The foundation for these changes came from the Public Campaign Financing Commission, whose work was recently nullified and its charge ultimately deemed unconstitutional. There is a reason the governor tried to skirt the legislative process before shoehorning the law into this year’s budget; it is largely for his benefit.

Further, new signature thresholds for third parties increase astronomically under these laws. This deliberate maneuver threatens to extinguish the voices of those not entrenched in traditional, big parties and stifles free speech and political discourse. There is no reason taxpayers need to foot the bill for politicians running for office. This policy invites abuse and does nothing to root out rampant corruption in New York.”