"Through the last election cycle, any candidate whose campaign was determined to have wasted matching funds was forced by the Campaign Finance Board to repay the funds personally. But a broad ruling issued by the state supreme court's appellate division on Feb. 8 significantly diminished the CFB’s power to enforce this liability. In 2013 and beyond, experts on both sides of the case agree, candidates will now have much less to worry about when it comes to forcing them to repay excess, unspent taxpayer-funded campaign dollars to the city, or risk being personally liable for post-election misspending."
Showing posts with label Matching funds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matching funds. Show all posts
NY Candidates No Longer Personally Liable For Wasting Matching Funds, Thanks To New Court Decision
City Hall:
The Big Campaign Finance Story of 2011: An Effective End to Public Financing -- Rick Hasen
Loyola Law School | Faculty Blog: "This development is significant because the Court is likely to take away one of the only tools available to drafters of public financing measures to make such financing attractive to candidates. Public financing has a number of benefits, including reducing the threat of corruption and the appearance of corruption, providing a jump start for new candidates who are not professional politicians, and freeing up candidates and officeholders to have more time to interact with voters. But rational politicians who are serious candidates will not opt into the public financing plan unless they think they will be able to run a competitive campaign under the public financing system. The whole point of the extra matching funds in the Arizona plan is to give candidates assurance they won't be vastly outspent in their election. While an adverse ruling by the Supreme Court in McComish would not mean that all public financing systems would be unconstitutional, it would eliminate one of the best ways to create effective public financing systems."
But the Campaign Legal Center doesn't think this case will be that big of a deal.
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