New York Comptroller, Tom DiNapoli, wrote an op/ed on Wednesday in The Times Union called the decision to not participate in a one-off public financing program for his race “one of the hardest decisions of my career.”
DiNapoli reiterated his call for a statewide system of publicly financed campaigns, but also provides his most extensive explanation to date for why he did not participate in the program.
His Republican opponent, Bob Antonacci, ultimately sought public matching dollars, but did not raise enough money to qualify for the program. DiNapoli handily won re-election last year.
“The legislation was sloppy, inadequate and unsound in so many ways that good government groups that had spent decades fighting for this change were outraged and encouraged me to reject it,” DiNapoli wrote in the op/ed. “In the end, I agreed with the advocates and chose not to participate in the pilot. There were too many signs that the program was doomed from the start. Perhaps it was designed to fail.”
The comptroller pointed to a report released by the Board of Elections earlier this month that evaluated the program, noting that more time was needed for state officials to develop a public-matching system.
He added the failure of the year-long program that only impacted his race “should not dissuade New York from considering and adopting real public campaign finance reform.”
The program was approved by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers as part of a broader package of ethics and anti-corruption reforms in the state budget in 2014.
A broader public financing measure was ultimately not agreed to over objections by Senate Republicans, who oppose the idea of taxpayers essentially bankrolling campaigns.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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