September 1, 2010
The Campaign Finance Board today announced the release of its 2009 post-election report, New Yorkers Make Their Voices Heard: A Report on the 2009 Elections. As mandated by law, the report contains a comprehensive review of last year’s historic New York City elections, as well as the Board’s recommendations for changes to the city’s landmark Campaign Finance Program.
The full report can be found on the CFB website here.
Detailed analyses in the report examine how the program is meeting its goals.
- Changes in the law that took effect for the 2009 election increased the value of small contributions and encouraged candidates to bring more New Yorkers into the political process. As a result, almost 70 percent of all contributors to candidates for city office gave $175 or less.
- With small-dollar support, challengers made the 2009 elections more competitive than previous elections. More incumbents faced primaries, fewer incumbents enjoyed a financial advantage over their opponents, and the average margins of victory narrowed.
- New limits on “doing business” contributions put in place before the 2009 elections had a big impact. Contributions from people doing business with the city dropped from an estimated 22 percent of all contributions in the 2005 elections to less than four percent in 2009.
The report also looks at some of the challenges ahead for the Program.
- Independent expenditures by outside actors increased in the 2009 elections. Yet a disclosure gap in New York City’s campaign finance law keeps many of the details of this spending hidden from the public. The report recommends that independent expenditures in city elections be disclosed to the CFB.
A more complete set of highlights from the report, and a look at the Board’s recommendations, is attached to this release.