In Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo, the state”™s business leaders saw an opportunity.
At the time, New York businesses ”“ still struggling to recover from the effects of the economic downturn ”“ were frustrated with what they viewed as a lack of effort among the state”™s lawmakers to promote business-friendly policies.
That frustration gave rise to Committee to Save New York Inc., an organization comprising business groups and, to a lesser extent, organized labor. It was established 15 months ago to promote a reform agenda at the state government level.
As Cuomo prepared for his first budget a year ago, the Committee to Save New York took to the airwaves, paying millions of dollars for television and radio advertisements that called on state legislators and their constituents to support Cuomo”™s plan to trim spending and bring accountability back to the capitol.
It was déjà vu this year as the committee again launched a media campaign in support of Cuomo”™s budget proposals and again spent millions in the process.
Committee to Save New York last year led all organizations in state and local lobbying expenditures, according to the state”™s Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) annual lobbying report.
The committee disclosed it spent $11.9 million in lobbying-related activities in 2011 ”“ with the overwhelming majority of those expenditures coming in the form of television advertisements, a spokesman said.
Following two successive on-time budgets ”“ both of which cut all-funds spending, a first since at least 1983 ”“ the Committee to Save New York is declaring a resounding victory.
“We believe that this has been tremendously successful in the last 15 months,” said spokesman Michael McKeon. “Whether it”™s controlling spending, reforming the tax code (or) making reforms that have long-term benefits … we think the state government is once again working for the people of the state and not the special interests that have so long dominated Albany.”
Committee to Save New York is co-chaired by Rob Speyer, president and co-CEO of Tishman Speyer Properties, Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of Partnership for New York City, and Steven Spinola, president of the Real Estate Board of New York.
Also included among the committee”™s advisory board and partner organizations are representatives of the Business Council of Westchester, the Westchester County Association, the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, and more than three dozen other businesses and business organizations from across the state.
The group maintains that it has no direct ties to the Cuomo administration and that its campaigns have been independent of his influence.
In response to questions of whether the committee is coming to resemble a special interest group itself, McKeon said the committee”™s message is one that puts the people first over special interest groups.
“We”™re not going to take a backseat to anyone ”“ we”™re going to fight for reform. And we”™re not going to apologize for that,” he said. “A healthier economy is good for everybody who works in the state.”
McKeon also said the committee has complied with all of the state”™s regulatory and disclosure requirements for groups that engage in lobbying or lobbying-related activities.
John Alan James, executive director of Pace University”™s Center for Global Governance, Reporting and Regulation, said the support from the business community represented a refreshing alternative to the messages often promulgated by special interests.
“This is long overdue and greatly needed,” he said. “I wish them all the power in the world and I wish there were more of them.”
