Governor Cuomo Organizing Citizens to Build Support For NY State Public Financing of Elections

Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

It seems as if New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo is serious about election reform particularly of election campaign finance and perhaps even Public Financing of Elections.  Cuomo is planning a push for a system of public financing of election campaigns. According to a recent article on Cuomo’s plan in the New York Times:

Frustrated with Albany’s tepid reaction to the idea of publicly financed elections, the Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and his fiancé are financing a new campaign to press the issue in coordination with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Protect Our Democracy will seek lower limits on political donations, greater transparency and regulatory enforcement, and a system of public financing for state elections modeled after the one that is used in New York City. Government reform groups have pressed similar proposals for years with little success.

Also, here is some interesting information straight from nyc.gov:

New York City’s voluntary Campaign Finance Program provides public matching funds to candidates for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president, and City Council candidates who qualify and agree to abide by strictly enforced spending limits. All candidates for these offices — whether or not they choose to join the Program — must adhere to New York City contribution limits, and disclose exactly where contributions come from and how their funds are spent. This information is audited and made available to the public through the CFB’s searchable online database.