THE ASSEMBLY STATE OF NEW YORK ALBANY

April 16, 2013 Hon. Sheldon Silver, Speaker New York State Assembly Albany, New York 12248 Dear Speaker Silver: We write to express our strong support for making it a priority this session to enact legislation reforming New York States laws regarding fmancing of election campaigns. We believe that an essential component of such reform is a public financing program to provide matching fbnds to qualified candidates for public office. This would enable us to restore trust in the fairness of the political process by diminishing the perceived excessive influence of wealthy special interests. It would also reduce the amount of time candidates and elected officials need to spend raising money from wealthy donors, leaving more time to serve constituents and address issues that are important to New Yorkers. Finally, such an approach would maintain a significant level of participation by private citizens in determining which candidates earn financial support, while increasing the opportunity for contributors of modest means to have a genuine impact. Of course, we recognize that you have been a leader in promoting this kind of reform for many, many years, including your work to advance the Fair Elections Act, which many Members of the Assembly have joined you in sponsoring. Given the changes in the Senate since last year and Governor Andrew Cuomos recent statements in support of public campaign financeand given that many of us in the Assembly are new this year and have not previously had the opportunity to vote for the public financing legislationwe thought this would be a good time to express our collective support for your efforts in this area. To that end, we write in support of legislation that would: Provide for public financing for primary, general, and special election campaigns for statewide offices, Assembly, Senate, and constitutional convention delegates, for any candidate who meets the requirements for getting on the ballot, voluntarily opts into the system, and meet~ligibility thresholds that demonstrate significant financial support in the form of small donations from a substantial number of New Yorkers, including residents of the area the candidate seeks to represent.

Provide such financing through a matching program, whereby contributions up to a modest threshold are matched with public funds at a multiple that allows even small contributors to have a meaningful impact.

Hon. Sheldon Silver

April 16, 2013

Protect the integrity of the program and ensure that taxpayer funds are not wasted or misused, for example, by limiting the total public funds each candidate may receive to an amount necessary to run an effective campaign (private small donations would not be capped), only expending public funds when candidates face genuine opposition, and restricting spending of public funds to legitimate campaign expenses. Impose contribution limits that are substantially lower than current limits for all offices, perhaps $2,000 (as proposed in the 2012 Fair Elections Act) or $2,600 (the current limit to all federal candidates). Limit expenditures by party committees for services to candidates, for those candidates who participate in the public financing system. Provide for proper enforcement of the campaign finance laws with appropriate penalties, while also providing a robust, candidate-friendly compliance department to help candidates comply with the law. Connecticut should serve as a model. Thank you, as always, for your leadership on this and so many other issues. We look forward to productive work in the remainder of the legislative session, and we hope to join you in making this the year we achieve lasting campaign finance reform. Sincerely,

Brian Kavanagh

,Iames F. Brennan

Karim Camara

4246*
Richard N. Gottfried Ellen Jaffe Barbara Lifton

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Donna A. Lupardo Joan L. Millman Felix Ortiz Linda B. Rosenthal Michelle Schimel

Hon. Sheldon Silver Additional Signatories Thomas Abinanti lnez Baron Anthony J. Brindisi David Buchwald William Colton Rafael L. Espinal David F. Gantt Phillip Goldfeder Rhoda Jacobs Ron Kim Alan N. Maisel Michael Miller Steve Otis Daniel Quail Gabriela Rosa Sean Ryan Aravella Simotas Michaelle Solages Bob Sweeney Michele Titus

April 16, 2013

Carmen E. Arroyo William Boyland Harry B. Bronson Kevin A. Cahill Jeffrey Dinowitz Patricia Fahy Vanessa L. Gibson Aileen M. Gunther Mark Johns Charles Lavine Shelley Mayer Walter T. Mosley Amy R. Paulin Sam Roberts Nily Rozic William Scarborough Frank Skartados Phillip Steck Fred W. Thiele, Jr. Harvey Weisenberg

Didi Barren Edward C. Braunstein Alec Brook-Krasny Barbara M. Clark Steve Englebright Sandy Galef Deborah Glick Andrew Hevesi Micah Keliner Joseph R. Lentol John M. McDonald Daniel ODonnell N. Nick Perry Robert J. Rodriguez Addie J. Russell Luis Sepulveda James Skoufis Al Stirpe Matthew Titone David I. Weprin