Three years after the 2013 elections revealed serious flaws in New York City’s campaign finance laws, the City Council may finally be moving to fix some of the worst problems — but not without including a few changes that would benefit individual Council members.
Up to a dozen new bills are being shaped behind closed doors, and although no drafts have been released yet, word coming from the Council has alarmed some of the city’s most persistent and careful advocates for better and fairer elections. At least some of the legislation being discussed would make it easier for candidates to amass war chests of public money for future races, or to spend campaign money on expenses that are not permitted by the city law but are for state politicians. By way of egregious example, one powerful state senator used campaign money to buy covers for his swimming pool, somehow deeming them not to be a personal expense.