ALBANY – And for his next act — Gov. Cuomo says he’ll push for public financing of state campaigns.
Cuomo proposed partial taxpayer funding modeled on the city’s system as part of an overhaul of New York’s campaign finance system in his State of the State speech in January.
But “the legislature did not want to pass campaign finance reform,” he said in a Public Radio interview yesterday. Lawmakers left for the year last month.
“We’re going to have to raise the awareness and the political mandate on campaign finance reform because the politicians have to know if they don’t pass campaign finance reform, there’s going to be a price to pay with the electorate”
Cuomo said he plans to work with reform groups to create a system that calls for matched contributions, lower donation limits and increased enforcement,.
“We have to get the people of the state to demand campaign finance reform, and I think I have a role to play working with other groups to get the word out,” he said. “I think you’re going to see the most coordinated and effective communication effort that you’ve seen on this issue in a long, long time.”
He said this year’s presidential race should help.
Funding with big bucks from poorly-defined entities, as allowed by recent court decisions, should give voters “the sense that things are out of control,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo also said state environmental regulators should come to a decision about whether to allow fracking “later this summer.”
But “if a community says they oppose” the controversial practice of high-volume drilling with a chemical, sand and water mix for natural gas upstate ”that should be taken into consideration.”
ekriss@nypost.com