Press Release

Today, GateHouse Media and Gannett Co. announced plans to merge to form an unprecedented newspaper conglomerate. The $1.4 billion deal would combine the two largest newspaper chains, creating the largest newspaper publisher in the United States. A combined GateHouse-Gannett entity would own one in every six newspapers in the nation and control over 100 local news operations.

As our nation grieves back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend, Common Cause calls attention to the increasing connections between recent mass killings in which the shooters claim, or are found to have been part of, fringe white supremacist groups.

Today, Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging reason to believe that solicitations for campaign contributions to former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s Senate campaign distributed by We Build the Wall, Inc. violated multiple campaign finance laws. The email solicitation appears to violate the ban on corporate contributions to a federal candidate and the prohibition on candidates spending “soft money” in connection with their election. The email also lacks the “paid for by” disclaimer required by federal law when candidates solicit political contributions.

Today, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the $26 billion merger of T-Mobile Inc. and Sprint Corporation. As part of the approval, T-Mobile and Sprint have agreed to sell assets to Dish Network including Sprint’s prepaid services, Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, and new spectrum licenses. Dish will also have the ability to operate on T-Mobile’s network for a seven-year period while it builds out its own network. The proposed merger is still pending approval by the full Federal Communications Commission. Fourteen state attorneys general have filed suit to block the transaction.

Today, the Select Committee on Intelligence in the United States Senate released its long-awaited report on Russian interference into the 2016 elections in the wake of former special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s warnings yesterday that threats to the nation’s election infrastructure are serious and ongoing. Common Cause hailed the report itself as well as the bipartisan and effective work of the Committee as it addressed the critical and growing threat to our democracy.

Today, Common Cause called on the U.S. House of Representatives to immediately begin an impeachment investigation in response to White House non-cooperation and stonewalling of any attempts to investigate past and current potential criminal conduct or wrongdoing by President Trump or members of his administration. In new a detailed report that will be sent to every member of the House, the nonpartisan government watchdog makes the case, and stresses the need, for the impeachment inquiry.