Citizen Action of New York released a new report today finding that campaign contributions from corporate interests are used to block legislation that would help consumers, tenants and the environment. The report, New Yorkers Pay When Big Money Plays: The Case for Public Financing of Elections, analyzes five bills relating to health care, the environment, rent regulation and ticket scalping, and shows that the nonprofits in favor of passing this common sense legislation were outspent many times over by industries that would be regulated by the legislation.

Citizen Action called on the State Assembly and Senate to pass public financing of elections for state legislature and statewide offices in New York in order to give an alternative to the state’s “pay-to-play” system where wealthy corporate interests can continually block legislation that is in the public interest.

This week starts the public input process for three public financing bill drafts that the State Senate has posted on their new website, http://campaignfinanceideas.nysenate.gov. New Yorkers will have an opportunity to show their support for public financing at the State Senate’s public hearing on public financing of elections at Nazareth College on May 28th. People can register to testify by calling (518)455-2310

“New Yorkers can no longer afford not to pass public financing of elections for statewide offices,” said Mel Braverman of Metro Justice. “We have three examples from today’s study. In each case it is clear that the voices of average New Yorkers were drowned out by the campaign contributions from corporations and industry.” Braverman points out that public financing of elections addresses the problems caused by special interest campaign cash.

The report analyzes campaign contributions made by companies and organizations that are impacted by five selected bills and compares those contributions with the contributions made by consumer or environmental groups that also lobbied on that bill. In each case, the consumer and environmental groups lobbying on the bill were overwhelmingly outspent by the companies that would be regulated by that bill, by 9 to 1 and often more.

“The research shows that big money interests have way too much influence in the Capitol,” said Paul Houndt of Metro Justice, “They paid and we got stuck with the bill. That’s why we need public financing of elections. We need our elected officials to listen to us just as closely as they do to large corporations without their campaign contributions creating background noise.”

The report found that big business and trade organizations vastly outspent consumer and environmental groups who lobbied on the same bills. The findings include:
•    For a bill that would lead to discounts on prescription drugs, 99.99% of the $1,093,348 in campaign contributions came from the drug companies, drug stores and their trade associations.
•    100% of the $99,444 in contributions from entities that lobbied on a bill that would regulate how much health insurance companies can increase their rates came from health insurers.
•    A bill that would allow the state to regulate and protect smaller parcels of freshwater wetlands has passed the Assembly last year and again this year, but has not passed the Senate. Of the $310,441 in campaign contributions, 92% was given by real estate interests and builders.
•    In the case of a bill that would reverse a state law allowing landlords to avoid rent regulation if an apartment rents for more than $2000 and becomes vacant, which would keep thousands of apartments affordable and limit tenant intimidation, we found that 99.8% or $594,365 in campaign contributions came from three organizations associated with the real estate industry.
•    Finally, a bill that was passed in 2007 over consumer objections that removed caps on reseller markups of sports and concert tickets, all contributions, $451,213 came from the entertainment industry that was in favor of the law.

“The State Senate Elections Committee will hold hearings in Rochester this Thursday. We believe that this will be the year that we will change the rules of the game, so that we can finally take big money out of politics in Albany.,” added Braverman. “The New York State Legislature must make public financing of elections a top priority and pass it during this year’s legislative session.”

In 2008, the Assembly passed A11507, which would create a strong public financing system that would give candidates four public dollars for every dollar raised in contributions of $250 or less from New York State residents. Also in 2008, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith sponsored a full public financing bill in the State Senate (S7175) that is modeled on a law passed by Connecticut in 2005 that the New York Times called “an instant model for other statehouses.”

Metro Justice is a grassroots multi issue organization working for social, economic and racial justice with over 800 dues paying members in the Rochester area. Metro Justice is affiliated with Citizen Action, the author’s of today’s report. Citizen Action has seven chapters across the state. The full report is available at www.votersnotdonors.org and www.citizenactionny.org.

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