POLITICS: Stop the Campaign Finance Board from rigging the election — then scrap it altogether

Good for Mayor Eric Adams for suing the Campaign Finance Board over its outrageous, undemocratic bid to rig the mayoral race against him.

Even if he doesn’t receive timely justice, he’s at least helping expose a system that needs drastic reform or even complete elimination.

Hizzoner wants the board to fork over $5 million in matching funds he argues it has unfairly denied him.

The board’s “conduct is unconstitutional and the height of arbitrary and capricious governmental action,” Adams’ filing states. “The agency must be held to account for its pernicious conduct.”

Damn straight.

The board first began withholding funds from Adams after the Biden Justice Department leveled politically motivated criminal charges against him — charges that were later dropped.

Even federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who dismissed Adams’ previous suit against the board, flagged the huge problem with holding up funds: “The Board’s attempt to shift the burden of proving his innocence to Mayor Adams is inappropriate and goes against the centuries-old American legal principle that presumes the criminal defendant’s innocence until proven guilty.”

The board couldn’t deny Adams funding, he ruled, “based solely on unproven allegations and biased intentions.”

Certainly when the feds dropped the charges against Adams, the board should’ve freed up its funding.

Instead, it’s now claiming 1) his campaign doesn’t qualify because of its “failure to provide requested information,” and 2) the board thinks it has “reason to believe the campaign has violated the law,” says CFB Chairman Frank Schaffer.

Sorry, but the first excuse is an arbitrary assertion Adams can’t have courts overturn in time to avoid harm to his campaign, while the second seems a direct violation of Garaufis’ order.

Heck, on top of treating the mayor as guilty until he proves himself innocent, the board is playing judge, jury and executioner — since denying matching funds is tantamount to a death sentence for most campaigns.

Alas, this typifies how this power-mad body has long acted: In the 2013 Democratic primary, it paved the way for Bill de Blasio’s victory by denying funds to his politically closest rival, John Liu.

After 9/11, it halted campaigning in advance of the rescheduled primary, which may have been been key to Mike Bloomberg’s eventual triumph.

This year, it also slapped Andrew Cuomo with $1.3 million in fines for technical gripes with his website.

And make no mistake: The board’s rulings matter. It’s $8-to-$1 matching rate for taxpayer dollars gives favored candidates a huge advantage.

(When the program began in 1988, the match was just $1-to-$1, but the insiders have upped it repeatedly.)

Nor does the program help outsiders, as promised; indeed, it elevates special interests and those with the experience to game the system and/or curry favor with the board.

Heck, the board and its staff are themselves largely political insiders.

Worst of all: It’s grossly undemocratic; none of its five members is elected, nor are its rulings subject to public debate.

The courts should force this wayward panel to cough up funds due Adams, but in the longer run saving the city’s democracy likely requires scrapping the CFB entirely.