Candidates urge NYC to exempt accessibility costs from matching funds spending cap
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Manhattan council hopeful Rebecca LaMorte organized more than 60 other candidates on a petition urging the Campaign Finance Board to exempt disability access expenses from matching funds spending limits. Campaign photo
By David Brand
More than 60 candidates for New York City office are urging the Campaign Finance Board to exempt accessibility services, like captioning and American Sign Language interpretation, from matching funds spending limits to enable more equitable campaigning.
The candidates, organized by Upper East Side council hopeful Rebecca Lamorte, say lumping together the price of political consulting, polling and digital advertising with the cost of equal access only punishes campaigns that focus on voters with disabilities.
“Campaigns should not be penalized for wanting to meet, accommodate, and support a more diverse group of New Yorkers,” the candidates wrote in a petition March 29. “Making our campaigns accessible and inclusive to all New Yorkers should not feel like a luxury cost.”
To qualify for eight-to-one public matching funds, candidates for city council must cap their spending at $190,000. The program is intended to allow everyday people, and not just the wealthy or well connected, to run for office.
Lamorte, a disability rights advocate running in Manhattan’s Council District 5, said her campaign has spent thousands of dollars on ASL interpretation and other accessibility needs so far.
She said, for example, that she spent $600 for an ASL interpreter at a recent campaign event.
“If we do 10 events between now and election day, that’s $6,000 — that’s the choice between a digital ad, mail or hiring a new field organizer,” she said.
“It’s a big cost,” she added. “But for me it’s non-negotiable. I’m a disabled New Yorker. I’m running on a platform of disability justice. I want everyone in our community to be part of affecting the change we need.”
The petition also has the support of five borough president candidates: Jimmy Van Bramer in Queens; Antonio Reynoso and Joanne Simon in Brooklyn; and Elizabeth Caputo and Ben Kallos in Manhattan. The CFB caps spending at $1.64 million for borough president candidates who receive matching funds.
The CFB, however, says it does not have the legal authority to change the rules.
In a response to Lamorte’s petition, CFB Chair Frederick Schaffer said the city’s Campaign Finance Act includes some carve-outs — like costs related to childcare, or defending oneself in proceedings over campaign finance compliance — but does not give the board legal authority to make exemptions on its own.
“There is no interpretation of the existing provisions of the Act that would allow for accessibility or translation services to be included among these exemptions, and the Board has no legal authority to amend the Act or grant new exemptions on its own,” Schaffer said. “However, the Board shares your concern with providing accommodations to every voter that make participating in our political process possible.”
Lamorte said she’s not buying the CFB’s response and plans to introduce legislation to change the law if elected.
Mike Schweinsburg, president of the 504 Democratic Club, said his organization will also urge candidates for city office to back changes to the Campaign Finance Act. The club advocates for the inclusion of people with disabilities in New York City political and social life.
“I’m going to ask every candidate for council, mayor and citywide office if they will push for the CFB to allow for interpretation services — for sign language and language inclusion be exempted from the matching funds cap,” Schweinsburg said. “We will carry that torch.”
He said each interpreter costs roughly $165 per hour and the expenses add up quickly. “The cost of doing that at every event is more than many candidates have for their entire campaign,” he added. “The costs are prohibitively expensive.”
Schweinsburg and Lamorte both said the city could also pick up the tab for accessibility, rather than make candidates determine how they reach out to blind, deaf and disabled constituents.
Other local disability rights advocates hailed the effort to exempt the costs as an important step.
“It’s an amazing petition and it makes so much sense because there is some cost to disability inclusion, said Elisabeth Axel, the founder and president of the organization Art Beyond Sight.
Axel cited Kallos, a Manhattan councilmember, as an example of a candidate who has responded to criticism about a lack of accessibility. She said he updated his website after learning that his images lacked alt tags — embedded descriptions that do not appear for sighted web visitors but are read aloud to people who use a screen reader.
She said more candidates must ensure “effective communication” on their websites, in their literature and during campaign events.
“We need the highest level of disability inclusion,” she said.
For blind New Yorkers, that means audio descriptions of websites, social media and powerpoint slides, she said. For individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, it means American Sign Language interpreters or real-time captioning, known as CART, she added.
The petition to the CFB also has the support of Marc Safman, a Queens activist who describes himself as a deaf-blind, Black disabled advocate.
“It is critical that CFB immediately change its rules addressing costs of accommodations,” Safman said. “During a pandemic like COVID with all activity moving online, it is nearly impossible for hard of hearing communities to participate.”
He said too few candidates have made the effort to have Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG, websites, “quality closed captioning or easy access to ASL and Open Captions/CART.”
“The sad fact remains that the majority of candidates, political parties or organizing groups do not understand what quality captions are. #Craptions are the norm,” he said. “CFB needs to change its discriminatory policies.”
