How Suffolk eliminated public campaign finance
Suffolk County's first public campaign finance program faced a rocky start in June 2020. The program, which diverted county revenue from casinos to fund smaller local campaigns, faced immediate backlash from Republican legislators, who sought to repeal it before it took effect. WSHU covered the controversy over the program as County Executive Steve Bellone vetoed its repeal — and the veto was overridden.
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The Suffolk County Legislature this week heard public comments on a GOP-backed bill to repeal a law that would allow political candidates to use public money for their campaigns. -
Outside of New York City, Suffolk County was the largest county in the state to establish a public campaign finance program. It didn’t survive a year in operation — without supporting a single campaign — before Republicans took away its funding.
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Suffolk is the largest county in the state outside of New York City to have a campaign finance program. It is poised to allow candidates for county executive, comptroller and legislator in 2023 to access public dollars to run for office. -
The Suffolk County Legislature has again voted to repeal its public campaign finance program. Two-thirds of lawmakers overturned a veto by County Executive Steve Bellone last week.
