Op-Ed – Get Big Corporate Money Out of Our Government
I recently sent a letter to Governor Cuomo expressing my disappointment that the State Legislature has adjourned for the year without addressing big corporate money in our state elections. I asked him to call our representatives back to Albany immediately to close a loophole in our state law that allows for unlimited corporate contributions to candidates. It’s called the “LLC Loophole” and it corrupts our political system and suppresses your voice. Our State Legislators should not be allowed to vacation until they address this issue.
Corporate influence in our political process is prohibiting New York from making progress on priorities such as reducing the cost of living, improving the quality of public education, and protecting our drinking water. This is because large corporate interests benefit from the status quo, and they use their power to block any legislation that threatens to change the system and decrease their revenue.
As a New York State Senator, I witnessed this firsthand. One of the worst examples was when the Republican majority refused to allow a vote on my Lyme disease bill that would, if passed, hold insurance companies accountable for covering the costs of long-term Lyme treatment. It turns out that large insurance corporations aren’t big supporters of this idea — but they are major campaign supporters of the Republican Senators who blocked my legislation. To this day, hundreds of Hudson Valley families suffer the devastating financial and physical affects of Lyme – because too many elected officials are working to help wealthy corporations instead of the people that elected them.
Big corporate interests also influence elections by working against candidates that don’t support their agendas. I opposed the New York City Real Estate Board (a group of wealthy developers) in their effort to get tax breaks to build luxury condominiums for some of the world’s wealthiest individuals. I also refused to help Wall Street billionaires who wanted to take money from our local public schools and use it to build New York City Charter Schools instead. Both of these corporate interests retaliated by spending millions of dollars in support of my opponent in 2014 – and our campaign finance laws allow them to do this.
Let’s not forget that we just witnessed the convictions of two leaders of our State Legislature. Both Republican Senate Leader Dean Skelos and Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver were empowered by millions of dollars in corporate contributions and illegal schemes to enrich themselves and their families. Even prison sentences and fines for these criminals failed to inspire our current legislative leaders to take campaign finance reform seriously.
Governor Cuomo has the constitutional power to call the members of the legislature back for a “special session” to address this issue. He can keep them in Albany until they take the corrupting influence of big corporate money seriously and close the “LLC loophole, which will help stop corporations from contributing unlimited amounts of money into our political system. New Yorkers overwhelmingly support this reform, and we want it done now.
Terry Gipson is the Democratic Candidate for New York State Senate District 41, Dutchess & Putnam Counties. His entire letter to Governor Cuomo can be seen at http://www.terrygipsonny.com/june-21st-letter-to-the-governor
