The recent bribery charges levelled against New York City Building Commissioner Eric Ulrich remind of the corruption risk the private financing of political parties and candidates creates.

Ulrich raised money for Eric Adams’ successful campaign for New York City Mayor, and after his election Adams appointed him to a position in the city’s Department of Buildings. As the New York Times explained in its story on the charges, “the department regulates the construction and real estate industries, issuing permits, licensing contractors and policing construction safety and the city’s building code, and thus can have a significant impact on development.”  According to the indictment, Ulrich accepted more than $150,000 in bribes in return for granting licenses and permits.

The corruption risk private campaign financing creates arises from candidates’ search for money to win their election. One needs lots of money to get elected Mayor of New York (Adams’s raised more than $9 million.) That in turn requires people willing to help raise it from friends and associates. Some help knowing that if the candidate they are helping wins, they can use the relationship they have developed with the candidate and senior campaign staff to make money. 

Lawyers and consultants may fundraise for candidates because if the candidate wins, they will be well-placed to help clients cut through the bureaucracy for a fat fee.  Media and political opponents often paint such efforts are illegal, and in some cases they may be.  But smart lawyers and consultants know how to walk on the legal side of the street.

Then there are cases like the conduct Ulrich is accused of where the fundraiser contemplates a stroll on the shady side of the street. The allegations suggest he planned to use the relationship he built fundraising to snare a job allowing him get rich from bribes. 

When I worked for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the national political party committee responsible for electing Republicans to the Senate, shady characters would approach the committee promising to raise money for our candidates.  The committee’s chief fundraiser refused their offers.  The committee’s chair and staff were principled individuals, and the committee was in the fortunate position of being able to pick and choose who it wanted to help it raise money. 

Many party committees and candidates aren’t and in the desperate search for money take whoever walks in the door, turning a blind eye to their character and reputation and crossing their fingers that the fundraiser won’t cross to the shady let alone outright criminal side of the street.  

Our committee had the added advantage that many people who approached it to help raise money were motivated by nothing more than their support for the Republican Party’ principle of limited government. Now that the party is busily scrapping that principle, one wonders if its committees today are so fortunate. Or whether its potential fundraisers walk on the shady side of the street.

(Click here for a famous American’s explanation of why one should always walk on the sunny side of the street.)