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Trump Must Sign Ethics Pledge & Transition Documents

Press Release

Trump Must Sign Ethics Pledge & Transition Documents

President-elect Donald Trump still has not signed legal documents – including an ethics pledge - needed to formally begin his administration’s transition of power. Candidates usually file these documents well in advance of the election. As a result of this delay, the government cannot provide security clearances, briefings and resources to Trump’s incoming team before he is sworn into office on January 20th.

Media Contacts

David Vance

National Media Strategist
dvance@commoncause.org
240-605-8600

Katie Scally

Communications Director
kscally@commoncause.org
202-736-5713

Ariana Marmolejo

Regional Communications Strategist (West)
amarmolejo@commoncause.org

Jennifer Garcia

Regional Communications Strategist (South)
jgarcia@commoncause.org

Kenny Colston

Regional Communications Strategist (Midwest)
kcolston@commoncause.org

Common Cause’s network of national and state democracy reform experts are frequent media commentators. To talk with one of our experts, please reach out to any member of the press team above.

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Kansas City Star/Yahoo! News: Kansas Senate drops effort to remove ethics watchdog as details of investigation emerge

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Kansas City Star/Yahoo! News: Kansas Senate drops effort to remove ethics watchdog as details of investigation emerge

“It’s really outrageous on a number of fronts,” said Beth Rotman, money in politics and ethics program director at Common Cause, a national group that promotes government accountability.

“This ethics agency has a job to do for everyday Americans,” Rotman said. “They have a job to do for we the people who have these laws in place, and they have a job to do and if there has been any potential issue they need to investigate, they need to be able to start to do their jobs and go forward with this without potential...

PolitiFact: Terrorism bulletin not attempt to criminalize free speech, despite claim

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PolitiFact: Terrorism bulletin not attempt to criminalize free speech, despite claim

"We've seen real-life harm caused by election disinformation," said Jesse Littlewood, vice president for campaigns with Common Cause, a voter advocacy group. He cited the Capitol attack.

"It is abundantly clear that we live in a time of increased threats of violence against election officials and poll workers fueled by election disinformation and conspiracy theories and like a pile of dry kindling it only takes a spark to ignite real world violence," Littlewood wrote in an email.

Miami Herald: Judge who worked with GOP on redistricting is asked to withdraw from suit over new maps

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Miami Herald: Judge who worked with GOP on redistricting is asked to withdraw from suit over new maps

Common Cause Florida, FairDistricts Now and five individual voters filed a motion late Tuesday asking 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allen Winsor to recuse himself from the lawsuit the groups filed March 11, asking the federal court to set the new congressional districts.

Winsor, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump, is one of three judges named by Chief Judge William Pryor to a panel to handle the case. Also on the panel is U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, a George W. Bush...

Courthouse News Service: DeSantis rejects GOP-drawn Florida redistricting map

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Courthouse News Service: DeSantis rejects GOP-drawn Florida redistricting map

“At the heart of the map that the governor is pushing, is to dismantle a district that has given Black communities in northern Florida the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. The governor’s actions are an effort to bully the Legislature or the courts into adopting a map that takes away people’s voting rights and is unconstitutional,” said Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director for Common Cause, a nonpartisan pro-democracy watchdog group.

“Florida voters overwhelmingly adopted some of the...

HuffPost: Clarence Thomas Has Recused Himself From Cases Involving His Son — But Not His Wife

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HuffPost: Clarence Thomas Has Recused Himself From Cases Involving His Son — But Not His Wife

In 2009, Ginni Thomas founded a “tea party” nonprofit called Liberty Central to help defeat President Barack Obama’s signature legislative accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act. She raised $550,000 from undisclosed donors to fund it. This prompted the nonprofit Common Cause to call on Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case challenging limits on corporate political spending. He did not.

Further investigation by Common Cause revealed that Clarence Thomas had failed to...

Cincinnati Enquirer/Columbus Dispatch: GOP OKs Ohio legislature maps tweaked from rejected ones, Democrats say process ‘hijacked’

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Cincinnati Enquirer/Columbus Dispatch: GOP OKs Ohio legislature maps tweaked from rejected ones, Democrats say process ‘hijacked’

Advocates for redistricting reform already have their sights set on a better process, possibly an independent commission such as ones used in other states. Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, said they would not rush anything to the ballot, but something needed to change. 

"They're drunk on power," Turcer said. "They need to be removed from the decision-making process." 

Roll Call: Biden budget seeks $10 billion over decade to improve elections, make ballots postage-free

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Roll Call: Biden budget seeks $10 billion over decade to improve elections, make ballots postage-free

Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause, an independent citizens' lobbying group, said that much money would be “transformative” for states holding elections.  ...

Albert said states often save the grant money they receive from the federal government for emergencies or for other unexpected reasons. 

“Officials don't have confidence that more money will be coming. They don’t feel free to use it in a way that could expand access,” Albert said, praising Biden's call for sustained...

The Guardian: How gerrymandering allows a purple state to promote Trump’s big lie

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The Guardian: How gerrymandering allows a purple state to promote Trump’s big lie

Getting people to look beyond congressional gerrymandering and at distortions for state legislative districts can be a challenge, said Suzanne Almedia, redistricting and representation counsel at Common Cause, a government watchdog group.

“Particularly, given the polarized nature of the US Congress, it’s a lot more straightforward to tell a story of Democrats versus Republicans on the national level than it is to think through the nuances of what happens on the state level,” she said. The policies that most directly affect...

Salon: “Throwback to Jim Crow”: New Texas voting law means Black voters’ ballots get tossed

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Salon: “Throwback to Jim Crow”: New Texas voting law means Black voters’ ballots get tossed

"Texas was already the hardest state to vote in before Republicans passed these laws that made it even harder," said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, in a statement to Salon. "What we're seeing today is a small preview of what we can expect to see at a far wider scale in November unless the federal government finally takes real action to intervene."

Gutierrez said the Texas secretary of state's office was repeatedly told about the potential for these problems when the voting-restriction bill was...

Common Cause Statement on Passing of Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

Press Release

Common Cause Statement on Passing of Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

"Former Secretary Madeleine Albright dedicated her life to promoting democratic values at home and abroad. As the first woman to hold the title of Secretary of State, she is an inspiration to every child who dreams of one day contributing to the great experiment of representative democracy."

Associated Press: Political lobbyists denounce harassment by state senator

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Associated Press: Political lobbyists denounce harassment by state senator

Heather Ferguson, a co-signor of the letter and executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, said that Ivey-Soto referred to her and a female colleague by the nickname “Lips and Hips” in 2016.

“We walked into a meeting with him,” Ferguson said. “He said, ‘Here comes Lips and Hips.’”

Ferguson said she told Ivey-Soto the nickname was sexist and degrading, and that he repeated it later. 

She described a “toxic culture” at the Legislature, praised Anaya’s courage for filing a...

Raleigh News & Observer: Is gerrymandering to blame for more extremism in US politics?

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Raleigh News & Observer: Is gerrymandering to blame for more extremism in US politics?

“The winner is chosen in the primary and the primary draws, for lack of a better way of saying it, the most extreme and emotional voters,” said Bob Phillips, who leads the redistricting reform group Common Cause NC.

He said he’s heard state legislators on both sides of the aisle complain that their party’s leaders instruct them not to even mingle with the other side when they’re in Raleigh, let alone vote with them.

“We’ve seen it in Raleigh and seen it in Washington,” he said. “Folks that come...

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