In events across New York, state lawmakers joined community activists and labor leaders Tuesday in calling for passage of campaign finance reform in Albany. Standing outside the Erie County Board of Elections in downtown Buffalo, about a dozen people, including Senator Tim Kennedy, called on lawmakers in Albany to approve Governor Cuomo's Fair Elections Campaign Finance Reform.
"Approving campaign finance reform will go a long way toward leveling the playing field by ensuring corporations don't have undue influence over the will of the people and the electoral process," Kennedy said.
Gayla Thompson, a member of Citizen Action, points out the issue of fair elections and taking corporate money out of the process has been talked about for at least 50 years.
"I know there are people out there watching today that have considered running for public office, but when they look at the cost of running a campaign they change their mind," Thompson said.
"By taking the money out of elections we allow people in communities to able to run for the offices that they like."
A new report by the Campaign Finance Institute shows that a state funded matching system for would cost no more than $2 annually for each New York resident.