The New York State Board of Elections (BOE) ruled that former State Senate Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) Members must Return Funds from a Committee set up by the Independence Party (IP).
Risa Sugarman, Chief Enforcement Office of the BOE, has been fighting Members of the now-defunct IDC to give up a pile of Campaign Cash, as the Candidates face hotly contested Primaries. Sugarman recently issued a Letter arguing that, in order to be in Compliance with a June Court Ruling, Members of the IDC must return Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars that was Funneled through a Finance Account to the Members from the State’s IP. Of the $2.5 Million that the IDC raised in Conjunction with the IP, Sugarman pinpointed more than $1.4 Million that needs to be Refunded.
The Senate Independence Campaign Committee (SICC), the Campaign Fundraising Account set up to allow the IP to give Money to IDC Candidates, was Ordered by Supreme Court Justice Kimberly O'Connor to “comply with the Election Law” in a vaguely worded Ruling on June 5th. The Senators have not turned over the Money, arguing that the Judge’s Decision does not explicitly Order the Respondents to Return the Money they received from the Campaign Account.
State Election Law dictates that a Political Party such as the IP can give Unlimited Contributions to a Housekeeping Committee, an Account that can only be Created by a Registered Political Party for the purpose of Reporting “housekeeping receipts and expenditures.” To stop Quid Pro Quo Corruption, Election Law bars the IP from turning the Campaign Account over to Members of a different Party. The IDC was Not itself a Political Party, they were all Registered Democrats, when Jeff Klein created the Campaign Account and established himself as Chairman in 2016, so it was not in accordance with Election Law. After the IDC disbanded in April, Klein handed over Leadership of the Account to Frank MacKay, the Current Chairman of the IP.
Justice O'Connor wrote, “To allow the Independence Party to turn over a party committee to members of the IDC, enrolled Democrats, would open the door to political parties allowing other independent bodies or special interest groups, regardless of party affiliation, to control party committees, have their own housekeeping accounts and receive benefits afforded solely to party and constituted committees under the Election Law.”
In her Ruling, O'Connor declared that “SICC’s officers must be enrolled members of the Independence Party.” She also Ordered the Committee to “take whatever actions are necessary to comply with Election Law.” Sugarman argued that because the Campaign Account raised and spent Funds from its Inception to April 24th, when Klein stepped down as Chair, it Retroactively Invalidates Large Contributions the IDC Members received from the Campaign Committee.
The IP and the IDC Senators’ Lawyer Lawrence Mandelker interpreted the Ruling differently than Sugarman. Mandelker argued that O’Connor’s Order to “to comply with Election Law” is Limited to merely barring Democrats from being in Charge of the Campaign Committee. Since the Chairman of the IP took over the Leadership of the Campaign Account, Mandelker maintained that the Committee is No Longer in Violation of Election Law.
“Judges don't like to get drawn into political morasses. So when there's all sorts of politics involved, they try to decide things as narrowly as possible so that they don't get drawn into the politics of it. Dollars to donuts, if I had to guess, I think that's part of what this judge did,” Mandelker said.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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