The New York Times

Thomas Kaplan

June 11, 2013

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, embracing a top priority of government reformers and liberal groups, asked the Legislature on Tuesday to enact a system of public financing for state elections, modeled after one used in New York City.

The governor acknowledged that the measure was a long shot in the waning days of the legislative session, which is scheduled to end June 20, but said it would help restore the public’s trust in state government.

The push by the governor comes after a series of corruption cases involving legislators that has given many voters a negative impression of their elected representatives in Albany.

“I would not say that I see an especially easy glide path to passage for this bill,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference. “I think it has nothing to do with the merits. I think on the merits, this is a powerful proposal. It’s long overdue. It’s needed.”

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, wants lawmakers to enact public financing as part of a broader package of laws that also includes measures to improve the enforcement of election law, to encourage voter registration and to strengthen the state’s bribery laws so that district attorneys can more effectively prosecute public integrity cases.

“I hate to say it, but right now, there’s a cancer on the State Legislature,” said William J. Fitzpatrick, the Onondaga County district attorney.

On Tuesday, the governor repeated his threat to appoint a special panel, called a Moreland Act commission, to investigate the Legislature if lawmakers refused to pass the measures that he is seeking. “Life is options,” Mr. Cuomo said.

But the political terrain that the governor is confronting is atypical, and makes the remainder of the legislative session more unpredictable than usual.

Democrats who control the State Assembly have already passed legislation that would put in place a system of public financing. The obstacle, for advocates of public financing, is the State Senate, which is controlled by a coalition of Republicans and an independent faction of four Democrats.

The leaders of the Republicans and the independent Democrats must both agree on legislation to be considered by the Senate, and the Republican caucus has been steadfastly opposed to public financing.

The Senate Republican leader, Dean G. Skelos of Long Island, told reporters on Tuesday that he did not foresee any way that a measure to provide public financing would be considered by the Senate and would receive approval.

Citing the proposal’s possible cost, Mr. Skelos said he would rather put the money “into education, infrastructure, job creation, child care — there are a lot of areas that we can use that money for.”

The optional public financing system proposed by Mr. Cuomo would provide political candidates $6 in public money for every dollar raised from eligible donors, for contributions up to $175.

The governor’s office estimated that the public financing system would cost $166 million over a four-year election cycle. The system would take effect in 2015. (Mr. Cuomo, who has more than $22 million in his campaign account, is up for re-election in 2014.)

The bill that the governor unveiled on Tuesday included various other proposed changes to the state’s notoriously lax campaign fund-raising laws. The proposal would lower contribution limits, require the disclosure of contributions within 48 hours, and forbid candidates to use campaign money on personal expenses. It also would require the disclosure of independent expenditures, which have played an increasing role in state elections.

The New York Times

Jesse Mckinley

June 12, 2013

ALBANY — It may not have the political sex appeal of fighting climate change, ending the war on drugs or thwarting hydrofracking, but the issue of campaign finance reform is getting a little celebrity spin this week, compliments of a series of Web videos being released on Wednesday.

“I’m Alec Baldwin with a message for politicians in New York,” says the actor (and rumored New York City mayoral aspirant) in his video. “It’s time to stop talking about cleaning up Albany, and start doing it.”

Mr. Baldwin’s video is one of four that have been recorded in recent days by actors with ties to the city, including Jason Alexander (of “Seinfeld” fame); Kathleen Turner (an experienced Broadway actress); and Kathryn Erbe, who was a regular on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”

The release of the videos comes a day after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo unveiled a bill that would introduce a public financing system for state elections that would be similar to the one in place in New York City. That legislation — part of a broader plan from the governor to reform elections — will have a hard time passing in the State Senate, which is controlled, in part, by Republicans opposed to public money being used for elections.

Hence, it seems, the celebrity charm offensive.

“I remember that old ad campaign, ‘I Love NY,’” Mr. Alexander says in his video. “Well I did, and I do. And that’s why I’m hoping Albany will get its act together and pass comprehensive campaign finance reform.” He adds that the state could “set the trend for the whole country, which is exactly what New York should be doing.”

The videos are the first in what will most likely be a series of personality-driven pitches, with other stars recording ads in the near future, according to Fair Elections for New York, a coalition that is coordinating the campaign. Each ad has a different script, but a similar, stern tagline — “Don’t come home without it” — something that sounds particularly serious when it’s coming from a gravelly grande dame like Ms Turner.

“It’s time Albany got cleaned up,” she says. “Pass Fair Elections for New York. And don’t come home without it.”

