According to the New York State Board of Elections, 329 candidates registered for the first state-level public campaign finance program, which aims to curb the influence of big money in politics by matching small, local donations with public funds.

The last time he ran for office in 2022, Jonathan Soto’s time and energy was focused on big dollar donors. The East Bronx candidate was up against Democrat Michael Benedetto, who has held onto his title as District 82 assemblymember for nearly 20 years.

Soto ultimately lost that election to Benedetto, who amassed significantly more than his challenger in campaign contributions in the lead up to the June 2022 primary, records show. This time around, Soto—who is running once again for the same Bronx Assembly seat—is hoping a new fundraising law that’s already boosted his campaign’s war chest by $43,049 will help level the playing field.

Enacted by the governor and State Legislature in 2020, New York’s Public Campaign Finance program allows candidates running for state office to qualify for matching funds for contributions between $5 to $250 made by in-district donors.

This year’s elections—during which State Assembly and Senate seats are up for grabs—is the first time candidates for those offices will be able to take part. During the next election cycle in 2026, those running for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and state comptroller will also be able take advantage of matching funds if they qualify and choose to opt in.

The goal of public financing is to curb the influence of big money in politics by amplifying the impact of small, local donors, which has dwindled since the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed corporations and other outside groups to funnel large amounts of money towards elections.

The program can also offer a boost to challengers who lack the financial backing or donor network to run a competitive race against an incumbent—especially in New York, where there are no term limits for state legislative offices. That means some State Assembly and State Senate incumbents remain in office for years or decades at a time, earning name recognition that’s hard for a newcomer to match. 

Elections also cost a lot of money. People with flexible schedules that allow them time to campaign, as well as those with existing wealth and resources, automatically have a leg up, explained Sarah Bryner, director of research and strategy for the good government group OpenSecret. 

“Those factors come together and make it harder for people in our private-funded election system to get what they need to be successful at the ballot box,” said Bryner.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, at least 14 other states and 26 localities use some form of public campaign financing. New York City has a program for candidates running for mayor, City Council, and comptroller that dates back to 1988.

While New York State is the latest to join the ranks, it takes the cake in terms of its scope, says Joanna Zdanys, senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Elections & Government Program. 

“It is the strongest campaign finance reform we’ve seen enacted since Citizens United to respond to the overwhelming influence of wealth in our politics,” she said.

How does it work?

As election season heats up—the primary takes place June 25, and the general election Nov. 5—so too will candidates’ fundraising efforts, including distributions of the state’s matching funds, the first round of which went out earlier this month. 

Each time someone donates between $5 to $250, the state uses a formula to match the contribution with taxpayer money. For example, a $50 donation—which is matched 12 to 1—becomes $600. After the first $50, the match rate is 9-1 for the next $100, and 8-1 for the next $100 after that. In this way, candidates get a bigger bang for each donor buck.

“People can proudly come with your $5 or $10, because they know it’s going to multiply,” said Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman, who represents District 56 in Crown Heights and Bed-Stuy and is campaigning to keep her seat this year. 

To unlock matching funds, State Assembly candidates have to raise $6,000 from 75 in-district residents, while State Senate candidates have to raise $12,000 from 150 in-district residents. The thresholds are different from statewide races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and comptroller, which have their own matching formula. Only in-district donations are matched, although candidates are still permitted to seek donations outside of their district if they choose.

If they meet all of the requirements, candidates will see matching funds hit their committee’s bank account at various points in the election cycle. They can put this money towards campaign expenses like social media and cable ads, field operations, office costs, and staff wages.

“These are things that cost a lot of money. And in a presidential year, they cost even more,” said Chris McCreight, a matching funds participant who is running against incumbent Republican Assemblymember Alec Brook-Krasny in South Brooklyn’s District 46.

Who’s taking part?

According to the New York State Board of Elections, 329 candidates registered for the program before the Feb. 26 cut off. 

The first payout date for the primary was May 13, when 35 participating Senate and Assembly candidates received matching funds totaling just under $3.6 million, according to a report from the Public Campaign Finance Board. The second round of payouts, approved on May 22, will dole out a collective $2.3 million to 50 candidates this week, records show. The first payout date for those running in the general election will be July 8. 

