Real reform means taking tax dollars away from crooked politicians, not writing checks to their campaigns. Still,Democrats in Albany, including Gov. Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, are pushing taxpayer financing of political campaigns as a way to clean up corruption and get big money out of politics.
But look at who’s pushed this idea in the past: corrupt politicians and ultrawealthy political donors.
For example, the 2012 Fair Elections Ac” wassponsored by Assemblyman Eric Stevenson (D-Bronx) . . . who was recently indicted for bribery. Sponsoring it in the state Senate was John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) . . . who last month was indicted for embezzlement and obstruction of justice.
Another Senate sponsor was Shirley Huntley (D-Queens). She helped bring down Sampson by cooperating with the FBI after it nabbed her for stealing $88,000 from a taxpayer-funded charity she controlled.
Sponsoring the 2010 iteration of the taxpayer-financing bill was Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. (D-Brooklyn). He was acquitted on corruption charges in March 2011 but arrested two weeks later and charged again for soliciting bribes to pay his legal bills in his first corruption trial. More recently, he was charged with mail fraud and submitting false travel vouchers.
Other recent sponsors of bills to make taxpayers finance campaigns include former Assemblywoman Diane M. Gordon (D-Brooklyn), who in 2008 was convicted of conspiracy and bribery for promising to secure a $2 million plot of city land for a developer in exchange for his gift of a $500,000 house in Queens. Before Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin (D-Queens) was convicted of stealing $2.2 million from his constituents, union workers and a Little League, he sponsored the bill.
Why do so many crooked politicians want the taxpayers to kick in $6 for every $1 they raise? Because they know that ultimately most, if not all of, the funds will flow to their wallets or to relatives, supporters, defense lawyers and creditors.
Cuomo says the law will get big money out of campaigns. But his campaign has accepted $500,000 in donations from one individual,Manhattanbillionaire Leonard Litwin. That’s more than eight times the legal individual contribution limit — but Cuomo circumvents the law by taking donations from the many corporations controlled by Litwin.If Cuomo really wanted to clean up our campaign-finance system,he’d start by returning this money.
Other zillionaires are among the loudest voices pushing for taxpayer funding of negative ads and robo calls. Jonathan Soros, son of left-wing billionaire George Soros, and Sean Eldridge, the spouse of a Facebook founder, each pumped a quarter-million dollars into an obscure upstate Senate race last fall. Their stated reason for helping Cecilia Tkaczyk, who ultimately won, was her support for taxpayer funding of campaigns as a means to get the big money out of politics.
After cutting big checksfor Tkaczyk, President Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic National Committee and others in the last election cycle, Eldridge said with a straight face, “Our current campaign-finance system is built for the big donor, not for the average voter.”
Set aside the obvious hypocrisy there; far worse is that Eldridge ignores the fact that the taxpayer-funding proposals just add a matching-funds option. Candidates can choose the taxpayer-funding route or stick with the current system that proponents of taxpayer financing claim is dominated only by wealthy elites.
In short, the proposal for taxpayer funding of campaigns now under consideration in the Legislature represents the worst of all worlds.
Assemblyman Kieran Michael Lalor (R-Fishkill) is the ranking member of the Real Property Tax Committee.