State Legislature has much to do before it adjourns

The Buffalo News

June 11, 2013

The official end of the 2013 session of the New York State Legislature arrives in nine days. Lawmakers have a lot of work to do before then. Here are some of the most important measures on the Legislature’s docket – issues that have shown themselves to be important to the state.

Hudson Valley-Your News Now

June 10, 2013

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Fair Elections for New York is in Middletown Monday calling on local leaders to pass a comprehensive reform bill.

Joined by members of the Middletown Chapter of Citizen Action New York, they’re turning to Senator John Bonacic to sign a petition in favor of public campaign financing.

They’re urging Bonacic to back ordinary voters and pass a bill by the end of the current legislative session.

The fair elections campaign is also calling on lawmakers to lower campaign contributions, increase government transparency, and prevent the pay-to-play tactic.

This latest push for campaign finance reform comes less than two weeks after advocates from across the state rallied in Albany.

Fully 97% of voters say it is important for state leaders to address “reducing the influence of money in politics and ending corruption,” including 50% who say it is extremely important and another 39% who say it is very important.

Overall, 74 percent of likely voters in New York support comprehensive reform including matching small donations with public funds.

The support remains steady by broad margins across various demographics, including geographic region and political party affiliation among others. Approximately 78 percent of Upstate New Yorkers, 70 percent of New York City residents and 72 percent of suburban dwellers support the proposal. In spite of partisan affiliations, 68 percent of Republicans, 80 percent of Independents/Blanks, and 75 percent of Democrats stand behind campaign finance reform.

The memo on the poll is available here, and below:

NY Friends of Democracy May 6, 2013 Poll

Support cuts across ideological lines and geographic regions, with 64 percent of liberal, 57 percent of moderate, and 52 percent of conservative voters, as well as 60 percent of New York City dwellers and 55 percent of both Upstate and suburban residents standing behind reform.

Siena Research Institute Release May 20, 2013

City & State

Michael Gareth Johnson

June 10, 2013

With just two weeks left in the legislative session Fair Elections advocates are stepping up the pressure on the Independent Democratic Conference.

Today the coalition, which includes Facebook founder Chris Hughes, former Rep. Harold Ford Jr., former New Jersey U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley and many others, fired off a sharply worded letter to IDC Leader Jeff Klein and the other three members, saying their coalition will be remembered for “obstructing good legislation and enabling partisan gridlock above all else.”

Here’s an excerpt from the letter.

“The Governor said that your coalition will either ‘wind up being a facilitator of transparency and progressive politics or an enabler of more obfuscation.’ With only two weeks left in the legislative session, we are concerned it may be the latter.”

Under the coalition agreement Klein struck with Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos, both leaders have to agree to bring a bill to the floor. Skelos and his Senate Republican Conference have been vocally opposed to public funding of campaign finance reform, arguing that the New York City system that provides 6-to-1 matching funds encourages more corruption than it prevents. The Republicans also say the state can’t afford to pay for campaigns when its already cash strapped.

IDC Letter 061013

The Journal News

June 10, 2013

With just days left in a legislative session too often transfixed by scandal and corruption, there has been plenty of talk, but no action, on campaign finance reform — seen as a tool for bringing about fairer elections. Despite much grandstanding and fist-shaking, action has been elusive in the Senate. Republican co-leadership, invested in the status quo, has stifled the possibility of a vote on the popular legislation. A small coalition of Senate Democrats has been no help, too.

Members of the Independent Democratic Conference, which shares Senate power with the GOP, contend they are in the camp of reformers. The IDC has introduced wide-ranging legislation that would go a long way toward ensuring more competitive elections. But the IDC — down to four members after one was accused of corruption — won’t commit to a vote without the GOP’s blessing. That is as good as endorsing the broken prevailing system.

Public opinion is running in the other direction — and against the Senate members throwing up roadblocks. Poll after poll shows support for matching, public financing of political campaigns — to reduce candidates’ reliance on deep-pocketed special interests. Other research shows more turnover of officeholders in jurisdictions with some form of public financing in place. That means less success for the beholden and entrenched.

There ought to be no question on whose side members of the IDC stand, but there are. Without a turnabout, the people’s work and interest will lose out once again. That is a kind of power sharing that favors political leaders but not people.

Voices without vote

The IDC — Senate co-leader Jeffrey Klein, D-Bronx; David Carlucci, D-New City; Diane Savino, D-Staten Island; and David Valesky, D-Oneida — has offered its own campaign reform proposals. Those proposals include creating a public financing system that matches small donations and bans corporate contributions; empowering the state attorney general and an independent campaign finance board with the ability to enforce election laws; and changing the way candidates earn “cross endorsements” by minor parties by ending the Wilson-Pakulacertificates that let party leaders hand out their party lines (sometimes for trinkets).

