| Summary of Current Action
The League believes campaign finance reform, including public finance of campaigns for statewide office and campaigns for the New York State Assembly and Senate, are necessary to ensure the public’s right to know, combat corruption and undue influence, enable candidates to compete more equitably for public office, and allow maximum citizen participation in the political process.
Public financing systems are often characterized as full, partial, or hybrid public funding systems. With a full public funding system, the candidate generally raises a certain level of small donations and then receives a lump sum sufficient to run a campaign. The receipt of public funds usually serves as a prohibition against raising additional private funds. With a partial public funding system the candidate raises private contributions and receives a match for each contribution, up to a certain limit. The hybrid system combines grants and a match for small donations. While the League has generally supported partial public finance systems, such as that of New York City, as being the most efficient, all bills must be analyzed on a case by case to determine whether they will achieve the desired results of enabling candidates to compete more equitably for public office and increasing citizen participation in the political process. |
