NYT:

As New York’s progressive lawmakers fought a deadline last month to persuade the State Legislature to reduce the influence of money in politics, they hit an unexpected roadblock.

It was not opposition put up by billionaires or big corporations, but an 11th-hour warning issued by Mario Cilento, the president of the New York A.F.L.-C.I.O., an umbrella group of more than 3,000 affiliated unions.
“Now is not the time,” Mr. Cilento said in a statement.

The last-minute opposition helped derail a push to introduce a small-donor matching system to state candidates; lawmakers ultimately agreed to allow a nine-member commission to decide later on a framework for public financing.