The Board and staff of the Campaign Finance Board join with all New Yorkers in mourning the passing of Mayor Koch. Today, as we reflect on all of his wonderful achievements, we remember that one of the greatest legacies he leaves for the city he loved so much is the Campaign Finance Program.
At a time when our city’s politics had been scarred by corruption and scandal, Mayor Koch devised the system for financing campaigns in part through public matching funds. At the bill signing ceremony, Koch said the Act was “the most fundamental reform of the political process ever enacted by the city.”
Now, 25 years later, the Program that he helped establish is held up as a model for reform in New York State and around the country.
We honor Mayor Koch’s leadership on this and so many other issues. He will be missed.