A lot of public campaign dollars doled out. Not a lot of voters turning out. New York City’s generous matching funds system is held up as a model for amplifying everyday voters’ voices — but the per-vote cost of last month’s primaries was expensive for taxpayers, according to a Playbook analysis. An especially costly race among the 17 council candidates who qualified for the maximum $184,000 matching payment: incumbent Kalman Yeger vs. Heshy Tischler in a Republican primary in Brooklyn. Yeger won at $466 in public funding per vote, while Tischler used $504 in public funding per vote. “Isn’t that stupid?” Tischler lamented to Playbook of the math. “A shame, a shame.” He said he doesn’t believe in government funding for candidates at the local level, but: “I had no choice. If they take it, I take it.” City Campaign Finance Board records show Tischler began receiving his matching funds a month before Yeger got his. Yeger, a critic of raising the match to an 8-to-1 ratio, declined comment. If it’s a matter of increasing voter turnout, consolidating elections is a more effective approach, said Rachael Fauss, a senior policy adviser with good government group Reinvent Albany. However, she argues, public campaign finance is worth the cost. Incentivizing campaigns to seek smaller, more local contributions by offering them matching public funds has made for “more diverse and competitive races and more representative government,” Fauss said, noting the system’s intent to limit the influence of deep-pocketed donors. In last month’s council primaries, political newcomer Christopher Bae came close to defeating Tony Avella in a Democratic race in Queens. Bae had received the maximum matching funds and his public cost per vote was $67. A state system has also been implemented, with similar results. Committees registered for 2024 state legislative campaigns raised $732,000 from individuals who gave $250 or less in the first half of this year, according to disclosure reports released last week. Reinvent Albany stands opposed to efforts to make it harder for state candidates to qualify for matching funds, saying watering down the reform gives incumbents the advantage. In New York City, missing out the 8-to-1 match on the first $250 of qualifying donations can feel like political malpractice. It’s so alluring that the criminal fraud charges against six supporters of Mayor Eric Adams centered around reaping in matching funds. As for Yeger and Tischler, they’re set to face off again in the November general election — Yeger on the Democratic, Republican and Conservative Party lines and Tischler with an independent party line. Both will seek new matching funds, striving to get that maximum $184,000. IT’S MONDAY. WHERE’S KATHY? Attending the Book of HOV Exhibit with Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado in Brooklyn. WHERE’S ERIC? Delivering a public safety-related announcement in New York City. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Maybe you’ll find direction around some corner where it’s been waiting to meet you,” Bronx Acting Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Zimmerman wrote in a ruling last week, quoting lyrics from the rock hit “Box of Rain.” It was in regards to what he considers New York's soft-on-crime reform laws.
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