7/30/2019 O'Mara Letter 06 May 2013

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May 6, 2013

Senator Thomas O'MaraChair, Senate Elections CommitteeLegislative Office Building Room 812188 State Street

Albany, NY 12247

Dear Senator O'Mara:

We understand that the Senate Elections Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearingon the topic of public financing of elections, examining both the existing system of publiccampaign finance in New York City and the proposed legislation to create a similarmechanism for state elections.

As you know, the Working Families Party has been a consistent advocate for publicfinancing of elections which, in combination with strict enforcement and contribution limits,serves to reduce the corrupting influence of money in politics. Especially in the wake ofrecent corruption scandals, the need for this reform is more urgent than ever.

However, we were disturbed to read the comments from Senate Republican Spokesman

Scott Reif in Friday'sJournal Newsclaiming that the WFP supports the proposal so thatour party can get its "dirty hands" on public campaign money. In the Times Union's CapitalConfidential blog, Mr. Reif repeated and elaborated on his views, accusing the WorkingFamilies Party of having been "found to have violated campaign finance laws."

As the Times Union noted in further coverage of the story, Mr. Reifs statement isincorrect. No judicial entity has charged the WFP with wrongdoing, and there have beenno findings that it violated the law. Those comments should be repudiated both by himand by you. This assertion is made routinely by our political opponents, and no doubt willbe again tomorrow as part of a smear campaign. But to paraphrase Senator Moynihan,you may be entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.

There was indeed a widely publicized investigation into the WFP as a result of our work inthe 2009 NYC City Council elections. A well-organized effort to discredit the WFPcombined with unsourced stories in the NY Postand City Hall News did, through sheerrepetition, leave some people believing that we must be guilty. The New York Postaloneran scores of articles and editorials denouncing the WFP even before the investigation wascomplete. While it seems possible that Republican staffers only get their news fromthe Post, we retain a shred of hope that that is not the case.

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7/30/2019 O'Mara Letter 06 May 2013

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Eventually, in mid-2010, the investigation by the US Attorney's office ended without anyfinding of wrongdoing. You perhaps will not be surprised to learn that the news outlets thathad spilled barrels of ink disparaging us could not be troubled to note that the investigationhad closed.

Since then, the City's Campaign Finance Board has done multi-year audits of all of the

candidates who were backed by the WFP. Five audits into candidates have beencompleted, and as I'm sure you are aware, there were no violations found relating to ourwork on those campaigns. There are four more audits yet to be completed, and we arehopeful that our clean bill of health will be affirmed in all cases.

One investigation into the WFPs role in the same election persists, revived even thoughthe US Attorneys Office found no wrong-doing. Oddly, the special prosecutor appointedhas scarcely any relevant experience as a prosecutor, and so we are concerned about themis-use of judicial power. Still, there have been no findings of wrongdoing whatsoever.

Common decency would suggest that Mr. Reif and the Senate Republicans should

apologize for their erroneous claims against us. We assume it is just a mistake on yourpart, and we ask that you make any such apology public. When allegations once provenfalse continue to be repeated as if they were true, something is rotten. One might fairlywonder if the goal is indeed to get at the truth, or merely to continue the mud-slinging.

In reality, this hearing seems to be mostly an attempt to impugn the largely successfulNYC system, not to understand it. Some have suggested that the Senate Republicansoppose public financing because they benefit from the current system that fosters whatPreet Bahara called a show me the money culture. It was recentlyreported that SenateRepublicans were the beneficiaries of more than $400,000 in campaign contributions fromWalmart since 2010, and that the special tax credit they advocated for including in this

year's minimum wage bill will save Walmart between $20 million and $40 million annually.Perhaps that is just a happy coincidence. But what is clear is that the Senate opposeschanging an undeniably broken system.

Nevertheless, if the Working Families Party is going to be discussed and dissected at yourhearing tomorrow, we respectfully request the opportunity to be allowed to testify andpresent the facts. Surely any sense of fair play requires that you provide us thisopportunity.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Daniel CantorExecutive DirectorWorking Families Party

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