In effect, the public was paying to give the bundlers even more clout.

“The city should not be providing public dollars to amplify the already strong voices of special interests,” said Ben Kallos, a Democratic councilman who is the chairman of the committee on governmental operations. In May, he held a hearing on a bill that would eliminate the matching contributions for money bundled by someone doing city business. Mr. de Blasio’s counsel, Henry Berger, testified in favor.

“Lobbyists play a number of roles in city government, some of which are very, very important,” Mr. Berger said. “Their influence on the electoral process as demonstrated in the 2013 campaign is significant, and can be reduced by this, and we think it is appropriate to do so.”