Assemblyman Christopher S. Friend (R,C,I-Big Flats) today voiced his disappointment with the passage of the so-called Fair Elections Act, a plan to mandate publicly-funded election campaigns at taxpayer expense, a new added tax burden for everyone in New York State.

Over the past few weeks, there have been continuous reports of scandals and investigations of public officials, and it appears they are far from over. In response, the Assembly Majority Conference today pushed for campaign finance “reform.” While it is true we must clean up the corruption rampant in Albany, this attempt does not address political corruption and offers blank checks to campaigns that will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

“While this optional public funding for candidates has been used in other states and in New York City, I fear this is not the best course of action for our whole state. Case in point: a large number of recent corruption charges are surfacing in New York City, where public funding has been continually abused,” said Friend. “If we can spare more government spending, this funding should be used to help our children and schools or to bring tax relief to local towns; we should not, however, make it easier for morally corrupt individuals to slither into office on the taxpayers’ dime. This plan has clearly failed. Why should the state follow the same dark path that New York City follows?”