FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009
CONTACT:
Bob Cohen, 518.465.4600 x104,
cell:518.265.6183
Charlie Albanetti, 518.465.4600 x121
New Report: Contributions by Regulated Industries Block
Needed Legislation Benefiting Consumers, Environment
Analysis Shows Public Financing Would Remove "Pay-to-Play" Influence of
Special Interests in New York
Bills on Health Care, Ticket Scalping, Rent Regulation, Wetlands at Issue
Albany - As the State Senate begins a process of seeking public comment on the shape of public
financing elections legislation this week, Citizen Action of New York released a new report today
finding that campaign contributions from corporate interests are used to block legislation that would
help consumers, tenants and the environment. The report, New Yorkers Pay When Big Money
Plays: The Case for Public Financing of Elections, analyzes five bills relating to health care, the
environment, rent regulation and ticket scalping, and shows that the nonprofits in favor of passing
this common sense legislation were outspent many times over by industries that would be
regulated by the legislation.
Citizen Action called on the State Assembly and Senate to pass public financing of elections for
state legislature and statewide offices in New York in order to give an alternative to the state's
“pay-to-play” system where wealthy corporate interests can continually block legislation that is in
the public interest.
This week starts the public input process for three public financing bill drafts that the State Senate
has posted on their new website, http://www.nysenate.gov/legislation and
http://campaignfinanceideas.nysenate.gov. New Yorkers will have an opportunity to show their
support for public financing at the State Senate’s public hearing on public financing of elections on
in Rochester on May 28th and again in Albany on June 3rd.
“New Yorkers can no longer afford not to pass public financing of elections for statewide offices,”
said Karen Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York. “The current campaign
finance system gives too much control over how public policy is made in this state to big money
campaign contributors. We need a system that provides transparency and accountability to the
voters – public financing of elections is that system.”
The report analyzes campaign contributions made by companies and organizations that are
impacted by five selected bills and compares those contributions with the contributions made by
consumer or environmental groups that also lobbied on that bill. In each case, the consumer and
--more--
environmental groups lobbying on the bill were overwhelmingly outspent by the companies that
would be regulated by that bill, by 9 to 1 and often more.
“The research shows that big money interests have far too much influence in the Capitol,” said Bob
Cohen, Citizen Action Policy Director. “It’s time that we end the institutionalized barriers to common
sense legislation that would help average New Yorkers.”
The report found that big business and trade organizations vastly outspent consumer and
environmental groups who lobbied on the same bills. The findings include the following:





For a bill that would lead to discounts on prescription drugs, 99.99% of the $1,093,348 in
campaign contributions came from the drug companies, drug stores and their trade
associations.
94% of the $105,784 in contributions from entities that lobbied on a bill that would regulate
how much health insurance companies can increase their rates came from health insurers.
(Citizen Action, the only consumer group that made campaign contributions, gave the
remaining 6%.)
A bill that would allow the state to regulate and protect smaller parcels of freshwater
wetlands passed the Assembly last year and again this year, but has not passed the
Senate. Of the $310,441 in campaign contributions, 92% was given by real estate interests
and builders.
In the case of a bill that would reverse a state law allowing landlords to avoid rent regulation
if an apartment rents for more than $2000 and becomes vacant, which would keep
thousands of apartments affordable and limit tenant intimidation, we found that 99.8% or
$594,365 in campaign contributions came from three organizations associated with the real
estate industry.
Finally, in the case of a bill that was passed in 2007 over consumer objections that removed
caps on reseller markups of sports and concert tickets, all contributions, $451,213, came
from the entertainment industry that was in favor of the law.
“The time to finally end the grip of corporate interests on our laws in New York is now,” added
Jessica Wisneski, Citizen Action Legislative Director. “The New York State Legislature must make
public financing of elections a top priority and pass it during this year’s legislative session.”
In 2008, the Assembly passed A11507, which would create a strong public financing system that
would give candidates four public dollars for every dollar raised in contributions of $250 or less
from New York State residents. Also in 2008, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith sponsored a
full public financing bill in the State Senate (S7175) that is modeled on a law passed by
Connecticut in 2005 that the New York Times called “an instant model for other statehouses.”
Citizen Action of New York is a statewide membership organization that fights for social, racial,
economic and environmental justice. The full report is available at www.votersnotdonors.org and
www.citizenactionny.org.
###