Suffolk Greens condemn Governor Cuomo’s “reforms” designed to kill 3rd parties
With Democrats like Cuomo who needs Russians? – Howie Hawkins
NY Post, April 3:
Gov. Cuomo managed to get his controversial overhaul of the state’s election laws and campaign-finance regulations included in the sprawling $177 billion budget, effectively ending a court fight that had tied the proposal up for months.
The overhaul will make it significantly harder for third parties to maintain their lines on the ballot, including Cuomo’s bête noire, the liberal Working Families Party.
All political parties will now have to score at least 130,000 votes in a statewide general election to remain on the ballot, more than double the current requirement of 50,000. It also imposes new limits on New York’s famously loose rules for fundraising.
In exchange, candidates will be eligible to receive public funding for their campaigns.
The overhaul was first proposed by a panel commissioned by lawmakers and Cuomo in the 2019 budget, which included Cuomo ally and state Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs.
The group issued their recommendations in November, which would have the force of law unless lawmakers vetoed them. However, the WFP and Conservative Party sued, claiming that Cuomo and lawmakers abrogated the proper legislative process, and won.
The WFP told The Post it is planning to head back to court.
“When he created a commission to wipe out third parties we sued and won,” said state director Sochie Nnaemeka. “And we will win again.”
However, Jacobs defended the overhaul and applauded Cuomo’s inclusion of it in the budget.
“I think it was a very important piece of work and it has for the first time given New York State a substantive public finance system,” he said. “It changes the rules regarding donations and contribution limits, eliminating big money and I think it does make certain reforms on ballot access that were long overdue.”
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