A half dozen good-government organizations on Monday in a letter to the commission determining the contours and specifics of New York’s system of publicly financed campaigns urged the panel to release a draft report of its recommendations.
“We appreciated the Commission providing the opportunity for us to share our expertise relatively early in this process,” the groups wrote in the letter. “An interim recommendation would allow for comment and analysis on something more specific, helping to ensure a workable final policy. It would help avoid a rush at the end to meet the December 1 deadline — and would increase public trust in this process and final result.”
The commission is due to release its recommendations by December 1, which will become law by the end of the year unless the Legislature returns to alter it.
Scrutiny has been placed on the commissions work in part over the debate surrounding the future of fusion voting, the practice of allowing candidates to run on multiple ballot lines — an issue that’s of concern for the Working Families Party and the Conservative Party.
Top Republican lawmakers in the state Senate and Assembly last week announced they support a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the commission.
The letter was signed by Laura Ladd Bierman, League of Women Voters of New York State; Betsy Gotbaum, Citizens Union; Blair Horner, New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG); John Kaehny, Reinvent Albany; Susan Lerner, Common Cause New York; and Lawrence Norden, Brennan Center for Justice.