The Independent View: NY Campaign Finance Pilot Surprise to Office Holder

In crafting the New York's budget, nobody called Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to let him know that his office was going to be the prize in a hastily organized pilot program for public campaign financing.

"Suffice it to say I did not get a heads-up from anybody," said DiNapoli.

Any candidate who "opts in" to the system will be eligible for a 6-to-1 match of small-donor dollars up to a certain limit, though only after raising $200,000 in matchable contributions, including at least 2,000 of sums between $10 and $175. Any candidate who signs on also agrees to strict disclosure rules and spending caps.

The Cuomo administration argues the comptroller-only plan was the only politically feasible option due to opposition from the Senate's minority Republicans, who view a public matching system as a waste of taxpayer money that will do little to fight public corruption. But even if the GOP allowed a broader plan to go to the floor, the Senate's Democrats currently lack 32 votes to pass it.

What public financing advocates are telling DiNapoli is that he should refuse to opt in. "I'm still analyzing the details of the proposal," said DiNapoli, who said he would soon make a final decision. But maybe the plan "was set up to fail, to make it so unattractive to participate — for me, as someone who's already an announced candidate, but even if you're a challenger." he said.

As outlined in the budget, the matching system would be overseen by the state Board of Elections, a panel that DiNapoli says has suffered years of criticism for its often snail-like pace. While the budget also creates an independent enforcement entity to improve the board's watchdog function, that office needs a leader and a staff. Meanwhile, state Democrats have left one of their two seats on the bipartisan board vacant for the past four months.

Despite his ire, DiNapoli isn't ready to point fingers at anyone. "I blame the process; I don't know that I blame any one individual," he said. But then again: Would it have been such a hassle to give him a heads-up?

He holds out hope that the volley of criticism from good-government groups will bring the issue back before the legislative session wraps up in June.

UPDATE
The state comptroller told The New York Times that he will not opt into a pilot program for public campaign finance passed last week as part of the state budget.

DiNapoli has long said the comptroller's election should have a system where small donations are multiplied by taxpayer funds. But he said the system as proposed was "a Frankenstein monster" that could not be properly implemented. “What they did is take something well-intentioned,” DiNapoli told the Times, “and hijacked it for their own short-term purposes, very much at my expense.” He continued: “I am not trying to sound like ‘pity me,’ because I intend to run and I intend to win, so we will figure it out. … But to change the rules this far into the cycle is clearly unfair.”