§ 6-03 Joint Expenditures; Endorsements.
RCNY § 6-03
(a)Generally. Candidates may engage in joint campaign activities, including joint fundraising, joint petitioning, and the production of joint campaign literature, subject to applicable expenditure limits.
(b)Candidates must pay proportionally. A candidate must pay for the portion of the joint expenditure that is proportionally equivalent to such candidate's campaign's exposure in or benefit from the joint activity, unless the benefit is de minimis.
(i)Candidates and other individuals or entities may present information to the Board establishing such a de minimis benefit pursuant to 52 RCNY § 12-02.
(ii)Factors for proportional payment. Among the factors the Board will consider in determining whether the benefit to a candidate is proportionally equivalent to its expenditure or is de minimis are: (A) the geographic distribution or location of the material or activity; (B) the subject matter of the communication; (C) the references to the candidate or the candidate's appearances therein; (D) the relative prominence of a candidate's references or appearances in the communication, including the size and location of references to the candidate and any photographs of the candidate; (E) the timing of the communication; and (F) other circumstances of the communication.
(c)Non-proportional payment may lead to in-kind contribution. To the extent a candidate does not pay for the proportional benefit it receives, the candidate is considered to have received an in-kind contribution from the other candidate. An in-kind contribution is also an expenditure by the candidate receiving the contribution.
(d)Not joint expenditures. The following activities, by themselves, are not joint expenditures: (i) the act of appearing with another candidate; (ii) endorsing a candidate, or communicating about an endorsement or appearance in an insubstantial way, such as where the endorser's name is one of several names appearing on a communication and is of equivalent prominence as the other names; and (iii) giving fundraising assistance to another candidate in the form of de minimis written communications, such as allowing the use of one's name or signature on a letter soliciting funds for another candidate or on fundraising material where the endorser's name appears alone or with other names and is of equivalent prominence as the other names. (Added City Record 8/16/2019, eff. 9/15/2019)
