Well-heeled campaign contributors can now funnel millions of dollars of cash into political Super PACS after a federal judge Thursday struck down New York’s $150,000 limit on such donations as unconstitutional.
Manhattan federal Judge Paul Crotty said he reluctantly overturned the state law to abide by controversial Supreme Court decisions that found that such funding restrictions violate free speech — even though he disagreed with them.
“Large political donations do not inspire confidence that the government in a representative democracy will do the right thing,” Crotty said in the four-page ruling.
“Indeed today’s reality is that the voices of ‘we the people’ are too often drowned out by the few who have great resources…Ordinary citizens recognize this; they know what is going on; they know they are not being included. It breeds cynicisms and distrust.”
The legal challenge to New York’s $150,000 donation limit was brought last year by a group called New York Progress and Protection PAC, an independent political action committee that backed Republican Joe Lhota’s campaign for mayor.
Crotty was actually forced to reverse himself. Last October, he defended New York’s $150,000 limit by refusing to issue an preliminary injunction to set aside the law. But a federal appeals court overruled him.
“Once it is determined that NYPPP is an independent expenditure-only organization, there is little left for the court to do. The court must apply the Supreme Court’s binding decisions,” Crotty said.
He referred to the high court’s 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case decision and the recent McCutcheon vs. FEC decision that struck down individual donation limits to outside political groups.
GOP activist O’Brien Murry hailed the ruling as “leveling the field” because New York’s campaign laws favor spending by left-leaning unions over right-leaning, pro-business donors.
But sate Attorney General Eric Schneiderman expressed disappointment with the ruling, but suggested the state’s hands are tied.
“New York’s campaign finance laws are essential to protecting the integrity and fairness of our elections. The corrosive influence of money in politics is well-known and a danger to our system of government, as the judge himself acknowledged today,” said Schneiderman spokesman Matt Mittenthal.
“Unfortunately, the judge considered himself bound to this result.”