LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - OCTOBER 20, 2019 Senator Ranzenhofer’s Monthly Column Publicly Financed Campaigns and Your Tax Dollars Protecting your tax dollars and assuring that they are being used in the best way possible is always something that I think about when evaluating legislation. As part of the 2019 NewYork State Budget, theNew York State Public Campaign Financing Commission was created. The main purpose of the Commission is to determine the future of publicly financed elections in the state. From the 2019 enacted budget, $100 million was set aside for a potential public financing system across New York State. While that large chunk of money was set aside, funding for Lyme disease research, agriculture programs and animal shelters were all drastically cut. Setting aside $100 million for political campaigns, while cutting community programs, is a clear example of misplaced priorities. The Commission has begun to meet and is required to issue their final recommendations by December 1st. When I asked for resident input on how they felt regarding taxpayer money being used to fund political campaigns, the results were extremely clear. Seventy-six percent of you let me know that you do not support this plan. While I fully realize that there is a money problem in politics, spending $100 million of taxpayer dollars seems counterproductive. To look at New York City, which already has a public financing system in place, you will see that the system has done very little to build public trust and fight corruption. I believe in reducing campaign contributions across the board and increasing transparency. That is why I have introduced seven bills that I believe will help fight this problem. • S1932 - Restricts government participant contributions • S1933 - Restricts certain corporations from participating or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office • S1934, S1936 - Relates to contribution limits for parties appointed to public positions • S1935, S1987 - Restricts government participant contribution periods • S2350 - Expands media disclosure requirements and lowers political contribution limits Additionally, I have started a petition to tell the Commission to say no to your tax dollars being used to fund political campaigns. The petition and more information on my bills can be found on my website, https://www. nysenate.gov/senators/michael- h-ranzenhofer. Together we can assure your voice is heard in Albany. 1 Church St., LeRoy, NY 14482 585.768.2201 www.lpgraphics.net