Demos Denounces Budget Agreement Without Public Financing

NEW YORK—Today, Governor Cuomo and state leaders announced a budget agreement that left out the full public financing of elections. In response, Demos President Heather McGhee released the following statement:

“Today, Governor Cuomo failed to deliver on his promise to clean up Albany. Despite the fact that nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers in every part of the state support reforms to replace huge contributions with small donations matched with public money, Cuomo and state leaders punted on making real change.  

“New Yorkers deserve a political system that puts people first. Providing public money to match small donations from constituents means politicians pay attention to regular voters and the voices of those not usually heard in our political system are given a boost.

Today, Governor Cuomo failed to deliver on his promise to clean up Albany

“In its report released last year, the soon to be defunct Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption found that New York state campaign finance laws 'enable special interests and wealthy individuals to flood the political process with enormous amounts of money,' and rightly concluded that this is a 'scandal.' Today, the scandal is that the Governor and state leaders squandered a huge opportunity and left reform for another day.”