New York, NY-Aug. 20...New Yorkers for Growth, the leading fiscal reform group, today called for an investigation into "the intricate and deeply disturbing maze of campaign and fiscal practices of the New York State Working Families Party"(WFP).

New Yorkers for Growth made the call after reviewing an ongoing investigative series on WFP practices by City Hall newspaper.

Working Families Party candidates in New York City receive millions in public funding from the New York City Campaign Finance Board's six-to-one matching fund program, and City Hall has reported questionable WFP practices involving portions of that money, including:

• ...shared resources and staff, and quiet money transfers between the Working Families Party, a secretive private company called Data and Field Services (DFS) and at least six current Council campaigns";
• WFP-endorsed candidates-and only WFP-endorsed candidates-hiring DFS and paying for its services with public dollars;
• "significant overlap between DFS and WFP staff";
• The WFP paying below-market-rate rent for office space shared with the 142 employees of DFS; and
• The WFP paying no rent at all in some years, in possible violation of state law.

"These reports raise serious questions about what the Working Families Party, its cohorts, and its candidates are up to," said New Yorkers for Growth spokesman William O'Reilly. "If the Working Families Party and Data and Field Services are collaborating to evade contribution limits to candidates, or to benefit financially, that would be a real problem. There is enough smoke here to warrant an investigation by the State Board of Elections; the New York City Campaign Finance Board; the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, and Albany district attorneys; the New York State Attorney General, and the U.S. Attorney."

To learn more about New Yorkers for Growth, please visit www.newyorkersforgrowth.com.