Statement On The New York State Senate’s Support Of Publicly Funded Elections In Their One-House Budget Resolution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 12th, 2019

In response to the Senate’s one-house budget resolution today, Empire State Indivisible released the following statement:

“It’s with great pride that we commend the Senate Democratic Majority for standing up for their constituents in strong support of a small-donor matched, publicly funded election system in their one-house budget resolution. As part of the broad coalition of grassroots organizations that worked tirelessly to send this majority to Albany, we are grateful that Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and her conference followed through on the promise to reduce the impact of big-money in our elections.

We appreciate the Assembly’s inclusion of public financing in their budget language, but we now implore Speaker Heastie and his Democratic Conference to step up, and partner with the Senate Majority Leader to ensure Public Financing remains in the final budget.

When New York politicians actively stifle the progress their voters sent them to office to achieve, communities galvanize around primary challengers who show the commitment the incumbents lack. We saw this come to fruition in the 2018 State Senate elections. In this case, voters will easily understand the hypocrisy if their elected officials reject a policy that would significantly reduce the influence of big-money donors in favor of everyday people.”

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Empire State Indivisible is part of the national Indivisible movement and is committed to defend New York against the Trump administration and those who enable its policies.

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