I. What Is Small Donor Public Financing?
Small donor public financing is the most powerful, proven solution available to counter the overwhelming influence of wealth on our political process in the aftermath of the Citizens United decision, which gave the green light to unlimited special interest spending. It is built on six components:
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A $6-to-$1 match of small donations. For each small contribution by an in-state resident, a candidate for a state office would receive six times that amount in public money. A contribution of $10 would then be worth $70. This would boost the voices of regular New Yorkers.
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Qualifying thresholds. To ensure that funds are not wasted on frivolous or uncompetitive candidates, public financing participants would have to first demonstrate reasonable levels of support by collecting a minimum number of small donations from constituents.
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Reduced contribution limits. New York’s contribution limits are currently sky high. Individuals can give as much as $69,700 to a candidate for statewide office, $19,300 to a state Senate candidate, and $9,400 to a state Assembly candidate in an election cycle. footnotehttps—wwwelectionsnygov-cfcontributionlimitshtmlLimits_4wtm1MZXKUK9CrkY-rrhlbEZ3Pxt4CbNGnvFAnQg8Q_nMlGnrgHyAozhttps—wwwelectionsnygov-cfcontributionlimitshtmlLimitsNew York State Board of Elections, “Contribution Limits,” accessed February 15, 2019, https://www.elections.ny.gov/cfcontributionlimits.html#Limits. That’s much higher than federal contribution limits or those in most states. Candidates participating in small donor public financing would be required to agree to lower limits, to further the program’s goal of focusing fundraising on everyday constituents and voters rather than deep-pocketed donors.
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A cap on public funds, but no limits on total fundraising or spending. Participating candidates would be able to compete in the face of unlimited independent spending after Citizens United. They would be allowed to raise private funds even after hitting the public funding cap, subject to individual contribution limits, and to spend without limit if they need to do so.
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Transparency and oversight. To protect New York’s investment of public funds, the program would require public disclosure by participating candidates of fundraising and spending and enforce compliance rules effectively. Drawing on experience in Connecticut, it would establish effective oversight while making compliance easy and inexpensive.
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Adequate and reliable funding. If the program had been in place in 2018, even an aggressive projection of the cost to New York — assuming that every candidate opted in — would have come to less than 1/10 of one percent of the state budget for funding and administration, or less than a penny per day per New Yorker. footnote1_xs5JTnGIvflDGYV63ge1-lE0MwQh-hZQPzO96rakPOc_m0HG6cgUf1La1Michael J. Malbin and Brendan Glavin, “Small-Donor Matching Funds for New York State Elections: A Policy Analysis of the Potential Impact and Cost,” Campaign Finance Institute, February 2019, 12, http://www.cfinst.org/pdf/State/NY/Policy-Analysis_Public-Financing-in-NY-State_Feb2019_wAppendix.pdf.
End Notes
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footnotehttps—wwwelectionsnygov-cfcontributionlimitshtmlLimits_4wtm1MZXKUK9CrkY-rrhlbEZ3Pxt4CbNGnvFAnQg8Q_nMlGnrgHyAoz
https—wwwelectionsnygov-cfcontributionlimitshtmlLimits
New York State Board of Elections, “Contribution Limits,” accessed February 15, 2019, https://www.elections.ny.gov/cfcontributionlimits.html#Limits. -
footnote1_xs5JTnGIvflDGYV63ge1-lE0MwQh-hZQPzO96rakPOc_m0HG6cgUf1La
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Michael J. Malbin and Brendan Glavin, “Small-Donor Matching Funds for New York State Elections: A Policy Analysis of the Potential Impact and Cost,” Campaign Finance Institute, February 2019, 12, http://www.cfinst.org/pdf/State/NY/Policy-Analysis_Public-Financing-in-NY-State_Feb2019_wAppendix.pdf.