A bipartisan group of business, civic, and philanthropic leaders launched a new campaign today "to advocate for comprehensive reform to the way elections are funded in the Empire State in order to restore fairness and integrity to New York’s political process."

In his State of the State address in January, Gov. Cuomo urged the legislature to pass public financing legislation.

According to their website:

"New York Leadership for Accountable Govern­ment (NY LEAD) is a bipartisan group of New York business, civic, and philanthropic leaders who have come together to advocate for comprehensive reform to the way elections are funded in the Empire State. We want to join our collective voices to restore fairness and integrity to New York’s political process. New York State’s current campaign finance system fuels cronyism and wastes taxpayer dollars on special interest projects."

The list of people backing the organization includes five former members of Congress--people who have direct knowledge of our big money political system. They are Michael Arcuri (D-NY), Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Amory Houghton (R-NY), Scott Murphy (D-NY), and Harold Ford (D-TN).