Dear Friend,
The Campaign Finance Board will meet tomorrow to decide whether they will deny matching public funds to thousands of donors to John's historic bid for New York City Mayor. John's donors are overwhelmingly immigrant and first-time donors to any campaign; the average contribution amounts are lower than his rivals'. It would be a terrible message for the CFB to deny matching funds to the very people the campaign finance program was designed and intended to empower.
Tomorrow, John's supporters will talk directly with the CFB, to remind them that it's the people's money, the people's voice, and the people's vote.
WHAT: Rally to Remind the CFB that it's Your Money, Your Voice, Your Vote!
WHEN: TOMORROW Monday, August 5th at 9:00am
WHERE: New York City Campaign Finance Board, 40 Rector Street in Lower Manhattan.
SINOVISION VIDEO: "Supporters Angry!" - 8/2/2013
EXCERPTS - "I have raised money for our Comptroller because I believe in his message. And now we have the Campaign Finance Board telling us that our money will not receive matching funds. No way. It's our money. And the Campaign Finance Board works for us, and not the other way around!" - Clark Peña
"I read the article in the Wall Street Journal and I was outraged! That his money, my money, the monies that I have asked people to give, will not mean the same amount of money as everybody else's money!" - María Khury
"The Board should do the right thing and give us the matching funds that we are entitled to. We have complied with every aspect of the law. It's not just about my campaign. It's about so many thousands of people who made the contributions for the first time ever in their life." - John Liu
NY1 VIDEO: "Campaign Finance Board Aims To Block Liu's Funds" - 8/2/2013
EXCERPTS - Supporters of John Liu stormed the Campaign Finance Board on Friday. "Everyone in New York City has to be outraged if CFB board decides that one candidate's contributors money is different than the other," said a Liu supporter.
"These are the hopes of thousands of people that have contributed to my campaign who feel they are entitled to see their contributions matched," he said. "So I hope the Campaign Finance Board will do the right thing."
WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Liu Won’t Leave Race Over Campaign Finance Board Decision" - 8/2/2013
EXCERPTS - Norman Seabrook, president of the corrections officers union who interviewed Mr. Liu on the radio, said the Liu campaign will redouble efforts to raise money from supporters if the board denies the matching funds. Mr. Seabrook’s union has endorsed Mr. Liu’s campaign.
"The campaign certainly won’t fold. We’ll just have to go back to our contributors and to our donors and say to them, ‘Look, the Campaign Finance Board has ruled that we should not be receiving funds and they’ve taken away your right to have your voice heard,’" Mr. Seabrook said in an interview Thursday. "This is just yet another opportunity for them to try to push us out of the race. We’re not going away."
WALL STREET JOURNAL: "Campaign Finance Board's Staff Seeks to Deny Liu Public Funds" - 8/2/2013
EXCERPT - "How dare they," said Arthur Cheliotes, president of Local 1180, Communications Workers, which is backing Mr. Liu."If there have been improper contributions, those individual contributions should be dealt with and matching funds not given for those. But for those that were properly submitted…those matching funds must be paid out."