City Hall News is reporting that the Campaign Finance Board (CFB) now considers the for-profit company Data and Field Services, Inc. (DFS) to be "an arm of the Working Families Party" (WFP). The CFB is now going to consider all spending by the WFP on behalf of any candidate to be a direct campaign expense, rather than an independent expenditure.

Whether this CFB "understanding" holds up or not, in the long run the WFP will be the big loser, because even if they manage to wriggle out of this mess it is certain that new rules will be written to stop them -- or anyone -- from trying to skirt around the edges of campaign finance law.

The fallout after the jump:

In the short run, some good candidates will be hurt, possibly to the extent of losing an election they might have won. In Queens, the WFP is backing at least three good people I know of (Jimmy Van Bramer, Danny Dromm and Lynn Schulman), and all three are locked in highly competitive races. I'm not saying they are the only good candidates in their respective races, just that it would be a rotten outcome if they were screwed out of the opportunity to get elected simply because, through no fault of their own, what had been a highly desired endorsement in this city turned on them thanks to WFP's financial shenanigans.

Going forward, the big winner could be all of New York City, because this could be the impetus for the Council to pass a Clean Money, Clean Elections bill next year. Here's hoping...