Campaign Finance

Those who are manufacturing doubts about our election results have a strong profit motive: they need to keep the doubts alive to keep the dollars flowing.  But the rest of us can stop falling for their scam, and stop subsidizing these unfounded attacks on America’s elections.

A new report from Common Cause in partnership with the Communications Workers of America, “Broadband Gatekeepers: How ISP Lobbying and Political Influence Shapes the Digital Divide,” examines lobbying and political spending by the largest ISPs and their trade associations and how these activities have shaped the digital divide.

Stephen Spaulding, a senior counsel at Common Cause, said that engaged Democratic voters were attuned to the filibuster, the Senate’s signature procedural weapon that requires a 60-vote supermajority to advance most bills. “They will have serious questions if it’s not reformed and there is no action to protect voting rights or reproductive rights, both of which are under attack in states across the country,” he said. “They will ask the question: ‘Why did you care more about a Senate rule than these priorities?’”

"It's a very bold bill," Steve Spaulding, senior counsel for Public Policy & Government Affairs at Common Cause, told Insider. "It is still a sweeping, bold bill with many of the main pillars of the For The People Act in it."  "I think there is room for common ground, but at the end of the day, given that we're talking about the fundamental freedom to vote, we need to give Senator Manchin room to bring along the Republicans that will see the wisdom of supporting this revised bill," Spaulding said. "But at the end of the day, if that doesn't happen, we do think it's incumbent upon the majority to find a path forward to get this bill to the president's desk." 

"The real problem here is unfortunately we don't have a good watchdog agency to ­enforce against these bad actors," says Beth Rotman of the clean-government group Common Cause. "Unfortunately, what that means is when groups like this look to see whether they can get away with crossing the line like this, often the answer is yes."

Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, told The Daily Beast that despite the lack of transparency, he welcomed the influx of unitemized contributions. “I am a watchdog of money in politics, but my take on this may not be what one might assume,” Ryan said. He believes that in general, the growth of small-dollar donors is “a really good thing for democracy” and is “in some ways the antidote to the special interest donor.”