Sen. Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, a former IDC member, was accused of trying to bribe his way onto the GOP line in the New York City mayoral race through the Wilson-Pakula process. Klein, et al., made a great flourish out of defrocking Smith of the IDC mantle.

The Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are so uninterested in campaign reform that they held a “public hearing” in Albany on this issue in May — behind a closed door, in a small room, from which they excluded the public. The IDC held its own campaign-reform hearing at the Valley Cottage Library just a day after the Senate GOP’s farce in Albany. In a Journal News Community View by Klein and Carlucci, the IDC members pledged “expert testimony” and “a venue for members of the public to make their voices heard.” And that’s what happened, with different approaches discussed by Savino, Klein, Carlucci and a slate of speakers. But it was all for show — wasted air — if these strange bedfellows produce no vote.

Calls for action

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has his own ethics reform proposals, has threatened to unleash a special investigation panel — known as a Moreland Commission — to seek solutions if lawmakers fail to act. The governor on Monday said on “The Capitol Pressroom” radio show that he could consider holding legislators in Albany to accomplish “a number of priorities,” including the “corruption agenda.”

There was pressure from elsewhere; full-page ads appeared in The Journal News and Staten Island Advance beseeching the IDC to act. The “Open Letter to the NYS Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference Regarding Fair Elections” was funded by the Brennan Center for Justice, a government watchdog group, and signed by 60 individuals, many of them leaders in the business and nonprofit world. The open letter begins: “This has been a strange and difficult year in the New York State government. It is in your hands whether it is remembered as one of reform and renewal in the face of scandal, or just another year of business as usual in Albany.”

Indeed, Albany’s spring fling of corruption charges has demonstrated the need for reform. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, in one of his all-too-frequent news conferences announcing more charges, decried the “casualness and cockiness” of Albany corruption. The scandals included a bundle of arrests April 2 tied to a convoluted corruption probe that stretched from Albany to Queens, intersecting in Spring Valley. The mayor and deputy mayor of the tiny Ramapo village are charged with mail fraud, accused of taking bribes tied to an urban renewal project.

Also charged were: Smith, Bronx GOP Chairman Jay Savino, Queens GOP Vice Chairman Vincent Tabone, and New York City Councilman Daniel Halloran. They are accused of bribery and other charges in connection with Smith’s alleged NYC mayoral ballot-line buying scheme. On April 4, Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was charged with bribery, and it was revealed that another Bronx assemblyman, Nelson Castro, had worn a hidden microphone for federal investigators to help uncover more wrongdoing.

Time to act

Last month, federal prosecutors revealed that another Albany lawmaker — Democratic Sen. Shirley Huntley of New York City — had been accessorized with a hidden wire. Huntley, already snared in a corruption case, hid a device in her cigarette case while holding court in her living room with fellow lawmakers. One of those was Sen. John Sampson, who in May was accused of embezzling $440,000 in escrow funds from mortgage foreclosure settlements.

Against that backdrop, talk of reform soared. But as the session dwindles, the chances of campaign finance reform making it to the Senate floor fade.

Klein and Carlucci wrote in their May 8 Community View: “As we know all too well, Albany is resistant to major change. But by building momentum toward reform, we can get there. The people of New York deserve nothing less.”

There’s no doubt about that. It is past time to put such rhetoric into concerted action.

LoHud.Com

Joseph Spector

June 10, 2012

ALBANY — Women’s rights groups and campaign-finance advocates are putting pressure on the four-member Independent Democratic Conference in the state Senate, saying the small but powerful conference holds the key to the end of the legislative session.

Proponents for public financing of campaigns want the IDC to push for a vote in the Senate before session ends June 20. Women’s groups want the IDC to call for a vote on a 10-point women’s rights agenda that includes strengthening abortion laws in New York.

The IDC includes Sens. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, who represents parts of Westchester County, and David Carlucci, D-Clarkstown, Rockland County. In January, the IDC teamed up with the 30-member Republican Conference to share power and control of what bills come to the floor for a vote, spurning the Democrats that won a majority in last year’s election.

Now the IDC is under pressure from left-leaning groups to make good on its promises that it could forward a progressive agenda in the 63-member Senate.

In a full-page advertisement Monday in The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc., publication, an array of public campaign finance supporters said the IDC’s coalition with Republicans will be remembered for “obstructing good legislation and enabling partisan gridlock” if a reform package isn’t put to a vote.

