Mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan is getting $1.5 million in public funding, the city’s Campaign Finance Board announced Thursday, a week after it stated it was investigating whether his campaign and a political action committee largely funded by his father, Michael Donovan, had been coordinating their activities.
“After reviewing additional information, including statements from Shaun and Michael Donovan, the Board voted to approve a public funds payment to the New Yorkers for Donovan campaign today,” CFB Chair Frederick Schaffer said in a statement. “The campaign will be subject to an ongoing, post-election audit, just like all campaigns in this election.”
The review came after a rival campaign filed a complaint about the pro-Donovan PAC, called New Start NYC. Campaigns and PACs are not allowed to coordinate with each other. The CFB could not immediately state which campaign made the complaint about Donovan.
The new cash infusion puts Donovan’s cash on hand at around $2.2 million, according to the CFB.
“We are grateful for the CFB’s swift action to resolve this issue, as well as to the thousands of New Yorkers who donated their hard-earned dollars to support our campaign of ideas,” New Yorkers for Donovan Campaign Manager Brendan McPhillips said in a statement. “This decision upholds New York City’s unique, progressive campaign finance system as a model for the nation.”
This year’s mayoral election has drawn an unprecedented level of fundraising, including by political action committees.
“This development poses a particular challenge to the goals of the city’s system of public campaign financing,” Schaeffer stated. “The CFB may address these issues after the election in connection with its recommendations for changes in the law and in amendments to its rules dealing with the factors that define independent expenditures on the one hand and coordination between campaign committees and PACs on the other hand.”
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Source (Ny Daily news)