The Campaign Finance Board charged yesterday that the City Council is trying to pull a fast one on voters by sneaking through a bill that would allow unions and other groups to coordinate unlimited spending with candidates in next year’s elections.
“The bill would open a gaping loophole in a (campaign finance) system routinely praised as a national model for reform,” the CFB fumed.
Under current law, candidates who accept taxpayer matching funds must abide by spending limits.
The limit is also triggered if unions, corporations or other organizations contact their own members in coordination with a candidate.
The CFB claimed a bill being introduced by Rosie Mendez (D-Manhattan) would allow the groups to engage in what’s called member-to-member communications outside the spending caps even if a candidate got involved.
The Council shot back that it was merely fixing a wrong-headed decision by the CFB earlier this year that made it impossible for the groups to operate without coming under CFB scrutiny.
“If a union called a campaign to get a candidate’s bio, that would count as coordination,” explained one Council official. “It would blow everyone’s spending cap.”
The NYCLU, NARAL, the NAACP and Common Cause all stood with the Council.
But Dick Dadey of Citizens Union said the CFB has a point.
“You shouldn’t be changing the rules this late in the game,” he said. “This opens the floodgates.”