Disclosure & Transparency

“Bad actors could easily abuse this data,” wrote Alex Gulotta, Arizona state director of All Voting is Local Action, and Jenny Guzman, program director of Common Cause Arizona, in a mid-March Arizona Republic commentary. “This is not a far-fetched reality.”

There needs to be an effort to find a balance, said Heather Ferguson, director of New Jersey operations for Common Cause, a Washington, D.C.-based ethics advocacy group. “There’s a good way to balance the transparency aspect and also help out elected officials as I think we have been entering some unprecedented times where they’re rightfully concerned about their safety and security,” she said.

Sailor Jones, associate director of Common Cause North Carolina, alluded to those setbacks in addressing the audience. “This time, my friends, the courts will not save us,” Jones said. “Who will?”

Kate Titus, of the good government organization Common Cause Oregon, said elected officials should consider more than just their minimum legal requirements when conducting the public’s business. “There’s what the law mandates, but above and beyond that, there’s also what’s ethical. Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical or in the best interest of the people,” Titus said. “Public perception matters. Elected officials can’t just follow the letter of the law, they need to follow the spirit of the law,” Titus told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Ultimately, elected officials have an obligation to work in the best interests of the town, not Amazon and not for themselves.”

But one issue trailed him: a complaint had been filed with the Federal Election Commission by the good-government group Common Cause about his payment to Ms. Daniels, which was publicly revealed in January 2018 by The Wall Street Journal.