Posted on 12/22/2004 10:19:47 AM PST by Steven J. Shaw
On Wednesday of last week, New York's City Council approved legislation that will increase the amount of matching funds from 5:1 to 6:1 when candidates face so-called “well-financed candidates,” who are candidates that spend a significant amount of their own money when running for office. Steve Shaw recently discussed his opposition to this legislation.
"I am fully opposed to the 6:1 portion of this legislation," said Shaw, who, under Campaign Finance Board rules, is limited to contributing about $15,000 of his own money to his campaign. "New York City already has one of the most generous campaign finance matching programs in the country. Increasing matching funds to 6:1 from 5:1 is an unacceptable fleecing of New York City taxpayers, and I refuse to participate in it. In my primary campaign against Mayor Bloomberg (a “well-financed candidate”), I will only accept 5:1 matching funds, which is the ratio under the existing law. In addition, after being elected mayor, I will seek ways to limit matching funds available to entrenched politicians and to limit campaign spending by spendthrift candidates. The City's campaign finance program was developed to make campaigns more competitive. The opposite is achieved, however, when the system allows career politicians who already have ample fundraising capabilities to soak the taxpayers for additional funds. Why a career politician such as Council Speaker Gifford Miller, the person responsible for this legislation (and, not coincidentally, a mayoral candidate himself), would need taxpayers to finance his campaigns is beyond me."
"At a time when the City's reckless budget seems to increase $1 billion every time you turn around, we must do everything we can to eliminate unnecessary expenses. The City already spends over $40 million in the campaign finance program, and this is entirely generous enough."
Steve Shaw is a Republican candidate for Mayor of New York City in 2005. His website is www.shawformayor.com.
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