Public campaign financing begins in 2024 with 4 WNY candidates already signed up; legislative primaries

Ken Kruly

Jan 1

Are you ready for some football? How about those Buffalo Bills? Left for dead at the bye week by many (including me), they are now just one win away from the AFC East title and claiming the second seed in the playoff derby!

Okay, enough with the fun stuff. Are you ready for a crazy, out-of-control political year?

2024 will be like no other election year in this country's history. The presidential campaign will be a fight between maintaining democracy and setting up an autocratic regime. You will be overwhelmed with national reporting on the subject. This humble blog will mostly (but not entirely) leave that stuff to the electronic media, the newspapers, and the internet. That still leaves plenty of congressional, state legislative, judicial seat, and district attorney political and governmental news to cover locally. Party nominations and endorsements for Congress and the State Legislature will be finalized over the next six weeks.

Public campaign financing will be available to legislative candidates in 2024

Candidates running for state legislative seats will have the option of requesting public funds beginning in 2024. Governor Kathy Hochul last week vetoed legislation that would have weakened some of the original intent of the law. The newly created Public Campaign Financing Board (PCFB) is working in conjunction with the state Board of Elections (BOE) to run the new program.

As of December 29^th, the state BOE/PCFB reported that 170 candidates and potential candidates have already registered to participate in the first year of public financing. Included in the list are four WNY candidates, all Republicans and all but one incumbents. Those registered include:

State Senator George Borrello, 57^th District (had no opponent in 2022)
State Senator Pat Gallivan, 60^th District
State Assemblyman Michael Norris, 144^th District (had no opponent in 2022)
Candidate Mitch Martin, 147^th District

Contributions must be from a "natural person" residing in the district of the candidate; and be in the range of five to two-hundred-fifty dollars. Payment of the public funds will work as follows: "twelve dollars of public matching funds for each of the first fifty dollars of matchable contributions; nine dollars of public matching funds for each of the next one hundred dollars of public matchable contributions; and eight dollars for the each of the next one hundred dollars of public matchable contributions." A five-dollar contribution, therefore, would provide $60 in public money to a candidate. A $250 contribution would produce $1,760 in public funding.

Statewide candidates in 2026 will be eligible for $6-to-1 matching funds.

A state Senate candidate generally must be able to demonstrate that they have received contributions from at least 150 in-district residents who have made matchable contributions totaling at least $12,000.

An Assembly candidate generally must be able to demonstrate that they have received contributions from at least 75 in-district residents who have made matchable contributions totaling at least $6,000.

In addition to periodic financial filings to the state BOE, a participating candidate is required by law to "submit disclosure reports on March fifteenth of each election year reporting to the PCFB every contribution and loan received and every expenditure made. For contributors who make aggregate contributions of one hundred dollars or more, each authorized and political committee shall report to the PCFB the occupation and business address of each contributor and lender."

State funding limits for a primary and/or a general election are $375,000 for a Senate candidate and $175,000 for an Assembly candidate; a candidate who is in a primary and a general election can receive those amounts for each of the elections. Procedures for filing requests for actual funding will require documentation and specific record-keeping. Post-election audits concerning the use of public funds will be conducted.

A candidate wishing to participate in public financing must:

Shut down their current campaign account with the state BOE and create a new one.
Have the treasurer of their committee participate in a training session with the PCFB.
File a form registering with the PCFB and then another form to actually apply for funding.
Have a non-write-in opponent.
Limit personal and family contributions more strictly than previous law may have allowed.

Any new government program comes with some confusion and controversy. The management of financial procedures by the state PCFB will be very complicated. How quickly the BOE/PCFB can work their way through the likely issues will be an interesting political sideshow in 2024.

Legislative primaries in the making

Already the outlines of three potential legislative primaries are taking shape:

The 142^nd Assembly District. The incumbent is Democrat Pat Burke. Republican Joseph Flatley in a media release declared his candidacy. Despite the fact, if elected, that he would be a member of the small Republican caucus in the Assembly, he says that he will "bring forward bipartisan legislation that actually affects the taxpayers." He says he is "Unabashedly pro-Trump." One of his priorities if elected is to "ensure that Erie County has fair and free elections; free of conflicts of interest between elections officials and political party bosses." Carl Paladino is serving as Flatley's campaign advisor and fundraising chairman.
- Flatley also announced that he "is welcoming Sandra Magnano to the race for the Republican nomination for the New York State Assembly district that he is seeking." He goes on to say that "Sandy Magnano has demonstrated herself to be a destructive element in local politics and government. Her radical political beliefs, intolerance of others and anti-Semitic past disqualify her from serving in the New York State Assembly."
- There also remains the possibility of County Clerk Mickey Kearns entering the Republican primary in the 142^nd district.
The 147^th Assembly District. The five-term incumbent is Republican David DiPietro. Mitch Martin, who has held various leadership roles in the Republican Party and is currently a member of Erie County Sheriff John Garcia's administrative team, has announced that he will challenge DiPietro in a party primary. Republican County Chairman Michael Kracker has told the Buffalo News that he is "going to oversee a bottom-up approach in this district, and listen to the men and women of the 147th about how they want the party to move forward." Endorsements by party committees are a common practice. DiPietro has already been endorsed by the state Conservative Party.
The 63^rd Senate District. The decision by Senator Tim Kennedy to forgo a Senate race and focus totally on his campaign for Congress in NY26 will leave the Senate district an open seat. Chair of the Erie County Legislature, April Baskin, has declared her interest in the seat. So has Buffalo Fillmore District Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski. Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner recently told the Buffalo News that the Senate seat is not yet vacant since the party has not yet made an endorsement for Congress. The Democratic County Committee is looking to interview candidates for the congressional seat and to make an endorsement at a meeting on January 11.