Sitting on a solid fund-raising lead, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s campaign said Monday that it won’t tap public matching funds as she seeks a second full term.
Hochul, a Democrat, said she made the decision not to opt into the program to save taxpayer money. Statewide candidates can get more than $3 million through the program, which is in place for the first time in a gubernatorial election this year.
“Gov. Hochul is proud to be able to decline taxpayer dollars that could be better used to fund programs that put more money in New Yorkers’ pockets, using every available resource to lower costs — just like she’s been doing for years,” campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the Republican candidate, has registered for the matching funds program but doesn’t appear to have met the threshold requirements to participate. His campaign attacked Hochul’s decision.
“Kathy Hochul has taken tens of millions of dollars from special interest groups — which is contrary to her reasoning for public election financing,” Blakeman campaign spokesperson Madison Spanodemos said. “Once again, Hochul has done a U-turn on an important issue.”
To qualify for funds, any candidate for governor must raise $500,000 from at least 5,000 state residents who give $1,050 or less. The first $250 of those contributions are matched six to one by taxpayers. The maximum aggregate payout for a candidate is $3.5 million.
Candidates who participate in the matching-funds program must disclose more information about their donors and subject their campaigns to additional audits. However, there aren’t any other spending restrictions as is the case in New York City’s system.
Chitika said that Hochul’s campaign met the requirements and has reaped contributions from more than 20,000 individual donors. Hochul’s campaign reported last month that it had $20.2 million in its war chest.
Blakeman’s campaign reported $1.2 million, much of it transferred from the Nassau County Republican Committee and Blakeman’s local campaign account.
While New York City has long had a system of public campaign finance for local races, progressive groups and some Democrats battled for years to enact a system on the state level. Republicans generally opposed the system, saying it was a waste of taxpayer funds.
New York Public Interest Research Group Executive Director Blair Horner, a longtime government watchdog, supports the system and said it was ironic that Hochul is declining to participate while Blakeman may tap the system.
The system pushes a campaign to be more reliant on a large number of smaller donors, Horner said, diluting the influence of deep-pocketed interests and lobbyists who give to campaigns.
“I view it as a serious setback to public financing in New York,” Horner said. “The current system allows you to rely on a relatively small number of big donors and that’s a big difference in terms of whether or not you have a grassroots operation or you don't. So we're hoping that the governor will reconsider.”
