reform in Colorado and Montana, and are now active in North
Carolina and Washington to support the movement to reverse Citizens United. Katherine Henderson, president of the Auburn
Theological Seminary in New York, stated
in the Washington Post that Super
PACs spent more than $500 million on campaign propaganda, from voter
suppression tactics and fear mongering to outright fabrications, in an effort to
buy special access to every level of our government. “When people make large
gifts of money to influence the behavior of a leader, the Bible calls that a
bribe. The Bible reserves its strongest words for anonymous bribes, saying…that
‘a wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice’ [Proverbs 17:23].”
For the sake of justice and for the betterment of their communities, the faith leaders
must take action on this vital issue.
U.S. Earns a C on the Corruption Perception
Index
The United
States scores worse than many countries in the developed world on this year’s Corruption
Perception Index, according to Transparency International. Transparency
International employs surveys of
well-known civic and business groups to quantify the degree of perceived corruption
in a state. The U.S. earned a score of 74 out of 100 and a ranking of 19 out of
the 174 countries tested. America trails behind other developed nations such as
Singapore, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan. “Americans believe there are
continued transparency and corruption issues in local, state and national
government institutions and processes. Numerous articles and editorials during
the recent U.S. elections attest to American concern regarding opaque campaign
financing and a political culture driven by special interest groups.”A series
of Supreme Court decisions, coupled with inaction by the Federal Election
Commission, set off a $1.3
billion spending spree by outside groups this election cycle, with a large portion
from hidden donors.
Dark Money in Congressional Races: VA
Residents Write-in 6,000 Votes for a Cat
The Sunlight
Foundation has released a list of 25 House and 10 Senate races where dark
money played a vital role in the election. Dark money is funneled from
non-profit entities organized under a section of the tax code that protects
them from revealing their donors. More than $256 million in donations came from
these groups during the 2012 general election cycle. The three candidates who
were helped the most by dark money were Representatives-elect Keith Rothfus (R-PA),
Bill Johnson (R-OH) and Jeff Denham (R-CA). In the 25 House races hit with the most
dark money, 86 percent of such spending was designed to help Republican
candidates, and 14 percent to assist Democratic ones. Nine incoming Senators
got at least $1 million in dark money contributions including Tim Kaine (D-VA),
Dan Heller (R-NV) and Jon Tester (D-MT). Senator-elect Tim Kaine benefited from
nearly $3 million in dark money attack ads targeting his Republican rival,
former Senator George Allen. As a spoof
of the money inundating the race, residents placed more than 6,000
write-in votes for Hank the Cat, a feline competing against the two
traditional party candidates.
Super PACs and 501’s Turn to Lobbying
The
Super PACs and so called non-profits that polluted the election this year with
millions of dollars are regrouping
to lobby Congress and the White House during the fiscal cliff negotiations.
Americans for Prosperity, the Club for Growth, Americans for Tax Reform and
American Crossroads are advancing a new effort to maintain the Bush era tax
cuts for the top 2 percent of income earners and cut Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid. The groups hope to persuade lawmakers by advertising in Congressional
districts and reminding elected officials about their limitless campaign
largesse, with implicit threats to pummel unconvinced Congressmen in primary or
general elections. Unions including the AFL-CIO, American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employees, the National Education Association and the
Service Employees International Union are also making their presence known.
Hundreds of union members will be in Capitol Hill over the next week to argue
against the policies supported by conservative
organizations. Even the lobbyists don’t see this transformation
in a positive light. Howard Marlowe, the outgoing president of the American
League of Lobbyists, stated
"We already have a perception among the public that our government is for
sale. This is not a good development to have more political money thrown into
the policymaking process."
Revolving Door Still Wide Open
The revolving door between public service
and private industry remains wide open despite Congressional lobbying reform in
2007 and White House executive orders from the Obama administration.
Representative Heath Shuler (D-NC) will be leaving Congress early next year to join
Duke Energy as the senior vice president of federal affairs. Representative
Geoff Davis (R-KY), who resigned on July 31st of this year, will be
starting Republic Consulting, a public affairs firm with lobbyist Hunter Bates.
Meanwhile, in the Obama administration, Liz Fowler, who served as the deputy
director of the Office of Consumer Information and Oversight to the US
Department of Health and Human Services—primarily known for her expertise on
health care policy while serving as an aide to Senate Finance Committee
Chairman Max Baucus (D-MN)—will
be joining Johnson & Johnson as the head of global health policy.
Fowler’s departure has raised red flags among government watchdogs who point to
benefits Johnson & Johnson could stand to gain as the Affordable Care Act
is implemented. "As a broad matter, we should be concerned about the
access that certain individuals have by working in the administration and in
Congress because these policy questions are going to continue to come up, and
voters will feel like the game is rigged against them," said
David Donnelly, executive director of the Public Campaign Action Fund.