The sign up numbers are impressive for an initiative that’s still finding its footing, according to Zdanys—especially compared to other prominent matching fund programs across the United States.

“The rate of participation in this program this year far outpaces what we usually see in the first run of a public campaign financing program,” she said.

The Brennan Center is hopeful that the state-wide initiative will be able to replicate the benefits of the city’s matching program, particularly when it comes to equitable access. According to one of the Center’s reports, the public matching funds program was partially responsible for ushering in the city’s most diverse City Council to date in 2021 (the city increased the amount of its matching payouts via voter referendum in 2018).

The state program has drawn support from a diverse cross section of candidates on both sides of the political spectrum, proponents say. Roughly three-fourths of legislative districts were represented among those who registered for it, according to the Brennan Center, including 79 percent of Assembly districts and 86 percent of Senate districts.

Participants include 127 incumbents (including Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli), roughly 40 percent of whom identify as Republican, the Center found. The remaining 202 were presumably challengers in the primary election or candidates running for open seats. 

“We think that speaks to…a widespread desire for candidates to have ordinary people help run their campaigns,” said Tom Speaker, legislative director for Reinvent Albany, another group that has been a strong advocate for matching funds.

Even Senator James Skoufis, a Democrat representing District 42 in the Hudson Valley who introduced legislation to reform the program, is among those who signed up for it. He figured that opting out would only disadvantage him in the end. 

“Regardless of whatever concerns and criticisms I have, I’d be shooting myself in the foot to not do it,” he said.

For people like McCreight, who is vying to unseat an incumbent in November, the matching funds have given him more skin in the game. “I couldn’t run in this race if there weren’t matching funds,” he said. “My ability to raise is really contingent on having support in the district.”

Beyond diversifying the field of candidates and nominees, supporters see the program as a way to bring more voters into the fold, given that they can now see their donations amplified. 

“We’ve been cultivating a lot of new donors in the district who’ve never donated before,” said Soto, the East Bronx Assembly candidate.

He was approved for another $9,251 in matching funds last week—on top of the more than $40,000 he received in the first distribution earlier in May—while incumbent Benedetto was approved for $89,700 so far, records show.

What are opponents saying?

While the Public Campaign Finance Program is just kicking off, it’s already had its share of challenges. Last June, Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill that would have dramatically changed the rules of the game. While it passed in both chambers, Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed it.

But it didn’t stay dormant for long. In early April, Sen. Skoufis resurrected the bill. But he made it more “palatable” this time by eliminating the most controversial provision, which would have raised the donation amounts eligible for a match, allowing the first $250 of contributions as large as $18,000 to be boosted by public funds, which critics say conflicts with the intent of the program.

Skoufis’ current version is aimed at increasing the number of donors and amount of money a candidate for state office would need to raise to be eligible to receive matching funds. This more scrupulous requirement would provide proof of a candidate’s credibility and viability before they can unlock public money, he told City Limits.

“One should not be able to snap their finger and have taxpayer dollars fall out of the sky and into their campaign accounts,” he said.

Beyond legislative challenges, there are critics of the program who worry it could be abused by bad actors. The alleged straw donor scheme tied to Mayor Eric Adams’ 2021 run for office put a spotlight on the potential pitfalls of the city’s matching funds, and critics argue that without proper oversight, candidates and donors alike can exploit the system.

In April, The CITY reported on how the state program lacks a spending cap—unlike the city’s version, which prohibits participating councilmembers from spending more than $182,000 in an election year, to “ensure money will not decide an election between participating candidates,” according to the NYC Campaign Finance Board’s website. 

Despite having what he called “significant momentum” during an April interview, Skoufis’ bill, which has 20 sponsors, wasn’t included in the state budget that passed in April, as the senator had hoped. Opponents who spoke with City Limits voiced concerns that changing the rules with the election cycle underway would have been disruptive and unfair.

The budget did include money to continue the public campaign finance program—$100 million for matching funds and $14.5 million for administrative costs—an inclusion celebrated by local good government groups. 

“We think it’s going to make it so that campaigns will get a lot more of their donations from everyday people and less from those with bigger pockets, which we think will have a really positive impact on the kind of policy outcomes that we see in New York State,” said Speaker from Reinvent Albany.

