The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) is an independent New York City agency that serves to provide campaign finance information to the public, enable more citizens to run for office by granting public matching funds, increase voter participation and awareness, strengthen the role of small contributors, and reduce the potential for actual or perceived corruption.

[2] The agency's history dates back to the mid-1980s, when New York City Mayor Ed Koch introduced a series of ethics reforms in response to several high-profile corruption scandals.

[3] In 1988, the New York City Charter Revision Commission proposed and passed a public referendum that established the Campaign Finance Board.

The voluntary Campaign Finance Program provides matching funds to qualifying candidates for mayor, public advocate, comptroller, borough president, and City Council.

The Campaign Finance Program matches eligible donations 6:1, but there are limits to the maximum public funds that a candidate may receive.

The Campaign Finance Program has evolved considerably since 1988, based in part on legislative changes recommended by the Board in its post-election reports.

The voluntary Program helps credible candidates run competitive campaigns by providing funds for contributions received by NYC residents.

Program participants are motivated to campaign and fundraise within their communities because public matching funds make increases to the value of small contributions from NYC residents.

The Brennan Center for Justice and the Campaign Finance Institute found in their 2012 Report, Donor Diversity Through Public Matching Funds, that, “The city’s public financing system gives candidates an incentive to reach out to a broader and more diverse array of constituents to fund their campaigns.

A list of registered political committees is published on the CFB's website, to help participants comply with the rules and to provide additional information to the public about the source of campaign contributions.

The CFB selects various media, educational, and civic groups to sponsor the debates and broadcast them on television and/or radio citywide.

[citation needed] Only candidates deemed “leading contenders” participate in the second debate for the primary and general election.

Vallone commented that the requirement for debates "will help strengthen and improve the democratic process in New York City.

In 1998, the City Council passed a law increasing the matching rate from $1-to-$1 to $4-to-$1 for candidates who voluntarily agreed to not accept corporate contributions.

Shortly after 9AM, the first plane struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, just three blocks away from the offices of the CFB.

The Board decided that no adjustments to the contribution and expenditure limits needed to be made, with the exception of the typical “get out the vote” spending on election day.

[citation needed] In 2010, independent expenditures disclosure was approved by New York City Voters through a public referendum.

Following the public's decision, the CFB established a set of rules to monitor independent expenditures in elections by candidates.

Independent spenders are required to report any expenditure that meets the following three criteria:[18] Mayor Dinkins tried to replace Chairman O’Hare with Thomas J. Schwartz, in what some perceived as retribution for determinations the Board during made the 1993 election cycle.

Such is the case of the CFB, the fiercely nonpartisan overseer of New York’s voluntary system of public campaign financing for local offices.

Questions were raised about the fee arrangement between the Hevesi campaign and its principal consultants, Morris, Carrick & Guma.