Written Testimony of Ian Vandewalker

Senior Counsel, Elections and Government Program

Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law

Submitted to the Suffolk County Legislature

at the June 7, 2022, General Meeting

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law welcomes
the opportunity to testify in support of the Suffolk County small donor public
financing program. For more than twenty-five years, the Brennan Center’s
nonpartisan legal expertise has informed policies at the state, local, and federal
levels that make our democratic systems fairer and more inclusive.1

Small donor public financing is the most powerful, constitutionally permissible

solution available to counter the corrosive influence of big money in politics. Small
donor match programs, such as the one enacted by this Legislature in 2017, amplify
the voices of everyday people in elections by multiplying their modest
contributions to participating candidates. With a $4-to-$1 match on contributions
up to $250, this voluntary program will offer qualified candidates who lack access
to personal wealth or networks of wealthy donors an alternative route to fund their
campaigns.2 Candidates running on similar programs elsewhere in the country have
demonstrated that it is possible to run and win raising a greater portion of their
funds from individual donors instead of special interest groups.3

Boosting the value of small contributions enables candidates to spend their time
fundraising among more of the people they seek to represent instead of deep-
pocketed donors.4 Candidates who have run on similar programs say they prefer it

1
The Brennan Center is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on the
fundamental issues of democracy and justice and for more than 25 years has studied, litigated, and
drafted legislative solutions regarding money in politics, voting, and election administration. The
opinions expressed in this testimony are only those of the Brennan Center and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the NYU School of Law.
2
Suffolk County Code, Art. LXII, § C42-4.
3
Hazel Millard and Mariana Paez, “How Public Campaign Financing Empowers Small Donors
Nationwide,” Brennan Center for Justice, April 12, 2022, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-
work/analysis-opinion/how-public-campaign-financing-empowers-small-donors-nationwide.
4
See, e.g., Michael J. Malbin et al., Small Donors, Big Democracy: New York City’s Matching
Funds as a Model for the Nation and States, 11 ELECTION L.J. 3 (2012),
http://www.cfinst.org/pdf/state/NYC-as-a-Model_ELJ_As-Published_March2012.pdf.
to running exclusively on private funds and that it makes their elected bodies more
representative of and responsive to their constituents.5 In Connecticut, Toni Bucher
(R), who used public financing for five state senate campaigns, said it means “we
can get more of the common man and woman to participate in the system.”6

Evidence from New York City’s long-running small donor match program
illustrates how it enables community-centered campaigning. A recent study found
that City Council candidates using the matching funds program relied more on in-
district donors and small donors than state legislative candidates running in the
same communities without public financing.7 The system encourages more new
donors to give, including from traditionally disenfranchised communities, and those
who give are more likely to turn out to vote.8

By offering an alternative to large contributions, small donor match systems lower

the barriers to political participation and increase candidate and donor diversity.
Following the implementation of its small donor match system, Washington, D.C.,
saw an increase in the number of women and people of color running for local
office in its most recent elections.9 In New York City’s 2021 elections, the city’s
$8-to-$1 match helped elect the most diverse city council class in history. During
the primary elections for city council seats, women and people of color who won
seats or were competitive in the primaries raised as much, on average, as their white
and male counterparts and relied to similar degrees on small donations and public
matching funds.10

5
“Faces of Small Donor Public Financing 2021,” Brennan Center for Justice, 2021,
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/faces-small-donor-public-financing-2021.
6
Id.
7
Nirali Vyas, Chisun Lee, and Joanna Zdanys, “The Constituent-Engagement Effect of Small Donor
Public Financing: A Statistical Comparison of City Council (2017) and State Assembly (2018)
Fundraising in New York City,” Brennan Center for Justice, 2019,
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/constituent-engagement-effect-small-
donor-public-financing-statistical.
8
Elisabeth Genn, Michael J. Malbin, Sundeep Iyer, & Brendan Glavin, Brennan Ctr. for Justice &
Campaign Fin. Inst., Donor Diversity Through Public Matching Funds 4 (2012),
http://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legacy/publications/DonorDiversityReport_WEB.P
DF;“Public Financing: What’s the Return on Investment at the Voting Booth?” New York City
Campaign Finance Board, Aug. 26, 2015, http://nyccfb.info/media/blog/public-financing-ROI-
voting-booth.
9
Craig Holman, “Small Donors, Fair Elections: The Changing Nature of Financing D.C. Elections,”
Public Citizen, 2021, https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/Small-Donors-Fair-
Elections3.pdf; and Catherine Hinckley Kelley, Austin Graham, and Aseem Mulji, “Democratizing
The District: D.C.’s Fair Elections Program in 2020,” Campaign Legal Center, 2021,
https://campaignlegal.org/sites/default/files/2021-
10/CLC_DemocratizingTheDistrict%20%281%29.pdf.
10
Gregory Clark, Hazel Millard, and Mariana Paez, “Small Donor Public Financing Plays Role in
Electing Most Diverse New York City Council,” Brennan Center for Justice, November 5, 2021,
Public financing systems have also increased participation and diversity for the
small donors they amplify. In local elections with a public financing option in
Berkeley, California, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Portland, Oregon, for
example, small donor participation increased across each city, including in
historically underrepresented and diverse zip codes.11

When this Legislature passed Local Law No. 8-2018 creating the Fair Elections
Matching Fund in 2017, Suffolk County joined the ranks of these states and
localities that are leading the way on campaign finance reform. We urge the
Legislature to reject Intro. Res. No. 1416 and not squander the work of the
Campaign Finance Board to prepare for this program’s launch. Implementation is
underway and funding has already been allotted. Cutting the program now would
not result in any savings for the county.

In fact, public financing programs can save taxpayer dollars down the road. As the
New York State Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption observed,
public financing programs can eliminate wasteful tax expenditures by minimizing
“the pressures donors place on our elected officials to provide targeted tax breaks
for special interests and to spend public funds on pork barrel projects of doubtful
public value.”12 And of course, the cost of the program is inherently limited by the
requirements that candidates qualify and raise matchable donations in order to earn
public funds, as well as caps on the amount of public funds each candidate can
receive.13

With attacks on our democracy increasing by the day, this Legislature must set an
example for the nation and stand up for its constituents by protecting the county’s
small donor public financing program against last-minute attacks. The Brennan
Center is ready to be of service to further support this program as it prepares for its
first election.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/small-donor-public-financing-plays-role-
electing-most-diverse-new-york.
11
Millard and Paez, “How Public Campaign Financing Empowers Small Donors Nationwide.”
12
“Preliminary Report,” The Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, 2013,
https://publiccorruption.moreland.ny.gov/sites/default/files/moreland_report_final.pdf.
13
Suffolk County Code, Art. LXII, §§ C42-3, C42-4.