New York City Campaign Finance Board
Public Hearing on 2017 Elections
January 29, 2018
Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to testify. I am Ben Kallos, Council Member of the 5th District and author of Introduction 1130-A, a piece of legislation I introduced in 2016 along with 31 of my colleagues and a diverse group of advocates ranging from good government to labor to academics to women’s organizations to organizations representing low-income communities.
As we discuss the 2017 city elections I am here today to ask that the Campaign Finance Board include this legislation, which will be re-introduced at the January 31st Stated Session, as one of its recommendations in its forthcoming mandatory post-election report.
New York City has the model public finance system in the country. It is a system that has survived court challenges, helped me get elected, and one that I am invested in protecting and improving upon during my time in the City Council.
For anyone here or watching on the live-stream who may not be fully familiar with the system: New York City’s campaign finance system matches the first $175 of contributions from city residents at a 6:1 ratio and gives participating candidates a partial public matching grant of up to 55% of the total spending limit in competitive races.
As good as this system is there is one glaring flaw: a funding gap between the total spending cap and the amount a candidate can receive with the small dollar match.
Every candidate will tell you that if you do not try to raise the maximum and keep up with your opponents, you will not be competitive and you will lose.
The “big dollar gap” for City Council is $65,217 and for Mayor it grows to a staggering $2.5 million. In the 2013 Mayoral race half the money raised ($23.9 of $48.9 million) came from contributions of $4,950, the maximum allowed under the law.
Candidate for Mayor must make a choice on how to raise 7 million dollars. Collect 1,408 contributions of $4,950 from individuals with special interests who have given to every Mayoral candidate before, knowing that the first $175 of each contribution might be matched on a public funds payment that will likely be returned. Rely on the public match of nearly $4 million and do ten times the work collecting more than 17,920 contributions of $175 or less to raise $3 million. If you came from a community with residents that couldn’t contribute $175 and instead needed to run on contributions of $10, that would require 313,605 contributions, more contributions than were given to all candidates in 2013.
If we matched every contribution someone could run for mayor collecting 5,689 contributions of $175, raising about one million in small dollars seeing everyone matched at 6 to 1 to receive $6 million in public funds having met the nearly $7 million dollar spending limit ready to run a competitive race.
We live in the age of Trump, with a president who once said “[a]s a business man and a very substantial donor to very important people, when you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.” Statements like these and the many well-documented cases of corruption and malfeasance create an appearance of impropriety that leads residents to wonder about the integrity of their government. Introduction 1130-A would match every small dollar, eliminating the big money gap and allowing a candidate to fully fund a campaign on just small dollar contributions of $175.
The ability to run a 100% grassroots campaign, where a candidate is beholden to no one except the voters, will revolutionize city politics and restore confidence in government that has been steadily eroding for decades.
This also happens to be the rare example of legislation with no downside. If candidates pursue a small dollar, grassroots campaign we will have elected officials who earned their positions based on their knowledge of the issues, their ideas, and their ability to communicate with the voters instead of their ability to convince millionaires and billionaires to open their wallets. If candidates do not pursue this option, then it’s business as usual and the City is no better or worse off than it is now.
This legislation has received strong support from labor organizations including 32BJ SEIU and CWA District One, political parties like the Working Families Party, Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee, New Kings Democrats, and the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, advocates for low-income communities of color like New York Immigration Coalition, New York Communities for Change, Make the Road, Community Voices Heard, Strong Economy for All, and Bridge Roots, political activists like the New York Progressive Action Network, housing advocates Urban Justice Center, Tenants & Neighbors, Historic Districts Council, Friends of the Earth, and good government groups like Women’s City Club of New York, Effective NY, Reinvent Albany, Citizen Action, Demos, Public Citizen, NYPIRG, Common Cause, and Brennan Center. In the City Council the legislation previously had and continues to have the support of Speaker Corey Johnson and new Governmental Operations Committee Chair Fernando Cabrera.
As the 2021 elections kick-off with every city-wide and boro-wide elected official as well as 36 Council Members term limited and seeking higher office the time is now to pass this important change the will finally close the big dollar gap in our public campaign finance system.
I ask that you join me, so together we can offer New Yorkers a path to a better government. If we truly want a government of, by, and for the people, that government must also be funded by the people.