This story was produced as part of the 2024 Elections Reporting Mentorship, organized by the Center for Community Media and funded by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

A 23-year-old is charged with killing his pregnant sister at his Lakeville home and dismembering her body.

Jack Joseph Ball faces two counts of second-degree murder for Thursday’s deaths of 30-year-old Bethany Ann Israel and her unborn child, who was four months along, the charges say.

Ball was arrested late Thursday in Rosemount, about five miles northeast of the homicide scene, and had a self-inflicted knife wound across his throat. He’s been at Region’s Hospital since.

Ball appeared in Dakota County District Court through video conferencing from Regions. Judge Bryce Ehrman set bail at $2 million without conditions, or $1 million with conditions. After Ball is medically cleared, he will be booked into the Dakota County Jail.

According to the criminal complaint and Lakeville police:

Israel’s mother called 911 just after 11 p.m. and reported that she believed her daughter had been killed inside a home in the 17000 block of Encina Path.

When officers arrived, the mother said Israel went to the home around 6 p.m. that night to have dinner with her brother, who was identified as Ball.

She said family had not heard from Israel and were concerned and so she drove to the home to check on her. She said when she arrived, Ball “tore out of the house.” She went inside, saw a large amount of blood and called 911.

Officers entered the home and saw a pool of blood on the kitchen floor and blood under the sink and on cabinets. They saw a saw, hatchet and large knives, all of which were covered in blood.

They saw a knife on the living room floor near the staircase that led to the second level. “In continuing their search, they located several dismembered body parts believed to be those of (Israel),” the complaint says.

Israel’s mother told police that she believed Ball may have gone to a cemetery in Rosemount because relatives were buried there. Rosemount and Apple Valley police officers searched for Ball.

Police received a 911 call from a Rosemount homeowner who reported that a male was seen on their front door Ring camera placing what appeared to be a body part on the front step. Officers arrived and confirmed it was a body part, believed to be that of Israel.

Officers found Ball near a shed in the backyard of the home where his car was parked. He had blood on his head, shirt, arms, legs and pants, and a knife wound across his throat.

Despite the injury, the complaint notes, “(Ball) was able to communicate with officers and accurately told them the date, time and name of the current president.”

Police searched the area and found several dismembered body parts they believed to be those of Israel.

Lakeville police investigators learned from Israel’s family that she was pregnant with her first child.

At the crime scene, investigators found journals and other handwritten paperwork belonging to Ball. Ball wrote that he was angry his sister was pregnant and “no longer innocent.”

An autopsy by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office showed she died from complex homicidal violence, and that she was between 17 and 18 weeks pregnant.

“The allegations in this case are deeply disturbing and horrific — words can’t describe what our law enforcement partners encountered during the investigation,” Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said in a Tuesday statement. “My office will work hard to ensure the victims receive justice and will provide the necessary support for the victims’ family.”

Ball’s next court appearance is scheduled for June 10.

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It was a mystery.

That’s what we were left with when I last wrote about Janet Halverson, the creator of iconic book covers from the 1950s to the 1990s, including Joan Didion’s “Play It As It Lays,” Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and Jack Kerouac’s “Big Sur.”

Despite creating indelible designs for classic books, Halverson herself is largely unknown and unheralded. And that shouldn’t be.

That’s what Michael Russem, book designer and owner of Katherine Small Gallery near Boston, thought. So after years of tracking down everything he could about Halverson and her work, Russem mounted an exhibit of her designs.

As Russem, who’s also a friend, told me earlier this year, he’d been shocked at how little information there was.

“There’s nothing about her anywhere. There are all sorts of magazine articles about these other guys, but nothing about her,” he’d said then. “Graphic designers … all recognize her work and recognize it as being good. But she just went unnoticed, which is true of all the women of her generation. There are no magazine articles about any of them.”

Even after years of searching, he’d come up empty. Then something changed.

“I got an email not long after your article came out from one of Janet’s nieces,” Russem told me this week, adding that Halverson’s niece Susan lives a little more than 10 miles away from him. “She’d found your piece online.”

