Our View: Public Should Be Financing Campaigns

Our view: Public should be financing campaigns AT ISSUE: Current system encourages influence, discourages competition Observer-Dispatch Last update Mar 23, 2009 @ 10:13 AM Even in a rock-bottom economy, state lawmakers are forging ahead to boost their campaign coffers by staging fundraisers — some pretty pricey — at some of Albany’s trendiest play spots. It’s all legal, but it shouldn’t be. With a system like this, it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see competitive elections in New York state. Challengers can’t afford to run. We need public financing of campaigns. A recent study by the New York Public Interest Research Group found that political fundraisers abound in the state capital, where incumbents are charging lobbyists and others seeking political favors some hefty admission prices to campaign fundraisers. Among them: Our own Sens. David Valesky, Joseph Griffo and James Seward, and Assemblymen Marc Butler and David Townsend. Some of the admission prices — they call them “contribution requests” — aren’t too shabby. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, for instance, requested $1,000 and $3,600 to attend an event at the swanky State Room in downtown Albany. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, topped that with a Jan. 26 fundraiser at 74 State, an upscale hotel in the capital’s historic district. Contribution “requests” ranged from $1,000 to $25,000.

NYPIRG and other government watchdog groups for years have sought to restrict fundraising by lawmakers during the legislative session. Panhandling to lobbyists and others is a good way to raise money for re-election campaigns because “guests” are all too willing to fork over tidy sums if they think it’ll buy some influence. It’s a dirty way to do business, and certainly not in the public’s best interest. Legislators argue that they need to raise money because campaigns are costly. That’s true, but they’re costly for challengers, too. And challengers don’t have a stable of willing customers with fistfuls of dollars ready to donate. That means a penniless challenger with terrific ideas for overhauling our dysfunctional government has little chance of running a campaign. The answer is a voluntary system of public financing. Maine, Arizona and Connecticut all elect leaders whose campaigns are fully financed by the public — without special interest money or large contributions. It’s time New York get off the dime — in this case, the dollars — and head in that direction.