Moreland Commission Hearing Focuses on SBOE’s Election Law Enforcement

Last night’s public hearing of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption was not a pretty one, especially for those who had to defend the state Board of Elections’ performance (or lack thereof) in terms of enforcement of campaign finance laws.

State Board of Elections co-Executive Directors Todd Valentine and Robert Brehm, and deputy enforcement counsel William McCann were questioned by Commissioners for almost three hours.  The three said repeatedly that the problems facing SBOE resulted from a lack of available manpower and money.

The Commissioners (many of whom are District Attorneys) were less than sympathetic.  Their questioning revealed that SBOE opened just five investigations from 2008 through 2013, including only 1 since 2009, even as the agency has a backlog of some 300 cases.

Read news coverage of the hearing from Capital NY, City & State NY, NY 1, the Daily News, the New York Post,  and Newsday (behind a paywall).

Bill Hammond, a member of the Daily News’ editorial board, says that the state Board of Elections “is run by the political parties, for the political parties.”

Also, read the written testimony of Amy Loprest, the Executive Director of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYC CFB).