April XX, 2009

Dear Assembly Speaker Silver and Senate Majority Leader Smith,

We write to you to strongly encourage passage of a bill to enact a voluntary system of

public campaign finance before the end of the 2009 legislative session. As labor,
community, and issue advocacy organizations we fully support passage of a system that
ends candidate’s dependence on large, private campaign donations as a means to win
legislative and statewide office in New York, and instead, allows candidates to qualify for
public funds to run their campaigns.

Thank you for your significant leadership on this critical issue. Speaker Silver’s prime
sponsorship and the Assembly’s passage of A.11507 in 2008, and similar legislation for
over two decades prior, shows the long standing commitment to public campaign finance.
Senator Smith’s prime sponsorship of S.7175 in 2008 and vocal support in the media and
public events throughout his time as Senate Majority Leader has established his
dedication to this issue.

With little time left in the 2009 legislative session, now is the time for the Assembly and
Senate to come together around a common, “same as” piece of legislation that would
implement public financing of elections, starting with the Comptroller race in 2010, then
phasing in all state legislative races in 2012 and all statewide races in 2014. With
legislation introduced in each house in the next few weeks, our organizations can work
together and individually to gain the support needed by the members of your houses to
pass the bills before the end of this legislative session.

We believe right now is the optimal time to pass truly monumental public campaign
finance legislation in New York State.

Sincerely,

Karen Scharff, Executive Director Alan Lubin, Executive Vice President

Citizen Action of New York New York State United Teachers

Dan Canter, Executive Director

Working Families Party