For too long, our politics have been drowned in a flood of corporate political spending that undermines the voices of real people.
And it's gotten worse: the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision has meant even more corporate cash is flooding into politics. New York must push back against these special interests by improving shareholder control and corporate disclosure.
Assemblyman Rory Lancman and I sponsor the 'Corporate Political Activity Accountability to Shareholders Act,' [4] which requires clear shareholder approval before executives can spend their money on political campaigns. It also requires disclosure of both the amount of money expended for which candidate or cause and the corporate purpose behind that expenditure.
This legislation will make New York a national leader in closing the gaps created by Citizens United and reforming the campaign finance system. We must pass this bill - and take a big step towards reining in corporate influence and bringing much-needed transparency to our politics.
I'm also proud to sponsor other critical legislation to reform our campaign finance system:
- S44, which would lower contribution limits [5] for statewide candidates from $55,800 to $10,000, for Senate candidates from $15,500 to $4,800, and for Assembly candidates from $7,600 to $4,800;
- S37, which would begin to put a stop to pay-to-play [6] by significantly limiting contributions from lobbyists to $250 per candidate per election;
- S30, which would limit contributions from LLCs [7] to the same $5000 limit as corporations;
- S876, which would creating a campaign finance enforcement unit [8] within the State and make the office of the campaign finance enforcement counsel a four-year term;
Sign up below to join our campaign.
