Campaign Finance and Ethics Reform: Reactions, Analysis and Follow-Up

There will surely be much more written in the wake of the state budget agreement, which includes a matching campaign funds “pilot” program, new anti-public corruption provisions and ends the Moreland Commission to  Investigate Public Corruption.  (Read my prior blog post on the deal here.)

Here are some initial reactions:

Reform groups that were pushing for publicly-funded campaigns are not happy with the budget deal, which establishes a Comptroller-only public funding program for this fall’s campaign.  Comptroller DiNapoli also opposes the pilot.  (Read coverage in the Daily News, Newsday and Capital NY.)

Here is the joint memo in opposition issued by the Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens Union, Common Cause/NY, the League of Women Voters of NYS, and NYPIRG.  They call the Comptroller-only pilot program “inadequate and flawed,” and say that the State Board of Elections (SBOE) is “ill-suited” to establish and oversee the pilot program, citing “a disturbing degree of dysfunction” at SBOE.

But the issue may not be finished just yet.  During the Senate Finance committee meeting a short while ago, Senate Finance Committee Chair John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse) said that there may be “tweaks” to the public financing language in the budget.  This is consistent with a statement issued by Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) on Saturday. (Read more in this State of Politics blog post.)

Capital NY looks at Gov. Cuomo’s “complicated attitude toward ethics reform.”

Finally, Capital NY also spoke with Moreland Commission Co-Chair Bill Fitzpatrick about what will happen with the results of the Commission’s investigations, now that the Commission’s work is to be ended as part of the state budget agreement.