One of the arguments in support of the creation of New York City Campaign Finance Law was that by providing funds to insurgent candidates and limiting the amounts that could be contributed, City elections would become more competitive.

With the huge number of incumbents getting re-elected since the law came into effect, most of us have doubted that the argument held much water. But this year, a case can be made that the law did help level the playing field and made our elections more competitive.

We all know that five incumbent City Councilmembers were defeated in the Democratic Primary. But those were not the only surprisingly competitive Council campaigns we had this year.

There were other upsets, where the candidates of the dominant political organizations lost plus there were some extremely close wins by both incumbents and other favorites.

In most of these cases, I believe that the Campaign Finance Law played a major role.

Let’s follow the money and see where they helped insurgents compete. And then think of how little money is raised by challengers in State legislative contests and how few of them are seriously competitive.

Please note that the figures listed are from the latest update on the Campaign Finance Board Website. The money listed both raised and distributed to most of the winning candidates are higher than they actually had to spend in the Primary campaign.

1st CD – Margaret Chin, in her third try for Council, defeated Councilman Alan Gerson. Chin raised just over $150,000 and received over $110,000 in public funds. Gerson raised a little over $140,000 and received no public funds.

3rd CD – Speaker Christine Quinn received 53% of the vote. She raised @$177,000 and did not accept public funds. Each of her opponents raised over $90,000 and received $88,550 in public funds.

14th CD – Councilwoman Maria Baez raised just under $80,000 and received just over $70,000. Her successful opponent, Fernando Cabrera, who was endorsed by the Bronx Democratic Committee, raised just over $85,000 and received $90,318.

19th CD – Republican Daniel Halloran upset Democrat Kevin Kim becoming the first Republican to represent this district in 8 years. Kim raised much more than Halloran ($436,848) to Halloran’s $47,502 raised and $102,568 in public funds but think of how much greater the disparity could have been. To be fair, much of Kim’s money was spent in the competitive Democratic Primary.

25th CD – Councilwoman Helen Sears ($139,000 raised - $107,000 matching funds) lost to Daniel Dromm ($130,000 raised - $107,000 matching funds).

26th CD – Congressman Joe Crowley and the Queens County Democratic Organization backed Deirdre Feerick, but she was defeated by Jimmy Van Bramer. Van Bramer raised more than Feerick ($108,243 to $84,643) and received more funds from the City (($172,672 to $88,550).

28th CD – Councilman Tom White was re-elected by only four votes over his leading challenger Lynn Nunes. White had considerable more money than Nunes, having raised $98,590 and receiving $112,621 from the CFB but Nunes had enough to get his message out - $33,360 + $88,550. In contrast, last year Nunes challenged White for District Leader in a contest where there are no City subsidies, White won with 62% of the vote.

29th CD – Former Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz regained her seat after an eight year absence. But her closest opponent, Lynn Schulman was only 290 votes behind in the Democratic Primary. The money situation was Koslowitz - $103,554 raised + $185,855 in matching funds. Schulman $96,710 + $157,865.

36th CD – Councilman Al Vann was re-elected but received only 31% on the vote in the Democratic Primary to his main challenger, Mark Winston Griffith’s 23%. Vann raised a bit over $65,000 and received $168,505. Griffith raised more than Vann - $92,876 & received $173,894.

45th CD – Challenger Jumaine Williams defeated Councilman Kendall Stewart by over 1,000 votes despite the presence of four other challengers. This is another case where the challenger actually had more funds than the incumbent. Williams raised $85,871 & received $154,740 to Stewart’s $78,970 & $136,940.

49th CD – Like Margaret Chin in the 1st District, challenger Deborah Rose won on her third try, defeating Councilman Ken Mitchell. Mitchell, who beat Rose in a Special Election earlier this year, had more money than her but not much more. Mitchell raised $112,306 & received $88,550 in matching funds while Rose raised $86,341 and received $177,050.

There were a few other competitive Council races but it doesn’t seem to me that the Campaign Finance laws played a determinative role in them.

And I’m not saying that Campaign Finance was the only reason that we had so many competitive races this year. As I wrote out the beginning, despite matching funds, we have had not had many real contests in the past. The vote to extend term limits & an anti-incumbent mood among the voters plus the skilled campaigns waged by many of the candidates were all factors this year. But at least for 2009, I think that those of us who think small d democracy is a good thing should give, at least, two cheers for the NYC Campaign Finance Law.