Corruption reports lead to demands for reform

Posted

It took back-to-back corruption scandals to turn campaign finance reform into the hottest issue in Albany. Now maybe a few good-government reports can give Board of Elections enforcement it’s own 15 minutes of fame.

On May 7, a day after Citizens Union released a report accusing the state BOE of not keeping track of political clubs’ finances, New York Public Interest Research Group reported that candidates for office had violated the state’s campaign finance laws 103,805 times over the last two years.

Many of the violations were minor, like donations and expenditures with missing addresses and dates, and late filings. But some were more serious. 

In 2012, there were 278 instances of corporations giving more than the allowed $5,000 to political campaigns. 

Among the biggest offenders highlighted in the report were campaigns for former state Sen. Pedro Espada and former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate — both of whom have now been convicted of crimes in New York State. 

New Yorkers for Espada’s last filing showed $290,556 in campaign funds for the 2010 primary he lost to state Sen. Gustavo Rivera. 

The group never filed a “no activity” statement — which is required if a campaign ceases to raise or spend money — and it is unclear where the money went or whether it was spent on campaign-related activities. Another committee, this one for Mr. Espada’s 2008 campaign, has also not filed the required statements. The last filing shows $62,593 in its coffers.

A campaign for Mr. Monserrate has not filed required activity statements. The last filing shows he had a $46,731 war chest. 

The Riverdale Press previously reported that the Bronx County Democratic Committee’s latest filing in January was late and showed dozens of contributions and expenditures without complete addresses. When notified of the sloppy reporting, the state Board of Elections said it hasn’t had the manpower to investigate local campaign committees since 2006. That was when the state BOE’s jurisdiction was expanded to include local filings, which previously were examined at a more local level. They jumped from 1,500 to 12,500 and no additional resources were offered by the state, according to state BOE spokesman John Conklin.

Due to budget cuts, the state BOE does not currently have an investigator looking at local committees. 

“We just don’t have the manpower to follow up on those kinds of issues,” Douglas Kellner, co-chair of the state BOE, said.

NYPIRG argues that this lack of enforcement, even for minor offenses, is creating a system that promotes corruption.

“Lax enforcement of minor violations can both hide more serious corruption problems and breed a general sense of lawlessness that lets some politicians grow comfortable with ignoring ethics and election laws,” reads the report.

NYPIRG also points out that some of the elected officials later convicted of more serious charges, like Mr. Espada and Assemblyman William Boyland, were among the most outstanding offenders of breaking campaign finance laws. Bronx Republican Committee Jay Savino, who has been accused of accepting bribes to help state Sen. Malcolm Smith get onto the Republican ballot in the mayoral race, is also one of the state’s biggest offenders of minor campaign finance violations. The Bronx County GOP’s campaign committee lists 278 expenses of more than $49 that omit addresses. 

“Unfortunately, failure to obey basic laws such as the requirement to file are so common that the entire system is held in disregard,” reads the report.

While many elected officials have proposed new state campaign finance laws, including a ban or limit on corporate contributions and more stringent filing requirements, many of the new laws would be useless without enforcement.

Good government groups are calling on the state to fund an investigative branch of the Board of Elections. Though the bill is not out yet, state Sen. Jeff Klein has proposed an aggressive overhaul to the state’s campaign finance laws. The package of reforms includes creation of a Campaign Finance Board charged with oversight and enforcement of the state’s campaign finance laws. 

campaign finance, reform, citizens union, New York Public Interest Research Group, board of elections, campaign filing, pedro espada

Comments