Thursday, October 17, 2013

Judge Rejects Lhota Supporters’ Bid to Accept Unlimited Donations


The ruling, for now, keeps in effect the state’s $ 150,000 cap on contributions to an independent political committee. It remains possible the limit will be overturned at a later date, which could have a significant effect on future elections in New York.


The group supporting Mr. Lhota, New York Progress and Protection PAC, which filed its lawsuit last month, said it would appeal. Mr. Lhota, a Republican, trails his Democratic opponent, Bill de Blasio, by a wide margin in the polls, and the group had hoped to accept large donations that could be used to finance advertising promoting his candidacy.


The group is arguing that the state’s limit on contributions to independent political committees is unconstitutional given the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, a landmark campaign finance ruling which paved the way for the proliferation of independent groups, known as super PACs, to raise and spend unlimited sums in support of federal candidates.


New York Progress and Protection asked the federal court to issue a preliminary injunction so it could immediately begin accepting donations exceeding $ 150,000, which is the maximum that New York law allows an individual to contribute in aggregate to all candidates and political committees in any calendar year.


But the judge, Paul A. Crotty of Federal District Court in Manhattan, said that granting the motion “would seriously undermine the public’s interest in a fair and predictable election process.” He accused the group of seeking “to create an artificial urgency.”


“While the Court recognizes that the occasion of this lawsuit is the current mayoral race, the law being attacked is more than 30 years old, and the attack is based on a four-year-old Supreme Court decision,” Judge Crotty wrote.


The court case will continue, but Terence J. Pell, the president of the Center for Individual Rights, which was co-counsel for New York Progress and Protection PAC, said the ruling against immediate action was disappointing.


“The law is clear: every other court that has examined the question has concluded that the state may not limit contributions to independent campaign committees,” he said in a statement.


But the state attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, who is defending the law, said in a statement, “Today’s ruling is a clear victory for those who believe that every voter should have an equal voice in our democracy, and that New York’s campaign finance law is unquestionably constitutional.”





Yahoo Local News – New York Times




http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info/?p=15859

via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info

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