“New York’s Campaign-Finance Law Worked, but New Yorkers Still Won’t Celebrate It”

Mark Schmitt:

The rise of outside money in New York campaigns is indeed a concern, and could ultimately undermine the public-financing system, which is finally gaining recognition as a model for reform at the state and federal level that puts a higher priority on encouraging small donors than restricting big ones, and that seems likely to withstand constitutional challenge.

But let’s put this new spending in perspective. Thanks to the city’s excellent disclosure requirements, we know that about $12.7 million was spent by independent groups in the primaries, with almost $5 million of that total coming from Jobs for New York, the real estate group. A total of $105 million, in public and private money combined, was spent by candidates themselves, the vast majority of whom were abiding by voluntary spending limits. That is, about one dollar in ten came through an outside group. By contrast, in the 2012 U.S. Senate races, outside groups spent about half as much as candidates, even though none of the candidates were subject to spending limits, and a study by the Campaign Finance Institute shortly after the election indicated that in contested House and Senate races – those decided by 55% or less —  outside groups spent about the same amount as candidates. In some state-level elections, such as in North Carolina, outside spending exceeds the amounts spent by candidates.

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