Bloomberg for Mayor 2009

www.mikebloomberg.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Press Office

August 19, 2009 (212) 205-0075

MIKE BLOOMBERG UNVEILS CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM PLAN

As Mayor of New York City, Mike Bloomberg has led efforts to reform government to make it
more transparent and more accountable to the people. In 2007, the Mayor signed Local Law 34
(Intro. 586-A), which amended the City’s campaign finance law by requiring the disclosure of
contributions from those who do business with the City. The law also reduced the amounts that
candidates may accept from such contributors, and eliminated public matching funds for those
contributions. In addition, contributions from lobbyists are no longer matched. In many ways,
these City reforms foreshadowed the steps that the SEC plans to take at the federal level to ban
pay-to-play practices, which the Mayor strongly supports. Today’s announcement builds on the
Mayor’s previous proposals to bring real reform, accountability and transparency to government.

“When it comes to championing reform, Mike Bloomberg has been one of the strongest
advocates for good government in office today, refusing contributions from both special interests
and lobbyists,” said Howard Wolfson, spokesman for the Bloomberg campaign. “The Mayor is
committed to putting an end to the use of public office for personal or private gain, and the
policy announced today puts us one step closer to that goal.”

Mike Bloomberg’s Campaign Finance Reform Plan:

• Support the Security & Exchange Commission’s “Pay-to-Play” Rule Changes- Earlier this
month the Securities & Exchange Commission proposed rules designed to curb the influence
of political contributions over the decision-making of elected officials overseeing pension
funds. Under the proposed SEC rule, an investment adviser who makes a political
contribution to a candidate or elected official in a position to influence the selection of the
adviser would be barred for two years from providing advisory services for compensation,
either directly or through a fund. The rule has a de minimis exception, which permits an
executive or employee to make contributions of up to $250 per election per candidate if the
contributor is entitled to vote for the candidate. The Mayor strongly supports this proposal, as
it is in keeping with his past and current efforts to reduce the influence—or the appearance of
influence—of political contributions on elected officials. Indeed, the proposed SEC rule is
 modeled in part on Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Rules G-37 and G-38,
upon which the City’s Doing Business regulations were modeled.

• Ban candidates from receiving matching funds for campaign contributions bundled by
lobbyists- Under current law, lobbyist donations are not matched with public tax dollars;
however, the contributions they bundle are matched by public dollars. The City’s Campaign
Finance Program matches each dollar a NYC resident gives, up to $175, with six dollars in
public funds, for a maximum of $1,050 in public funds per contributor. Mike Bloomberg’s
tough new proposal would prevent lobbyists from seeking to influence elected officials by
bundling donations that provide candidates with matching funds of public tax dollars.

• Ban candidates from receiving matching funds for campaign contributions bundled by
individuals “Doing Business with the City”- Under current law, individuals “Doing Business
with the City” can only give donations of up to $400 in citywide races, $320 in borough-wide
races, and $250 in City Council races, and those donations are not eligible to be matched
with public tax dollars. Nevertheless, these individuals are still able to bundle contributions
for candidates and then have those contributions matched with public tax dollars. Mike
Bloomberg would close this loophole, which allows individuals Doing Business with the
City to circumvent the intent of the law, which is to prevent individuals with a financial or
business interest in a government action from A) plying politicians with campaign donations
in the hopes of currying favor, and B) being pressured by politicians for campaign donations,
with the implicit threat that failure to contribute could impact their official decisions.

• Require expedited disclosure of contributions from individuals “Doing Business with the
City”- Under current law, candidates must disclose donations to the Campaign Finance Board
at prescribed intervals, usually a month or two apart, until the period right before the primary
or election, when daily disclosure is required. Contributions from individuals doing business
with the City are disclosed at the same time and buried within the campaign finance filing. To
bring greater transparency to political contributions from individuals who have a vested
interest in the acts of elected officials, Mike Bloomberg proposes that, within nine months of
a primary or general election, candidates who receive such contributions must disclose those
contributions to the CFB within two business days of receipt. The CFB would then make that
information available to the public in a timely fashion so that additional sunlight could be
shone on these transactions.

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