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Despite such caps and advances in public financing long a goal of progressive activists officials with good government groups were left shaking their heads at how the commission arrived at its decisions after fractious public hearings and what they say were secret back-room negotiations.

The public hasnt seen any language. This commission has been operating largely out of sight, and it appears that the only feedback they react to is from governor and legislative leaders, said Blair Horner, the executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Indeed, the commission often seemed to be changing its mind on issues mid-thought: At one point on Monday morning, the panel rejected a proposal to raise the contribution limit for races in the Assembly. Minutes later, after the arrival of one of Mr. Cuomos appointees, Mylan L. Denerstein, the commission took up the proposal again and passed it.

In one victory for small parties, the commission did not eliminate so-called fusion voting, which allows candidates to collect votes on multiple lines, including third parties, thus helping those parties meet the thresholds for staying on the ballot.

As the groups deadline approached and third parties existential anxieties peaked, Senator Chuck Schumer, along with three New York Congress members, urged the panel to leave the practice alone. Mr. Cuomo had expressed measured support as well, saying he had benefited from fusion voting, which is allowed in only a handful of other states.

Leaders of the state Conservative Party, which seemed better positioned to survive a new 2 percent threshold, nonetheless also attacked the commission, questioning its constitutional authority.

This is a classic example of government engineering a crisis and then presenting an impossibly bureaucratic solution to it on the backs of taxpayers, the party chairman, Gerard Kassar, said in a statement.

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Democrats Plan Will Suppress Third Parties in New York - The New York Times