Blog Post
Spring Newsletter
A Note from our Executive Director
Happy 2023, California Common Cause members! Thank you so much for your continued support. If you donated even $10 or took action on just one of our petitions last year, you made a difference. We would not be able to fight for California’s democracy without you. I am thrilled for what is in store in 2023 and the entire team is determined to make the most out of the year.
I want to take a second to share a thought about the heartbreaking passing of the President of Common Cause, Karen Hobert Flynn. Karen dedicated her life to building a better, more inclusive democracy. She was relentless, fearless, and driven, but she was also positive, caring, and kind. She was a model of what leadership should be, and her passing is a loss for not just for our organization and for the fight to save our democracy, but for the nation as a whole. You can read more about Karen here.
Karen had ambitious plans for us as an organization, and those plans continue on. As I think about the next year, I am excited about all that is to come. Our California team is spearheading an impressive 2023 legislative package that will bring positive change to our communities (more below), initiating an ambitious research project on how to best fight mis- and disinformation in our democracy, and expanding our student programming to better tap into the galvanized youth across our state. Finally, I am excited to announce that we will be hosting in-person events this year where folks like you can meet our leadership, so please keep an eye on our emails to see if any will be held in your area.
Let us continue our fight for a strong and inclusive democracy for all, as before. It is what Karen would have wanted. May her memory give us strength.
With gratitude,
Jonathan Mehta Stein
Legislative Updates
- Improve the standards for local redistricting to make redistricting in our cities, counties, and school boards as fair, inclusive, and participatory as possible. That will include prohibiting incumbency-protection gerrymandering.
- Require large local jurisdictions to use independent redistricting commissions to prevent the partisan and incumbent-driven gerrymandering that occurs when self-interested politicians draw district lines themselves, and to ensure our communities can be fairly represented.
- Expand access to translated election materials and other necessary voting support for limited-English proficient voters to achieve a more inclusive democracy.
- Reform the state’s recall process to move the question of who should replace a recalled governor to the next regularly scheduled election, to ensure recalls in California are democratic, fair, and not subject to political manipulation.
Welcome to our Spring Interns & Democracy Fellows
CA Common Cause is thrilled to welcome our Spring Interns and continue to support students across our state who are passionate about protecting Democracy!
We are also thrilled to introduce our Spring 2023 Helen Grieco Democracy Fellows! These fellows are mentored by CA Common Cause leadership and have the opportunity to run chapters on their campuses.
CA Common Cause TRIVIA!
What year was Common Cause founded?
The first person to email us back with the correct answer will be sent a free CC T-Shirt!