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NY lawmakers balking at plan to boost small-dollar campaign donations. Supporters are pushing back.
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Mar 2, 2023
Modified Mar 3, 2023
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Hans Pennink/AP/Shutterstock
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Mar 2, 2023
Modified Mar 3, 2023
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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.
The new program was adopted by state lawmakers in 2020 to strengthen small-dollar donors against a tidal wave of big money by providing matching funds for qualifying donations up to $250 per election cycle. While the state program is informed by New York City’s more than three-decade-old public matching program, it has its own set of rules and administrators.
Big money played a major role in the most recent election cycle. An analysis from the Brennan Center and Open Secrets found that the 200 top donors to candidates in New York state races gave a total of $16 million in 2022, more than the 206,000 smallest donors combined.
Recent polling by Data for Progress, a progressive think tank, and Stand Up America, a nonprofit focused on voting rights, shows voters want lawmakers to take steps to curb the influence of the most affluent donors. In a survey conducted of 1,105 likely voters from February 14 - 20, 91% of respondents said wealthy donors have more influence than the average voter. That survey also found that 70% said lawmakers should be taking steps to blunt that influence and 61% supported a small donor matching program.
The program officially launched last November and 20 candidates have already registered. Now, as lawmakers work through budget negotiations for the upcoming fiscal year, some who adopted the program in the first place are casting doubt on whether it’s worth the investment.
“There are obviously conversations that are being had,” state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins told reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday. She said the full Democratic conference had not discussed a position on the program, but she noted ongoing concerns emanating from the Assembly.
Michael Whyland, spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, said members in that chamber are asking questions about the program. “There have been some concerns raised and we will talk about them with our members,” he said in a statement.
New lines are still being drawn for Assembly districts that will be in effect for the 2024 election cycle, after a court tossed the maps drawn during last year’s redistricting process. A new set of maps is slated to be submitted to the Legislature on or before April 28, which is after the April 1 budget deadline.
Advocates began sounding the alarm earlier this year when Gov. Kathy Hochul included $39.5 million for the program in her proposed budget, far short of the board’s request for $114.5 million.
But as speculation of lawmaker reluctance towards the program swirls, upcoming documents will provide a clearer picture of where they stand.
“The one-house budget bills are where the rubber hits the road,” said Blair Horner, head of the New York Public Interest Research Program, in reference to the individual budget proposals that the state Senate and Assembly each produce from their respective chambers as part of the ongoing budget process.
Those plans are expected to be released in mid-March, which should provide a better indication of the extent to which lawmakers are backing away from the program.
This story has been updated to correct Stand Up America's name.
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Kathy Hochul
campaign finance
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Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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