Still smarting after their gubernatorial candidate was blocked from receiving public dollars, Republican New York state lawmakers are pushing a longshot bill that would give him another crack at millions in matching funds.<\/p>\n
In a party-line vote<\/a> last month, Democrats on the state’s Public Campaign Finance Board booted Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman\u2019s campaign from the matching funds program because of a paperwork error. Elections officials had initially approved Blakeman\u2019s application, which would have let him access up to $3.5 million of public funding.<\/p>\n The board said that application was invalid because his running mate \u2014 who was named later \u2014 never signed the form. Blakeman filed a lawsuit<\/a> earlier this month to challenge the decision. It\u2019s pending in Albany County.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a miscarriage of justice and of anything, resembling free and fair elections. It’s a gross manipulation of a $100 million campaign finance system,\u201d said state Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, a Niagara County Republican. \u201cThey should replace the \u2018P\u2019 with \u2018partisan\u2019 instead of \u2018public\u2019 if they don’t change this.\u201d<\/p>\n Ortt introduced a bill<\/a> that would create a seven-day cure period during which Blakeman or the other five candidates who were denied by the board could file amended forms.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the state Board of Elections \u2014 which oversees the Public Campaign Finance Board \u2014 said it doesn\u2019t comment on pending legislation. In March, finance board chair Barbara Lifton said campaigns needed to be diligent and it was the board\u2019s job to protect taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the responsibility of a campaign, certainly a gubernatorial campaign, to understand what’s happening with a program that they want $3.5 million from,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Republicans are in the legislative minority and their bills aren\u2019t typically brought up for floor votes without approval of top Democrats. Ortt and Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra, a Nassau County Republican, said they would happily hand the bill off to any Democratic legislator who wanted to sponsor it. Both said they were pessimistic that it would pass.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Yonkers Democrat, declined to comment. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie\u2019s spokesperson didn\u2019t return a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n A governmental spokesperson for Hochul said the governor would \u201creview any bill that passes both houses of the Legislature.\u201d A Hochul campaign spokesperson declined to comment.<\/p>\n While Democrats championed public financing as a way to make state elections more competitive, Hochul declined to participate in the program.<\/a> The governor said she wanted to save taxpayer dollars. As of January, she had around $20.2 million in her campaign account<\/a> \u2014 roughly 20 times as much as Blakeman\u2019s war chest.<\/p>\n