“Publicly funded campaigns take taxpayer money meant for infrastructure, emergency services and economic development and hand it over to politicians to pay for mailers and robocalls. There is no evidence this backward system does anything to inhibit corruption, and it is more likely to invite misuse of tax dollars than prevent it.

The foundation for these changes came from the Public Campaign Financing Commission, whose work was recently nullified, and its charge ultimately deemed unconstitutional. There is a reason the governor tried to skirt the legislative process before shoehorning the law into this year’s budget; it is largely for his benefit.

Further, new signature thresholds for third parties increase astronomically under these laws. This deliberate maneuver threatens to extinguish the voices of those not entrenched in traditional, big parties and stifles free speech and political discourse. There is no reason taxpayers need to foot the bill for politicians running for office. This policy invites abuse and does nothing to root out rampant corruption in New York.”