With a week left in the state legislative session, lawmakers and activists on Friday called for the Legislature to close what they called a loophole in state campaign finance law.
At a press conference outside Nassau County Supreme Court in Mineola, state Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove), Assemblywoman Kimberly Jean-Pierre (D-Wheatley Heights) and newly elected state Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) said lawmakers should pass one of eight bills Gov. Andrew Cuomo introduced to limit campaign donations by limited liability corporations.
“We need to work to restore the voters’ faith in our election system and closing the LLC loophole will set us on the right path,” Lavine said in a statement. “There is no reason to prolong this much-needed reform.”
The bills Cuomo introduced May 24 would subject LLCs to a $5,000 limit for corporate donations to candidates for office, their campaigns, political parties and political committees, similar to federal law.
The companies can currently give up to $10,800 to any one candidate with a maximum of $150,000 under a 1996 ruling by the New York State Board of Elections that diverged from federal election law, according to a Cuomo press release.
The state lawmakers, along with Common Cause, the Long Island Progressive Coalition and the Working Families Party, said the current law gives wealthy donors who own multiple LLCs undue influence on elections by allowing them to give hundreds of thousands of dollars while preserving their anonymity.
One of Cuomo’s bills would apply stricter rules for LLCs to all statewide races, another would apply them only to governor’s races and the rest would apply them to different groups of state candidates.
“Pass all of them, or as many as you’d like, but at a minimum, pass the one impacting anyone running for the office of the governor,” Cuomo said in a statement last week. “I will go first — pass it and I will sign it into law today.”
Local real estate firms, including New Hyde Park-based Lalezarian Developers and Glenwood Management Corp., have donated to state campaigns through LLCs they control.
Glenwood, its LLC subsidiaries and its principal, Leonard Litwin, have given millions of dollars to New York candidates and political parties.
In a statement, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (R-East Northport) called the LLC regulations a “red herring” and said the Legislature should address several other campaign finance problems, such as the funneling of donations through county groups and unlimited donations by non-profits.
“If we are going to achieve real campaign finance reform and target corruption, you can’t close one loophole and declare the job done,” Flanagan said in the statement.
Reach reporter Noah Manskar by e-mail at nmanskar@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @noahmanskar and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
