Court Allows Unlimited Donations to PACs in NYC Mayoral Race

The New York Progress and Protection PAC supporting Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota can now receive donations that exceed the $150,000 limit under New York State law.

A three-judge panel today overturned a lower court’s decision preventing the PAC from receiving contributions that exceed the state’s maximum.  As a result, the political action committee can now make unlimited independent expenditures in the mayoral race.  By law, PACs can’t coordinate with candidates.

The ruling may improve Lhota’s efforts to close his gap in the polls behind Democratic rival Bill de Blasio, but it’s still a lot of ground to cover in less than two weeks.

“You know, I have nothing to do with that case,” Lhota said.  “I have made it a point not to talk about independent expenditures.  It’s a violation of law for me to even coordinate with them or do anything with them.”

Previously, Lhota has defended the rights of political action committees to receive unlimited donations, calling it a First Amendment issue.

The panel grounded its ruling on precedent set by the controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which protected donations to PACs as political speech.

“The hardship faced by NYPPP and its donors from the denial of relief is significant,” wrote one of the judges in today’s decision.  “Every sum that a donor is forbidden to contribute to NYPPP because of this statute reduces constitutionally protected political speech.”

The panel also threw out the argument laid out in the original decision that the PAC had created an “artificial urgency” in waiting 41 days before the Nov. 5 election day to bring it’s lawsuit.  Instead, the appellate judges concluded it’s beyond the court’s power to decide if political speech is pressing or not.

Thanks to new rules put in place for this election, these contributions will be visible to the public.  Independent expenditures exceeding state limits must be disclosed to the board within 24 hours of being received by campaigns during the last two weeks of the election.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Three-Judge Panel Appoints Magistrate to Help With NY Redistricting

From Politics on the Hudson by: Cara Matthews.

A three-judge panel in federal court in Brooklyn rejected motions today from legislative leaders to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the state’s redistricting process. The U.S. District Court judges referred the creation of a redistricting plan and all related issues to U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann, who will prepare a report and recommendation to the panel.

The ruling orders that all parties appear before the panel and Mann at 2 p.m., 02/27, Monday in Brooklyn.

“At this conference, the Court requests that the parties be prepared to discuss special directives or suggestions, if any, this Court should give to the Magistrate Judge to assist her in preparing a redistricting plan, deadlines, and the appointment of experts,” the order states. “After the conference, the parties should be prepared to participate in a conference with Magistrate Judge Mann to discuss these issues.”

The legislative panel charged with redrawing districts based on the 2010 census has released its proposal for State Assembly and Senate seats, but it has yet to release maps for U.S. House districts. The proposed legislative seats have been roundly criticized, particularly the Senate map.

U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry last week asked for the appointment of the three-judge panel, which she is a member of, to decide whether to appoint a “special master” to develop new State and U.S. House seats for New York. Irizarry said the legislative panel wasn’t making enough progress and indicated court intervention might be appropriate.

The timeline for congressional elections this year has been moved up because of a federal court ruling that made June 26 the date for the primary. New York had to move up its congressional primary in order to be in compliance with the federal MOVE Act, which requires that boards of elections send absentee ballots to overseas and military voters at least 45 days before the general election.

New York had scheduled primaries for Sept. 11, which doesn’t leave enough time to count ballots and resolve legal issues. The petitioning process for House seats begins next month. The primary for state legislative offices is still scheduled for Sept. 11.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and good-government groups have pushed unsuccessfully for independent redistricting. Cuomo has said he would veto any lines that weren’t created by an independent body.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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