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Elections are supposed to give ordinary people a voice, but once money gets involved, all bets are off. New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo campaigned on a promise of “fair elections” and campaign finance reform. But so far all we’ve seen is talk.
That’s why activists are traveling all over the state of NY right now dropping 99 banners — at least one in every county — to keep the heat on Governor Cuomo and demand that he keep his promise to fund fair elections.
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Public financing for elections directly fights against the corruption that has been undermining our democracy. It helps level the playing field for candidates who want to remain accountable to their communities and independent of corporate donors. In states where it’s been implemented, public financing of elections has led to a wave of victories for candidates of color and women.
Here’s the problem. Governor Cuomo has the ability to uphold his end of the bargain and wield his political power to keep funding for fair elections in the NY State budget — but it might not be in his best interest. Cuomo has taken big checks from Bank of America, Citigroup, Pepsi, Comcast, JP Morgan, and AT&T, to name a few donors. More than 99% of his campaign money came from large donations, and nearly half of his donations came in chunks greater than $40,000.
Governor Cuomo is deciding *right now* whether to cave to the influence of his corporate donors, or keep his word and push for fair elections in the 2014 budget. State governments around the U.S. are watching New York to see what happens. Win or lose, the outcome of this fight will have serious ramifications for the future of fair elections.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHG1pJ4Ubyk