By Hank Russell
New York State Assembly Republican Leader Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) and Senate Republican Leader Rob Ortt (R,C,IP-Lockport) recently unveiled new legislation (S.9921) which they said would correct a bureaucratic error made by the New York State Public Campaign Finance Board (PCFB) that retroactively denied six candidates, including Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman, entry into the matching funds program after the board had previously approved their participation.
The legislation announced at an April 20 press conference at the Capitol would require the PCFB to accept an application to participate in the public matching funds program, which has been signed jointly by candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.
Local sponsors include Mario Mattera (R,C-St. James), Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R,C-Valley Stream) and Steven Rhoads (R,C-Levittown).
On March 31, the PCFB voted 4-3 along party lines to remove candidates from the program, citing the campaigns’ failure to submit a form that has yet to be created. The bill, if enacted, would give the denied candidates a seven-day window to refile for the matching funds program.
“The partisan decision by the Public Campaign Finance Board undermined the credibility and integrity of the program,” Ra said. “It proves, once again, that when given the opportunity, Democrats will do everything they can to corrupt the system in their favor. This is the first year the PCFB has included statewide races. Unfortunately, some commissioners were unable to meet the fundamental responsibility of maintaining neutrality.”
“The decision by the PCFB was clearly flawed and we are putting forward a common-sense solution to fix this issue,” Ortt added. “For years, Democrats in Albany touted public campaign finance as the answer to ‘even the playing field’ and ensure fair elections. The Legislature and Governor must act to restore confidence in the system by passing this simple bill to correct the hyper-partisan decision of the PCFB. If they don’t, they will once again prove they are happy to remain complicit in rigging the system for their own political benefit.”
Assemblyman Keith Brown (R,C-Northport) said this piece of legislation would undo one of the more brazen political maneuvers Albany has seen. The reason the campaigns didn’t file a form was that, as of the vote, it didn’t even exist yet.
“You can’t make this up,” said Brown. “They knocked these candidates out of a program they’d already been approved for, over paperwork that nobody had ever seen. If this were happening to Democratic candidates, Albany Democrats would be burning the building down. The silence from them right now tells you everything.”
Brown said the matching funds program was sold to New Yorkers as a way to level the playing field in state elections, a way to get more voices into the process and reduce the outsized influence of big money. This is the first year the program has included statewide races. It didn’t even make it through its debut without becoming a political weapon.
“This is a one-page fix to a problem that never should have existed,” Brown said. “The board created an impossible standard, applied it retroactively, and voted on it along party lines. That’s not an oversight, that’s a setup. The Legislature and the governor need to pass this bill. If they don’t, they’re telling New Yorkers they’re perfectly fine with a rigged system, as long as it’s rigged in their favor.”
But not everyone was in support of the bill. “We are required to act pursuant to law, even Blakeman,” said Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove). “I have no interest in working to change established law to kowtow to the Republicans.”
The bill currently sits in the Election Committee.