Limit Donors' Influence
Campaign Finance Reforms for City

By RICHARD STEIER

Top city officials June 5 agreed to stringent campaign finance limits aimed at curbing the practice under which big contributors are able to influence governmental decisions for their financial benefit and changing the way public matching funds are distributed.

MAYOR BLOOMBERG: Lauds reforms.

Those who do business worth at least $100,000 with the city have had contribution limits scaled back sharply, with the old maximum of $4,950 for citywide races knocked down to $400, and the previous cap of $2,950 for City Council races reduced to $250. Those contributions will also no longer entitle the candidates who receive them to public matching funds.

Alter Matching Formula

The legislation will also require those who solicit campaign contributions to disclose their role as bundlers; until now, only those who delivered a group of checks to a campaign had to disclose their role.

In an effort to encourage smaller contributors to participate in the election system, the matching formula has been revised. Until now, candidates received a 4-for-1 match from the Campaign Finance Board for the first $250 received from a contributor; there will now be a 6-to-1 match for the first $175 received.

CHRISTINE QUINN: 'A major step forward.'

The reforms also include an end to matching funds being provided in a race where an eligible candidate has only token opposition, setting criteria to determine whether a race is sufficiently competitive for public money to be disbursed.

Quinn: 'Protects Public'

Mayor Bloomberg explained, "Bottom line is, if you are running unopposed [or with token opposition], the city should not have to give you money."

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who along with about 20 Council Members joined Mr. Bloomberg in the City Hall Blue Room for the announcement, said the latter change represented "a major step forward in protecting the public's pocketbook."

The Mayor, alluding to Ms. Quinn's ambitions to succeed him and the way the reduced contribution ceilings might adversely affect her fund-raising in 2009, praised her for "putting the interests of the city ahead of any political interest." He predicted the changes "will put New York City far ahead of the curve in trying to rein in pay-to-play contributions."

One important change, both officials noted, extends the contribution limits so that they apply to what those doing business with the city can give toward a winning candidate's transition or inauguration efforts. It has been common at all levels of government for donors to buy access and influence by giving unlimited amounts to such initiatives because of the lack of regulation.

Frederick A.O. Schwarz, the chairman of the Campaign Finance Board, called the reform package "a great triumph for New York. New York City was falling behind Connecticut and New Jersey [on campaign finance reform] and now they've leapfrogged over them."

Unions Exempted

Mr. Schwarz in the past had looked to place limits on labor contributions so that individual locals could not make donations if their parent union had already made the maximum contribution, but the Council had resisted, persuaded by arguments that locals often acted independently of their parent union and of each other.

Ms. Quinn, asked last week why unions were exempted from the scaled-down contribution limits (which also don't apply to any firms whose business interests with the city total less than $100,000), side-stepped the question. She said there had been six months' worth of discussion and negotiation on the reforms and "we think we've covered a vast majority of what we had to cover."

The Mayor said it had been the determination of the elected officials and good-government groups that participated in the discussions not to "let the perfect get in the way of the good. This is an historic change."

He also remarked, "The Federal Government desperately needs these kinds of reforms" because of the "perception" in recent years that big donors got favorable treatment from the White House and Congress.