Selling Access to Legislators Is Simply Wrong

NEW YORK, NY (03/25/2010)(readMedia)-- Common Cause/NY Executive Director Susan Lerner issued the following statement this afternoon in response to news stories that the scope of the NY State Democrats' fund-raising program of forming special access "committees" made up of $50,000 special interest donors is broader than originally reported:

"Soliciting $50,000 contributions to form special interest committees who have special access to lawmakers is the sort of blatant pay-to-play fund-raising that confirms the public's worst suspicions about how business is conducted in Albany. No wonder the public believes that lawmakers and our state's public and fiscal policy are up for grabs to the highest bidder. The fact that Republicans and Democrats both do it, and that special interests of different stripes all have equal opportunity to pay for special meetings doesn't make it right. This practice stinks and voters hate it. It is wrong and if there were ethics oversight in NY State, it would be considered a violation of appropriate legislative ethics standards.

Part of a legislator's job is to meet with interested members of the public - no one should have special access. Self-serving legal but unethical pay-to-play conduct like this convinces ordinary New Yorkers that that their voices and their concerns simply don't count in Albany. Common sense dictates this practice should not exist. Lacking leaders with good common sense and sensitivity to their constituents' needs, selling special access under the guise of 'committees', 'conferences', or other fund-raising devices, should be expressly prohibited.

This extensive and scandalous conduct simply underscores the need for real ethics oversight and providing public funding for election campaigns so that there is an alternative to planting a big "For Sale" sign on the Legislative Office Building."

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