The summer of 2009 will go down as a memorable one for all sorts of reasons. It’s been a summer of record-breaking temperatures, record-breaking rainfall, and recession-proof amusement. It has also been a Summer of Scam – a season that has kept bloggers and reporters busy covering shady spending, crooked campaigning, and illegal political dealings.
This summer, New York politicians seem to be taking ethics lessons from their less-than-honest counterparts in the finance world who had their own scandalous season last fall. These politicians learned to rake in money without worrying about who might be losing out on the other end. They’ve learned to put their careers ahead of the public interest. They’ve given special favors and advantages to family members, friends, and wealthy donors, while so many of us are struggling just to meet our basic needs.
I’m talking about truly egregious, lawbreaking violations of the public trust. Just about every day this summer, we’ve seen our elected officials involved in scandal – from the State Senate and the City Council down to local political organizations and nonprofits. But it doesn’t have to be this way. I want to tell you about one tool citizens like us can use to help end the Summer of Scam.
The Clean Money, Clean Elections campaign finance system has been tested and shown to work in the seven states and two cities where it has been passed. These districts have already seen more diversity among candidates for office, less corruption, and a political process less beholden to special interests like drug companies and the real estate industry. In 2008, I introduced City Council Introduction number 803, which would provide Clean Money, Clean Elections standards for New York City.
This legislation achieves these results by providing a voluntary, opt-in public financing system designed to truly support independent candidates and make it easier for them to compete politically—without having to depend on the special interests.
Of course, you may be thinking that New York City already has a system for providing public matching funds. That’s true, but unfortunately the Campaign Finance Board’s current system does not help level the playing field. It requires donations of $175 from at least 1,000 people and insists that those donations total $250,000 for Mayoral candidates.
Besides the fact that this math doesn’t add up, these requirements are just plain onerous as borne out by the fact that not even the Democratic front-runner for Mayor has qualified for the CFB’s matching funds.
All of this shows New York City’s need for a public financing system that exists to support and encourage independent candidates, not distract them with unreachable goals. Until we change this, wealthy candidates will continue to be able to drown out the competition by buying up huge amounts of media to broadcast their messages, whether true or false. And that weakens our democracy, damages the public’s faith in government, and opens doors for corruption and graft.
This summer, I’ve watched along with the rest of New York City as many politicians clown around, screw up, pig out, and forget who they work for and why they were elected. When this Summer of Scam is over, let’s remember them on Election Day and turn things around.
This season of scandal cannot continue into the fall. We all have an opportunity to initiate change and call for the integrity in government this city deserves.