The Independent View: NY Working Families Party and Campaign Finance Laws

A fresh round of legal trouble may be in store for the Working Families Party. A special prosecutor requested by the Staten Island district attorney is now investigating allegations that the organization skirted campaign finance laws in 2009 by providing low-cost campaign services to WFP-backed Democrats through the party's for-profit arm, Data and Field Services, which provides candidates with full service field and campaign management consulting. The revelation comes as the third party gears up for a host of state and local elections, six months after it appeared to have put an end to a tough chapter in its 15-year history.

Last October, the Working Families Party settled a civil lawsuit charging that it unfairly aided the 2009 campaigns of Staten Island Democrat Debi Rose and other City Council candidates. The organization agreed to shut down Data and Field Services and pay more than $100,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs' law firm.

The settlement was thought to be the culmination of two years of legal headaches for the party, which included probes by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan and federal prosecutors, who decided not to file charges. But the special prosecutor, which the Office of Court Administration appointed on Jan. 12, 2012 has the power to subpoena records, testimony and witnesses.

Dan Cantor, the party's executive director, said he was unaware of the investigation when reached by phone Wednesday and declined to comment. A spokesman for the party also declined to comment.

The investigation could lead to renewed scrutiny of the successful campaigns Data and Field Services aided in 2009, including those of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and City Council members Ms. Rose; Jimmy Van Bramer and Danny Dromm of Queens; and Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams of Brooklyn.

A spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board, which holds extensive campaign records of these officials, declined to comment.

A spokesman for Mr. Donovan said the request for a special prosecutor was made in February 2010, when Mr. Donovan was running for state attorney general. An Office of Court Administration spokesman could not explain why the application took nearly two years to process.