On Monday, we reported that the New York Times editorial board urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) and the legislature to pass Fair Elections legislation. This morning, there are three more important stories on efforts there.

First, from the Associated Press, national organizations are engaging their New York activists on this issue:

"A coalition of advocacy groups will aim 1 million emails at New Yorkers on Wednesday, urging them to prod Gov. Andrew Cuomo to pursue public financing of political campaigns.

"The effort that national groups including MoveOn.org, Progressives United and Demos are launching Wednesday is meant to push the Democrat as he considers a campaign finance reform bill he said he'll present to the state Legislature."

...

"Cuomo says he's working on a package that could pass the Legislature before the regular session ends in late June."

Andy Kroll at Mother Jones has a story on the national implications of a win in New York:

"Forget Washington, DC. The real front line in the battle to get big money out of politics is in Albany, New York's capital and a rough-and-tumble hotbed of political corruption and dysfunction.

"On Wednesday, a new campaign, Fair Elections for New York, will launch to implement a taxpayer-funded public financing system for statewide elections and slash the contribution limit for political donors. Behind this effort is more than the usual cast of good-government and watchdog types. Fair Elections for New York's coalition includes powerful business leaders and philanthropists, big political donors, environmentalists, religious leaders, labor unions, ethics watchdogs, and more, all of whom say they're sick of the status quo in New York."

...

"A victory in New York, reformers say, could ripple throughout the country in the larger campaign to neutralize Citizens United and other decisions like it and revamp how elections get funded. 'It's like the old show-biz line,' Nick Nyhart, president of the reform group Public Campaign, says of the New York effort. 'If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.'"

And finally, an endorsement of the plan from the Albany Times-Union editorial page:

"Consider the possibilities, New York. State government no longer shows signs of being so thoroughly broken. Budgets are passed on time — keeping spending in check, for a change, and chipping away at the deficit. The state’s tax laws are fairer than they used to be. Gay marriage has been legal for months.

"So what should top the agenda for the final two months of a legislative session that’s mercifully free of impending crisis? This: Reduce the onerous influence of money on state politics and government.

"That’s one area where New York still stands out as an example of government failing to serve the very people it’s supposed to represent. The costs of running for public office are too high here, and the people who supply the money — less than 1 percent of the state’s adult population, close to the lowest rate in the country — are disproportionately high rollers and special interests."

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