Coalition Calls for Campaign Finance and Voting Reforms to be ‘First Order of Business’ in 2019

December 3rd, 2018

The Fair Elections for NY Campaign, a coalition of groups pushing for campaign finance reform in New York State, called for campaign finance and voting reforms to be “the first order of business in the 2019 New York State Legislative Session.”

The group wrote to Gov. Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Heastie and incoming Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins urging them to enact a statewide public financing system for political campaigns similar to the one in place in New York City; reducing contribution limits; and closing the so-called “LLC Loophole” under which limited liability companies are treated as individual contributors, rather than as corporations. The groups also want lawmakers to enact a voting rights package to authorize automatic and same-day voter registration; early voting; the pre-voter registration of 16- and 17-year-olds; and to codify the Executive Order that Gov. Cuomo issued earlier this year that allows parolees to vote.

Unshackle Upstate has no objections to sensible campaign finance reforms.  But we strongly oppose using taxpayer dollars to pay for political campaigns.  Taxpayers want to see their tax dollars used to maintain the roads and bridges and water and sewer systems that they rely on – not paying for high-priced political consultants and attack ads.  And it’s laughable to suggest that taxpayer-finance political campaigns will end political corruption.  New York City has taxpayer-funded political campaigns, and their program has just created more opportunities for corruption.