Common Cause/NY Urges NYS Leg Convene to Get Public Financing Right

NEW YORK, NY (11/25/2019) (readMedia)-- Today, the nine members of the Public Financing Commission voted on recommendations for a system of publicly financed elections for New York State. Formal language will be released on Wednesday. The NYS Legislature has 20 days to convene a special session or else the recommendations become law.

In response, Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY, issued the following statement:

"As Common Cause/NY has said from the beginning: the public financing commission is a ploy to divert responsibility from the Legislature to unelected representatives. The Senate and the Assembly should vote no on these proposals and craft their own bill with hearings and public input. With unreasonably high contribution limits and the gratuitous raising of the threshold for third party ballot access, the commission's work represents a set-back not a step forward. Public financing of elections is too important to get wrong -- but there's still time for the Legislature to get it right."