A coalition that’s advocating for public financing of New York elections wants Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission to look into campaign contributions made by pro-fracking groups and lobbyists. Fair Elections New York issued the call yesterday, basing its arguments on a Common Cause/NY analysis of the contributions, which was also released yesterday. Common Cause is a […]
campaign finance
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Rochester mayoral candidates file financial disclosure forms
Candidates for public office in New York have filed their latest financial reports, and both Rochester mayoral contenders are raising money at a good clip. Incumbent Mayor Tom Richards started the year with an opening balance of $107,676. He reports contributions of $94,175 and expenses totaling $58,523.83 from the second half of January to July […]
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Report: lobbyists and interests generous to area legislators
A new New York Public Interest Research Group report says that New York legislators representing the Rochester region relied heavily on campaign donations from lobbying and special interest groups in 2012. The report says that the 18 legislators representing counties in the Rochester region brought in $2.1 million from lobbying firms and their clients, business […]
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Robach introduces campaign finance legislation
The State Legislature has had no shortage of scandal this year. For a while, it seemed like a new lawmaker was being charged with something almost weekly. Of course, the scandals spurred various high-profile ethics and campaign finance reform proposals, though few have passed. Last week, Republican State Senator Joe Robach added his own proposal […]
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Supreme Court case could deal another blow to campaign finance law
The Supreme Court is set to take up a case that could wipe out federal campaign contribution limits. And if that happens, the public is supposed to pity Washington lobbyists, apparently. An article published yesterday in The Hill, a news site devoted to all things Congress, bears the headline “Lobbyists fear shakedown if Supreme Court […]
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AG turns attention to nonprofits’ elections spending
For the past few days, New York State news has been dominated by the Legislature’s approval of new gun laws and Congress’s approval of a Superstorm Sandy aid package. Another important issue has flown below the radar. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has begun holding public hearings about new campaign finance disclosure requirements for nonrofits, […]
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Cuomo’s high-energy, jam-packed State of the State speech
Governor Andrew Cuomo does not lack ideas for New York State. In fact, he’s got a 300-plus page book full of them. During his State of the State address this afternoon, Cuomo laid out his agenda for the next year. He listed off new initiatives for economic development, incentives for state school districts to extend […]
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Feedback 11/28
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America for sale
By one estimate, this year’s federal elections could cost as much as $6 billion. That’s a projection from the Center for Responsive Politics, the organization that runs the campaign finance tracking website Opensecrets.org. The number may be shocking, but it’s not spontaneous or arbitrary; it’s been decades in the making. And the Supreme Court’s 2010 […]
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The high price of the presidency
This spending in this year’s presidential race will crush the record set in 2008. But how outrageous will the sums be? As of October 17, the numbers were staggering. First, some context. The 2008 presidential election cost $1.7 billion, twice as much as the 2004 presidential election. In 2012, spending will at least double that […]
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Slaughter tops Brooks in fundraising
Louise Slaughter and Maggie Brooks have submitted their quarterly campaign finance reports and, from the beginning of July to the end of September, Slaughter raised far more money than Brooks. In fact, Slaughter raised more in individual contributions than Brooks did in total. Slaughter, a Democrat and the incumbent, raised $720,830 for the quarter, with […]
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Week ahead: campaign finance filings; Brooks-Slaughter and Romney-Obama debates
Congressional candidates have until midnight tonight to turn in their quarterly reports, which will tell us how much money they’ve raised who they’ve raised it from. The reports can also give us some idea of who supports a candidate, and how that candidate may vote if put into office. In the 25th Congressional District race, […]
