NY lawmakers balking at plan to boost small-dollar campaign donations. Supporters are pushing back.
A coalition of left-leaning labor, good government and community organizations is urging state lawmakers to make good on fully funding the state’s new public campaign finance matching program, even as top legislative leaders who’ve backed the initiative warn its future may be jeopardized.
Despite adopting the program three years ago, some of those same lawmakers are quietly questioning whether the new state Public Campaign Finance Board is fully prepared to administer the new program in the upcoming election cycle, with talk of delaying its start by two years. In the Assembly, those concerns are compounded by an ongoing redistricting process which will change district lines for the upcoming 2024 election.
The Fair Elections Coalition — an umbrella organization that includes the Working Families Party, Common Cause NY, 32BJ SEIU, and The Brennan Center for Justice — is stepping up efforts to remind lawmakers of the outsized role deep-pocketed donors play in New York politics and the strength of public support for measures that seek to level the playing field.
“Given how much progress this Legislature has made over the last few years, strengthening our state's democracy — and public financing was a huge part of that — any attempted delay or [effort to] turn back on the program now would also be turning back on the promises that this Legislature has made to the people of New York,” said Joanna Zdanys, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice.
https://gothamist.com/news/ny-lawmakers-balking-at-plan-to-boost-small-dollar-campaign-donations-supporters-are-pushing-back
