SuperPAC State of Mind

The New York Mayoral race has been nothing but a blowout for the Democratic candidate, Bill de Blasio. Pictured above with his wife Chirlane and son Dante, who is rocking one of the most epic afros ever to grace the mayoral stage, deBlasio joyfully dances the "smackdown" on the night of his victory. It is here I have to take a break to discuss Dante's fro. Not only has President Obama stated that it resembles the one he had back in 1978, but he even confessed that his afro "was never that good." Dante's afro was definitely a main factor contributing to his placement as Time's 6th most influential teenager of 2013. Ok, now back to the real stuff.

De Blasio won the election with 74% of the votes compared to the meager 24% earned by his Republican opponent Joe Lhota — the largest margin of victory by a non-incumbent in any mayor’s race in city history. Boom, that's gotta hurt. Sorry Joe, but at least your campaign wasn't a total disappointment. After all, your supporters were able to blow open the city's campaign finance laws, some of the strictest in the nation! Not surprisingly, after having a billionaire mayor (Da Bloomz) for the past 12 years, campaign finance is back to the forefront of the debate regarding the influence of money in politics.

Less than two weeks before the election took place, the New York Court of Appeals decided unanimously to strike down the previous statute limiting individuals to $150,000 in donations to candidates. The plaintiff in this case was the New York Progress and Protection PAC, a conservative PAC that used the decision to generate a large injection of cash for Joe Lhota's dying campaign. Using the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court case as a battering ram, the Court of Appeals may have altered the way campaigns in New York are run in the future. Dun dun duuuuuun.

On a related note, special interest groups have a large influence on the positions that candidates take and represent in their platform. Taking advantage of a loophole in the strict campaign finance regulations of New York, intermediaries or bundlers can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for candidates. Surprisingly one of the biggest lobbyists influencing policy is the taxi cab industry. Who'dve thought? The amount that the yellow taxi cab lobbyists donated to de Blasio's campaign is astounding as taxi interests are "responsible for delivering more than one-third of the $1.4 million in bundled contributions to de Blasio’s campaign."

Taxi (campaign) Driver

 The reason for their tenacity in raising funds is due to Mayor Bloomberg's plan to set up a green taxi service to pick up passengers in the outlying areas of the five boroughs. Yellow cab drivers are rumblin' for a showdown against their hated green cab rivals, and the way they plan to do it is contributing to de Blasio's campaign. It may have even worked, as de Blasio has planned to revisit the plan that Mayor Bloomberg set out to implement.


It's hard to deny the impact of money on politics. Now with eased restrictions on campaign donations by PACs and individuals as seen in New York City's Mayoral Race, oh how the turntables have... turned.

Media References

Taylor, Matt. "New York Magazine." Daily Intelligencer. N.p., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/09/de-blasio-celebrates-win-with-brooklyn-bash.html>.

Carlson, Stuart. "The Editorial Cartoons of Stuart Carlson." Carlsontoonscom The Editorial Cartoons of Stuart Carlson RSS. N.p., 2010. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://www.carlsontoons.com/money-talks/>.