“That is something I never expected to happen,” says Russem about connecting with a family member so near. “Somehow we caught her at just the right time.”

Book covers from “Janet Halverson: An Introduction.” (Courtesy of Katherine Small Gallery)

Halverson’s niece told him that the designer had died in early 2018, having spent the last few years of her life battling Alzheimer’s disease. Russem invited Susan and her husband to come see what he’d collected.

“They came to the store. Unfortunately, the show had just closed. So we didn’t get to look at the show, but I pulled out some of the books and we talked about them … Janet was Susan’s aunt, not ‘a famous graphic designer,’ so I learned about her as a person, not necessarily what she thought about design,” he says.

I asked Russem how they’d described Halverson. She could be challenging in certain circumstances, he was told, but she could also be a charmer.

“She was smart and funny. She skipped grades in school, which explains how she graduated from college at age 19 – that was something I’d always found weird. She hung out with artists and writers and she lived the life of an artist. And then when she was no longer designing,” he told me. “She switched to painting.”

Was there anything he learned about her work? Apparently, Russem says, Halverson loathed her design for the ’70s blockbuster novel “The Thorn Birds” – the publisher had insisted on a naturalistic illustration – and never wanted to see it again.

Halverson’s niece remembered seeing her aunt’s designs in bookstores as a child. How did she and her husband respond to an entire exhibit devoted to the work?

“They were kind of surprised by all this, even though they had known from googling her that people were interested,” says Russem, who then poses his own question. “Why were people interested? There was just something special about her work – and then to know this work was made by a woman at a time when women weren’t getting any attention made her story even more special.”

Book covers from “Janet Halverson: An Introduction.” (Courtesy of Katherine Small Gallery)

Despite the belief that Halverson’s materials, papers and letters did not survive, it’s possible there will be more to unravel, more to learn. A library sciences student has already reached out to Russem about Halverson’s work, he says.

And for Russem, connecting with Halverson’s family was a powerful experience on its own, whatever comes next.

“Oh my gosh, I was ecstatic, because I’d hoped that this would provide all the missing answers,” says Russem. “It didn’t, which I’m almost glad for because then it would mean this was all done and over.”

See more of Russem’s collection of Halverson’s designs at The People’s Graphic Design Archive or visit Katherine Small Gallery.

Jenny Erpenbeck, International Booker Prize winner, in Southern California

Writer Jenny Erpenbeck signs books at the Wende Museum in Culver City on May 18, 2024. (Photo by Erik Pedersen/SCNG)

This week, the writer Jenny Erpenbeck won the International Booker Prize for her novel, “Kairos.” Translator Michael Hofmann shares the prize with her.

Just a few days prior, I ventured out to the Wende Museum in Culver City to see Erpenbeck in conversation with Louise Steinman. It was a blustery day and a community event in the park nearby added to the festivities (and the dearth of parking), but it was a pleasure to return to the unusual museum, which is a “art museum, cultural center, and archive of the Cold War.”

Held outside, the discussion was a little hard to hear in some spots, but it was being recorded (I reached out to the museum to find out if it would be made available to the public but hadn’t heard back as I wrote this). Erpenbeck, as she began to read from “Kairos,” joked that Southern California was good for her: “I don’t need my glasses. I become younger here.”

Afterward, I was able to chat with the author for a few minutes as the book signing got underway, mentioning that I’d been introduced to her work by Jean Gillingwators who runs Blackbird Press in Upland and who has great, eclectic taste in books (so I may have picked up a copy for her along with my own from Village Well, which was the event vendor).

And in keeping with the event’s small world feeling, I also ran into Laura Silverstein and Tom Nissley of the excellent Phinney Books, one of my favorite bookstores in Seattle, who were visiting. (Tom is another Backlisted podcast fan, too.) They were with Krank Press printer Elinor Nissley and jack-of-all-cool-trades Alex MacInnis who made a series of audio programs called Valley of Smoke that I really liked. They’re an accomplished bunch – google Tom’s “Jeopardy” run, for example – but also friendly folks. It made the day even better.

Why am I sharing all this? Possibly as a suggestion that it can be a good idea to go to an in-person author reading and pick up a signed book or three. Or that Southern California had the International Man Booker Prize winner in our midst, and it was pretty terrific.

