The Independent View: Common Cause to Release Report on NY Party Housekeeping Accounts

Common Cause/NY will hold a telephone press conference with reporters to release a briefing on contributions to Political Party Housekeeping accounts in New York from 2013-2015.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wired $1 million just before the last election to a Political Committee controlled by the Republican leader of the Senate. Then he gave $250,000 to a Committee controlled by Assembly Democrats.

The billionaire George Soros wrote $250,000 checks three times this spring to an account to help the State Democratic Party.

Supersized checks also routinely pour in to Albany Political Parties from Verizon, AT&T, Wal-Mart, Hollywood film studios, tobacco companies, bottling companies, hospitals and dozens of other businesses and individuals who have a special interest in the laws, regulations and contracts sealed in Albany.

The checks are written to so-called "Housekeeping" accounts, which are allowed to take unlimited donations to rally for the Party and pay the bills at headquarters. It is often called "soft money." The money cannot be used to buy ads or mailers or staff to support a specific candidate. Those kinds of traditional Party Committees have limits, a business can give a grand total of only $5,000 a year and individuals can give up to $102,300.

It's all perfectly legal under New York State Election law. But Good Government groups have long been suspicious about how the money comes and goes.

Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause, said there is a lot to be learned with the power of a subpoena. What will the bank statements and invoices show? Who are these polling firms and consultants, conveniently hired at election time, who often remain nameless in Public Campaign Finance reports? Where do these get-out-the-vote advertisements run? Are they awarded as perks to some, help some legislators, and withheld from others? Do the messages cross the line from get-out-the-vote to supporting or opposing specific candidates? "There are all sorts of things that would allow us to determine if these are political expenses or not," Lerner said. "It's virtually impossible for us to do it."

Bill Mahoney, a researcher at the New York Public Interest Group, said the emails and other communications that may come with a donor's check could prove to be very interesting. Does a donor ask for a vote in exchange for a donation? That would be illegal, he said. Does a donor say it more casually, that he would really appreciate a specific vote? That could be legal, but points to a flawed code of ethics, he said.
"There are lots of legal behaviors in Albany that are no different than ones that are illegal," Mahoney said. "It often comes down to how a donor words their sentence when they hand over their check."

Common Cause released a report last summer called "The Life of the Party" that showed special interests had given $133.8 million to Housekeeping Accounts over the last decade. The report pulled data from donor information the Party Committees are required to report to the New York State Board of Elections.

More than two thirds of all soft money is raised from checks of $10,000 or more, and more than half of all soft money is raised from just 59 top donors who have given in excess of $200,000 since 2006, the research showed.

There is one Committee attached to each State Political Party, including the minor parties and some local parties.

There is also a Soft Money Account attached to each Party Conference in the Senate and Assembly. That means a check written to the New York State Democratic Committee's Housekeeping Committee can have as much influence as one written to the campaigns for Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Assembly Speaker or the Senate Leader.

Lerner called the accounts "Slush Funds" that fuel the three-men-in-a-room stronghold in Albany. It also wins access for some of the most powerful lobbies in the State.
"What you're looking at is the cost of admission," she said. "These are the payments made to be sure that all of these special interests are at the table when an issue that affects them comes up."

Most donations to Housekeeping Committees come from businesses, whose donations to candidates are otherwise severely limited to a total $5,000 per year.

Time Warner contributed $342,000 to Housekeeping Committees in just the first six months of this year, while the Legislature was in session. Verizon contributed $81,000 in that time, records show.

The donations are often across the political spectrum, to the State Party Committees and the Majority Leaders in each house.

So far this year, the Greater New York Hospital Association gave $150,000 to Assembly Democrats, $150,000 to Senate Republicans and about $200,000 to the State Democratic Committee. The association gave $100,000 to Senate Democrats, who are in the minority, but carry a lot of weight, and $5,000 to Assembly Republicans, who are far in the minority in that house.

The timing of a donation often coincides with action.

In 2008, Altria made a $10,000 donation to the Onondaga County Republican Committee's Housekeeping Account just as the County Legislature, dominated by Republicans, was debating whether to prohibit the sale of tobacco to 19-year-olds.

Since 2004, movie and television studios and executives have made about $455,000 in donations to Party Housekeeping Committees, according to a Post-Standard analysis earlier this year. The State gives up to $420 million a year in tax breaks for making movies and TV shows in New York.

Housekeeping donations go beyond cash to include "in-kind" donations of airplane and helicopter rides, receptions and smaller goodies.

For example, NBC Universal threw in $3,000 worth of DVDs, Paramount Pictures gave $2,550 worth and Sony Pictures Entertainment gave $800 worth. The Walt Disney Company gave $204 worth of key chains, records show.

Use of the money has also raised eyebrows.

In 2005, the New York State Republican Committee used Housekeeping money to pay a salary to a full-time assistant to First Lady Libby Pataki.

Gov. Cuomo assembled the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, often called the Moreland Commission, in the wake of a long string of Albany scandals. None of them had to do with Housekeeping Committees. That is perhaps because no one is policing them. The New York State Board of Elections is understaffed and has not shown an interest in auditing soft money, Lerner said.