“It is wrong to give any conference or legislative leader the power to protect the status quo and prevent voting on an essential reform,” reads the letter, which was funded by the Brennan Center for Justice, a good-government group. “This is particularly so during a period of record corruption, when reform has the support of a majority of officeholders and the public.”

The letter was signed by various groups pushing for the creation of a publicly funded option for financing campaigns, similar to the one used in New York City. In the city, small donations are matched at a 6-to-1 rate if a candidate opts to use the system.

The advertisement also ran in Monday’s Staten Island Advance; Sen. Diane Savino, an IDC member, represents parts of Staten Island. The fourth member is Sen. David Valesky of the Syracuse area.

Women’s rights groups are holding a news conference at the Capitol on Monday to call on the IDC to advance Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s women’s rights legislation. It includes additional workplace protections for women and codifying the federal Roe vs. Wade decision on abortion into state law.

Monday is the 50th anniversary of the signing of the federal Equal Pay Act, and the women’s groups are calling on Klein to press for a vote on the women’s agenda.

“Senator Klein needs to be reminded that as a leader, he cannot hold up the Women’s Equality Act for the women (and men) of New York,” the groups said Monday on their Facebook page. “Call him now, and tell him to pass the Women’s Equality Act.”

The IDC members have defended its role, saying they support abortion rights but there isn’t enough vote among the Republican and Democratic conferences.

“Sadly, it is the Senate Democrats’ own lack of unity on women’s health issues that would cause the failure of any Senate vote on women’s reproductive rights,” IDC spokesman Eric Soufer said in a statement Friday.

JSPECTOR@Gannett.com

www.twitter.com/gannettalbany

Includes reporting by Albany Bureau staff writer Jon Campbe

For Immediate Release:  June 10, 2013

Contact:  Erik Opsal, erik.opsal@nyu.edu, 646-292-8356

Bipartisan Group of Business & Civic Leaders Demand a Vote on Fair Elections in Open Letter to the IDC

Letter Calls Campaign Finance Reform Vote a Critical Test for Senate Coalition Governance

Bill Bradley, Cynthia DiBartolo, William Donaldson, Harold Ford, Jr., Chris Hughes, Jerome Kohlberg, Dennis Mehiel, Danny Meyer and Dozens of Other Signatories Call for IDC Action

(Albany, NY)—In an open letter to the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), nearly 60 business and civic leaders called on Senate Co-President Jeff Klein and the IDC to bring campaign finance reform legislation to a vote on the floor of the State Senate.

Noting that at the time the Senate coalition leadership was formed, IDC leader Senator Jeff Klein said the move would allow major reforms to get passed, including “serious campaign finance reform,” the letter calls on the IDC to bring the bill to a vote, writing: “If instead you allow reform to fail while you share control of the Senate, your coalition will be remembered for obstructing good legislation and enabling partisan gridlock above all else.”

The open letter was printed today as a full-page ad in the Westchester Journal News and the Staten Island Advance.

“State and national leaders are sending a clear signal to the IDC,” said Lawrence Norden, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “At the beginning of this year, both the IDC and Governor Cuomo put campaign finance reform with public financing at the top of their agendas. It’s time to follow through on that promise and ensure a reform bill gets a full vote in the Senate. The IDC can break the logjam in Albany. All New Yorkers are watching.”

The full text and a list of signatories is below:

The People Deserve a Vote:

An Open Letter to the NYS Senate’s
Independent Democratic Conference
Regarding Fair Elections

June 10, 2013

State Senate Co-President Jeff Klein
State Senator David Carlucci
State Senator Diane Savino
State Senator David Valesky

Legislative Office Building
Albany, NY 12247

To the Members of the Independent Democratic Conference:

This has been a strange and difficult year in New York State government. It is in your hands whether it is remembered as one of reform and renewal in the face of scandal, or just another year of business as usual in Albany.

Last year, when your conference broke away from other Senate Democrats and shifted control of the chamber, you promised to end “the type of political gamesmanship that has, in the past, overrun a healthy and functioning democracy.” Your leader, Senator Klein, said the move would allow major reforms to get passed, including “serious campaign finance reform.” He added that he was “extremely confident” that such reforms would “come to the Senate floor for a vote.”

As a bipartisan group of business and civic leaders who support comprehensive reform, including a small donor matching program, we were heartened by these promises. Governor Cuomo reserved judgment, writing that his opinion of your governing coalition “will be based on how those senators function as a leadership group and perform on the important issues for the people of the state.” He proposed a litmus test with campaign finance reform near the top. The time for this test has come.

