Attorney General, NYC CFB Announce Settlement, Penalties on Improper Coordination

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced a settlement with New York City consulting firm the Advance Group today, while the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYC CFB) voted to impose penalties on the firm. The action relate to the Advance Group’s improper coordination during the 2013 New York City elections in which the firm worked for candidates and for independent expenditure groups that were working on behalf of those same candidates.

In a nutshell, the Advance Group served as a campaign consultant for four candidates, an entity named New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Save Streets (NYCLASS) as well as for the political committee for the United Federation of Teachers through an “alter ego,” Strategic Consultants.

The Attorney General and NYC CFB found that the Advance Group failed to maintain a “firewall” between its staff who worked for candidates and its staff who worked on advocacy campaigns that made expenditures in support of those candidates, thus violating the prohibition on campaigns from coordinating with third-party groups that make “independent” expenditures.

The settlement with the Attorney General’s office totaled $10,800, while the NYC CFB voted to impose $15,000 in penalties.

Attorney General Schneiderman said:

“New York voters deserve elections that are fair and free of coordination that distorts the democratic process. The law preventing coordination between candidates and advocacy campaigns is clear. Today’s agreement sends a clear message that campaign coordination is unacceptable in New York City and state politics.”

NYC CFB Board Member Mark Piazza said:

“We have been watching with dismay as outside groups and candidates at the federal level test the boundaries, and often cross the line, of coordination. New Yorkers have been clear that they do not want that happening in our city elections. Strong enforcement is the only way to ensure that it doesn’t.”

Read news coverage of this story in the Times Union, the New York Post, the Daily News and the State of Politics blog.