NYC News and Analysis City Council campaign finance reform lobbyist Dirty NYC?

http://ny-popculture-politics.blogspot.com/?m=1

Note from Suzannah: true or false Melissa Mark Viverito with her lobbyist pals broke campaign laws and she was rewarded with a city Council Speaker job!

Scott Levenson, NY-CLASS, Citizens United Super PAC Investigation (Updated)

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2 comments:

1. 
   Tom HillgardnerMarch 8, 2014 at 11:07 AM

   "But the still larger question for Democrats, who are said to largely favor campaign finance reform, is why do they accept that the Democratic mayor and his Council speaker have yet to call for campaign finance reform to end the corruptive role of lobbyists and big business and special interest money in the election system." Because the problem is Citizens United which threatens the state and city campaign finance rules that Levenson ostensibly broke with a finding of facial unconstitutionality should the CFB press their enforcement. The question shouldn't be about the state and local Dems. Why hasn't President Obama led Congressional Democrats in seeking a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United? The answer to that is that the Dems and Repubs both benefit from the status quo and real campaign finance reform would weaken the two major parties. That is something that Obama refuses to do. So they whine and complain while doing nothing about Citizens United. The mayor of teh city of New York and the city council have little real power in this realm where federal constitutional law controls.

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   Louis FloresMarch 8, 2014 at 11:34 AM
   The mayor and the City Council are certainly not powerless. The Progressive Era at the turn of the last century showed that reforms could be enacted on a local level and then patterned across the United States. While an outright overturning of Citizens United may be technically impossible to create at a municipal level, there are other actions that City Hall can still nonetheless undertake. Municipal lawmakers and the mayor can repeal the law passed by former Council Speaker Christine Quinn, which loosened campaign finance regulations. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/nyregion/quinn-supports-changing-rules-on-campaign-spending.html) I've noted before that there are municipal steps that can be taken to roll back the corruptive influence that lobbyists and big business and special interest money have on local elections : (i) reforming the do-nothing Campaign Finance Board ; (ii) pressuring progressives to enforce transparency ; (iii) improving Speakership electioneering reporting to make it more difficult for candidates to jurisdiction shop to obfuscate disclosure ; (iv) ending loopholes that allow subcontractor operatives to skirt disclosure requirements ; and (v) ending the provision of free campaign services, including for the Speakership. There are local reforms that the city can enact. Like you point out, maybe nobody has the guts to call out President Obama and other national Democratic Party leaders to enact reforms. Well, the same goes for the mayor and the City Council. Who amongst us has the guts to call out the mayor and his Council speaker, for adopting the same do-nothing attitude prevalent amongst Washington Democrats ? Reforms can be had, it just takes pressuring the system.
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