Democratic mayoral candidate Scott Stringer released a plan for ethics reform Tuesday, calling for an outright ban on campaign contributions by anyone doing business with the city or lobbying City Hall, if he’s elected mayor.

“Pay to play, campaign finance loopholes, agents of the City and blurred lines between lobbyists and City Hall proves that a century and a half later it’s clear we still have a long way to go,” Stringer said.

Stringer made the announcement at Foley Square alongside supporters a day after a PIX11, NewsNation, Emerson College poll on the race showed Stringer in third place with 15%, behind Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who got 17.5%, and Andrew Yang, who received 15.4%.

Stringer’s ethics proposal would also ban contributions and contribution bundling by people doing business the city, meaning all people who are on the city’s “doing business with” list — including lobbyists -  would be prohibited from donating.

Current regulations allow individuals in the city’s “doing business with” list to contribute a maximum of $400 dollars to citywide candidates for office. People doing business with the city are also allowed to act as “bundlers” which allows them to collect donations from a larger group of people on behalf of a campaign. Stringer said he would also ban that practice.

“We cant allow dark money from special interests and dark money to shape our recover from COVID and we cant allow a culture of corruption to take root again at city hall,” Stringer said.

The plan was released just days after The New York Times ran a story detailing years of campaign contributions to Eric Adams, raising questions about whether Adams had taken donations from people who had interests before the city. Adams has denied any wrongdoing, saying he has always followed campaign finance rules and has never let any fundraising impact his decisions as an elected official.

Stringer’s proposal would mark a significant change to how political business is done in New York City — for decades, lobbyists and special interests have enjoyed access to municipal government thanks to loopholes in the law that allow donations. 

Stringer said he would propose legislation in the City Council if he’s elected mayor in addition to an executive order to stop the donations as soon as he is elected.

“I believe our proposals are realistic, concrete, I think they will stand scrutiny through the courts and we will get this done,” he said.