Julia Hannafin likes the covers of old paperback novels

Julia Hannafin is the author of “Cascade.” (Courtesy of Great Place Books)

Julia Hannafin is the author of the novel “Cascade,” published in April by independent press Great Place Books. They have worked as a staff writer on Showtime’s “The L Word: Generation Q” and as an assistant to screenwriter Eric Roth while he was writing the script for Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune.” 

Q: How do you decide what to read next?

A mix of friends’ recommendations, Twitter, and following the syllabi of the online classes I’ve taken after college. Rabbit holes of writers I admire.

Q: Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?

I was a big reader as a kid and don’t remember the first. But I loved Gabrielle Zevin’s “Elsewhere” and her vision of an afterlife. I read the Tamora Pierce series on Alanna’s journey to becoming a knight cover to cover. And my middle school English teacher made us memorize poems and perform them, which introduced me to e.e. cummings, who showed me I could do whatever I wanted with nouns and verbs.

Q: What’s something – a fact, a bit of dialogue or something else – that stayed with you from a recent reading?

I’m thinking about what Hanif Abdurraqib said in a recent interview, how in a desire to love someone in a big way, we can rush to love the imagined person, not the actual. Also, from Maya Binyam’s “Hangman”: “I tried to go home — home was inside of me.” And from Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain,” “If you can’t fix it you got a stand it. … I been looking at people on the street. This happen a other people? What the hell do they do?”

Q: Do you have any favorite book covers?

I love small, ‘70s and ‘80s style paperbacks — graphic and bright and simple. I also love the Clarice Lispector series of books where her portrait comes together in four parts.

Q: Do you have a favorite book or books?

“Things We Lost in The Fire” by Mariana Enríquez, “Jesus’ Son” by Denis Johnson, “The Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler, “To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf.

Q: Which books do you plan, or hope, to read next?

José Saramago’s “Blindness.”

Q: What’s something about your book that no one knows?

I think part of my writing this book was an attempt to understand my mom Dawn better, whose father, my grandfather, died from a heart attack and the disease of alcoholism. She was pregnant with me when he died.

More books, authors and bestsellers

“All Fours,” a new novel by Miranda July, is the top-selling fiction release at Southern California’s independent bookstores. (Courtesy of Riverhead Books)

The week’s bestsellers

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• • •

Christine Ma-Kellams debut novel “The Band” tells the story of a canceled K-pop star who hides out in Southern California with an older psychology professor he randomly meets in a South Bay H Mart. (Photo by Tirza Cubias, book image courtesy of Atria Books)

Band(member) on the run

A disgraced K-pop star hides in Southern California. ‘The Band’ tells the story. READ MORE

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Former Lush singer and guitarist Miki Berenyi is the author of a new memoir, “Fingers Crossed.” (Photo credit Abbey Raymonde / Courtesy of Mango)

Lush life

A ’90s pop star, Miki Berenyi tells her own story ahead of LA show. READ MORE

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Hari Kunzru’s new novel, “Blue Ruin” largely takes place on an estate in upstate New York during the 2020 lockdown. (Photo credit Clayton Cubitt / Courtesy of Knopf)

‘Blue’ Clues

Hari Kunzru’s “Blue Ruin” examines love and relationships during lockdown. READ MORE

• • •

Amy Tan, the critically acclaimed author of “The Joy Luck Club” and other works, will discuss her new book “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” at two Southern California venues on May 20 and 21. (Photo by Kim Newmoney/Cover image courtesy Knopf)

Avian calling

Amy Tan hopes “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” makes you a conservationist. READ MORE

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Book pitch

Why Los Angeles Dodgers great Clayton Kershaw agreed to a new biography. READ MORE

Bookish (SCNG)

Next on ‘Bookish’

Check out the next event with Alex Espinoza and Mike Madrid

June 21 at 5 p.m. Sign up for free now.

• • •

Have you read anything you’d like to share with other readers? Email epedersen@scng.com with “ERIK’S BOOK PAGES” in the subject line and I may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.

And if you enjoy this free newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone who likes books or getting a digital subscription to support local coverage.

Thanks, as always, for reading.