Lawsuit Challenges NYC Contribution Restrictions on Persons Doing Business with the City
Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom has issued the press release copied below. As of this posting, the press release was not online yet.
__________________
Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom
1 South 6th Street
Terre Haute, IN 47807
PRESS RELEASE
February 11, 2008
Contact: James Bopp, Jr.
Phone: 812-232-2434; Fax 812-235-3685
jboppjr@aol.com
Lawsuit Filed Challenging New York City’s Contribution Restrictions on Persons Doing Business with the City
The city has been slapped with a Federal lawsuit challenging its new campaign finance laws.
The lawsuit, the first legal action against the recently adopted campaign finance laws, was filed today in Federal court against the City of New York, claiming that contribution restrictions on persons doing business with the city are unconstitutional under the First Amendment and will discriminate against minority candidates in violation of the Voting Rights Act.
The complaint was filed by attorney James Bopp, Jr., on behalf of a diverse group of plaintiffs, which includes business owners, employees, former elected officials who have served in city government, and political parties. The plaintiffs are men and women of diverse ethnic background, including white, African-American and Latino.
“All of the plaintiffs feel that the campaign finance laws as currently written violate the constitutional rights of New York’s citizens and discriminate against federally protected minorities,” said Mr. Bopp, who also serves as general counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech.
Mr. Bopp, a former Co-Chairman of the Election Law Subcommittee of the Federalist Society, has a national campaign finance and election law practice with his firm, Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom. He has argued and won four campaign finance cases in the United States Supreme Court, including the 2006 Supreme Court case, Randall v. Sorrell, that struck down Vermont’s low campaign contribution limits.
Bopp said that most of the challenges in this lawsuit focus on Local Law No. 34 of 2007, which set much lower campaign contribution limits (a 90 percent reduction) for those having business dealings with the city, made such contributions unmatchable for public funds, and outlawed campaign contributions from LLCs, LLPs and partnerships.
“The contribution limits that New York City is imposing are lower than any the Supreme Court has ever upheld as constitutional and thus violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech,” said Mr. Bopp.
“Furthermore, they were enacted for a partisan political effect, since labor unions and neighborhood associations are not subject to the lower limits. Finally, these limits will advantage incumbents and especially disadvantage minority candidates and voters, in violation of the Voting Rights Act,” he added.
Mr. Bopp noted that New York City can regulate elections, including setting limits on contributions and administering public financing, but they must do so in constitutional ways.
A copy of the Complaint may be obtained at the James Madison Center website, located at jamesmadisoncenter.org.
James Bopp, Jr. has a national campaign finance and election law practice with Bopp, Coleson & Bostrom. He is General Counsel for the James Madison Center for Free Speech and former Co-Chairman of the Election Law Subcommittee of the Federalist Society.