At a regularly scheduled meeting today, the New York City Campaign Finance Board determined that one campaign from the 2013 election cycle committed violations and must pay penalties totaling $707. The Board determined that three campaigns from the same cycle must repay public funds received. Furthermore, the Board voted to approve a public funds payment of $9,948 to one campaign for the 2013 election cycle.
For details on the Board’s actions today, please refer to the chart below.
In her remarks opening the meeting, Board Chair Rose Gill Hearn highlighted a comment that the CFB recently submitted to the Federal Election Commission, urging it to strengthen federal “pay-to-play” regulations designed to prevent government contractors from making political contributions to candidates running for federal office.
Board Chair Rose Gill Hearn said, “Current regulations allow corporations to bypass the law by creating nominal subsidiaries to make political contributions. More stringent application of the law to corporate affiliates is needed to protect the government contracting system from actual or perceived corruption. We are hopeful that the FEC will heed our call and take the necessary steps to eliminate this loophole.”
Violations and Penalties
(for details, follow the link in Total Penalties column)
| Candidate | Violation | Penalty | Total Penalties |
| Christopher Walsh Candidate, 2013 Council District 51 Program Participant: |
Accepting a contribution from a corporation |
$587 | $707 |
| Accepting a contribution from an unregistered political committee | $120 |
Public Funds Repayments
| Candidate | Public Funds Received does not reflect repayment obligation) |
Public Funds Repayment |
| Christopher Walsh Candidate, 2013 Council District 51 |
$92,400 | $7,596 (final bank balance) |
| Steven Matteo Candidate, 2013 Council District 50 |
$184,800 | $27,035 (final bank balance) |
| Lew Simon Candidate, 2013 Council District 32 |
$115,500 | $3,823 (final bank balance) |
Matteo, Simon and Walsh have satisfied their repayment obligations.
Public Funds Payment
| Candidate | Public Funds Received (As of 5/27/2015) |
Public Funds Payment Authorized on 5/28/2015 |
| Walter Nestler Candidate, 2013 Council District 18 |
$52,020 | $9,948 |
Archived video of today’s meeting will be available at www.nyccfb.info/live