The Governor said that your coalition will either “wind up being a facilitator of transparency and progressive politics or an enabler of more obfuscation.” With only two weeks left in the legislative session, we are concerned it may be the latter. At the very moment that passage of real campaign finance reform appears within reach — the Governor and a majority of legislators publicly support it — one of your members has said your conference would not force a bill to the floor without the support of the Senate Republicans, even though they make up a minority of the chamber. As you know, the Republican leadership in the Senate has been vocally opposed.

We understand that you introduced a comprehensive campaign finance reform bill. This was an important first step. However, introducing a bill without working to get it passed is worth little to the people of New York. It is wrong to give any conference or legislative leader the power to protect the status quo and prevent voting on an essential reform. This is particularly so during a period of record corruption, when reform has the support of a majority of officeholders and the public.

No fewer than 17 public opinion polls over the last two years show that New Yorkers across the state want the system to change. The people want a campaign finance system that works for all New Yorkers — not just special interest donors.

Governor Cuomo recently said, “The people of this state have the right to know what the position of the legislators really are.” He is right, and only a vote will do that. This is a critical moment. If you bring campaign finance reform legislation to a vote, New Yorkers will celebrate your leadership. If instead you allow reform to fail while you share control of the Senate, your coalition will be remembered for obstructing good legislation and enabling partisan gridlock above all else.

Sincerely,

Richard Aborn
CAAS, LLC

Gerald Benjamin
Distinguished Professor of Political Science at SUNY New Paltz

Fmr. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert
24th Congressional District, NY

Andrea Bonime-Blanc
CEO, GEC Risk Advisory LLC

Fmr. Senator Bill Bradley
Co-Chair of Americans for Campaign Reform

Michael Brune
Executive Director
Sierra Club

David L. Calone
President & CEO, Jove Equity Partners, LLC

Andrew G. Celli, Jr.
Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP

Ellen Chesler

Diana Cihak
Founder of WomenElect

Sean Coffey
Fmr. Candidate for NYS Attorney General

Richard Davis

Cynthia DiBartolo
CEO of Tigress Financial Partners
Chairperson of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce

William Donaldson
27th Chairman of the SEC

Patricia Duff
Founder of The Common Good

Hazel N. Dukes
President, NAACP New York State

Sean Eldridge
President, Hudson River Ventures

Fmr. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr.

Anne Gumowitz

Steven Haft

Christie Hefner
Fellow, Center for American Progress

Stephen Heintz
President, Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Leo Hindery
InterMedia Partners, LP

Fmr. Rep. Amory Houghton
29th Congressional District, NY

Chris Hughes
Co-Founder, Facebook

Craig Kaplan

Robert M. Kaufman
Proskauer Rose

Fmr. Senator Bob Kerrey
Co-Chair of Americans for Campaign Reform

Jerome Kohlberg
Kohlberg & Company and the Kohlberg Foundation

Daniel F. Kolb
Davis Polk & Wardwell

Dan Kramer
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Eric Lane
Dean, Hofstra Law School

Geraldine B. Laybourne

Peter Lehner
Executive Director, Natural Resources Defense Council

Marjorie Press Lindblom
of counsel (retired partner), Kirkland & Ellis LLP

John MacIntosh
SeaChange Capital Partners

Dennis Mehiel
Chairman and CEO of U.S. Corrugated
Chairman and CEO of Battery Park City

Danny Meyer
CEO, Union Square Hospitality Group

Judith Mogul
Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, P.C.

Dan Neidich
Dune Real Estate Partners LP

Eugene Pinover
Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Philip D. Radford
Greenpeace US Executive Director

Frederic C. Rich
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Jonathan F.P. Rose
President, Jonathan Rose Companies

Donald Rubin
Co-founder, Rubin Museum of Art

Shelley Rubin
Co-founder, Rubin Museum of Art

Susan Rubinstein

George E. Rupp
President, International Rescue Committee

Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr.
Brennan Center for Justice

Thomas J. Schwarz

Claire Silberman

Daniel A. Simon

Jonathan Soros
JS Capital Management, LLC

Sung-Hee Suh

Jeffrey C. Walker

Frank Weil
Chairman, Abacus & Associates

Marc N. Weiss
Founder, WebLab

John C. Wilcox
Chairman, SODALI

Kent Yalowitz
Arnold & Porter LLP

Peter L. Zimroth
Arnold & Porter LLP

Individuals have signed in their personal capacities. All affiliations are listed for identification purposes only.

###

A PDF version of the letter is available below:

Letter to IDC from a Bipartisan Group of Business & Civic Leaders by smz5714