Press Release

On the steps of City Hall in Manhattan today, dozens of advocates gathered to decry the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters in New York's primary elections held on Tuesday, April 19th.

Common Cause New York statement regarding New York's closed-shut primary and its resulting issues.

Common Cause New York issued statement regarding the proposed Dutchess County bond issue to fund the construction of a new large county jail.

In response to a news report that the Mayor will shut down the Campaign for One New York, Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner issued the following statement

Today Common Cause/New York sent a letter addressed to the Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) and the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) calling for a review of Mayor Bill de Blasio's use of 501(c)4 entities to raise money: the Campaign for One New York and United for Affordable NYC.

The first briefing focuses on contributions to Senator Mike Ranzenhofer via the LLC loophole from 2005-2015. The LLC loophole was a central issue in the corruption cases against Dean Skelos and Sheldon Silver who both accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from New York City based Glenwood Management, in return for preferential treatment. New York State law treats LLCs as individuals, as opposed to corporations, subject to the much higher contribution limit. As a result wealthy interests use it to circumvent the campaign finance laws to influence lawmakers and seek favorable policies.