New York

The concern that Cuomo isn’t really one of them continues to this month as the left presses him on passing a system of publicly financed political campaigns. Cuomo unveiled the bill for elections reform this week and it includes a $41 million public system that’s similar to New York City’s program. Still, this the $20 million man trying to get the money out of politics, a governor who has assembled a massive war chest from a variety of interests while also backing an overhaul of the very system he’s so thrives in.

It’s a dissonant note for some. So that’s why a liberal group, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, is unveiling today a petition to pressure singer Paul Simon, who is slated to perform at a high-dollar Cuomo fundraiser, to support publicly financed elections.

New York City Council candidate Yetta Kurland, who is running for the seat of mayoral contender and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, was endorsed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a national organization that fights for progressive issues and candidates around the country.

With the last outstanding race for a New York State Senate seat called on Friday, campaign finance reform in the Empire State is also looking like a winner. Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk’s victory over Republican George Amedore means there are now a majority of sitting senators who support the passage of reform, including the public financing of elections statewide.

Stephanie Taylor, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, also credited “a grassroots army” for Tkaczyk’s victory. “Members of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee worked with our allies to make 25,000 calls to voters and 215 donations, and helped secure the 19 vote margin of victory,” Taylor said in a statement.

In his most famous role as Jack McCoy in Law & Order, actor Sam Waterston took on all sorts of corrupt criminals. Now he’s tackling corruption in politics by backing the campaign for public financing of campaigns in New York.

Watch a video of Waterston explaining the problem of money in politics and urging New Yorkers to get involved to pass public financing:

Join the fight for Fair Elections in New York. Sign up for PCCC’s Take Back Democracy campaign.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) just launched a joint petition with the Working Families Party and local allies calling on Quinn to allow a vote on the Paid Sick Days Act.