Press Release

Today, Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging reason to believe that a Florida businesswoman violated campaign finance laws by enlisting and reimbursing “straw donors” tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions related to the reelection efforts of Donald Trump.

Paul Manafort purposefully committed bank and tax crimes, was facing 19-25 years in prison, but was only sentenced to 47 months. Meanwhile, a black woman in Texas named Crystal Mason accidentally violated the law while voting in the 2016 presidential election and was sentenced to 5 years. Manafort’s lenient sentence shows something severely wrong with the justice system in our nation. Apparently, too often we have one for the wealthy, white, and politically connected, and another for ordinary people, especially people of color.

Score one for the people. The House passed the For the People Act in the face of stiff opposition from K Street’s corporate lobbyists and special interests. The legislation truly is for the people, bundling together a comprehensive set of long-overdue democracy reforms at a time when democratic norms are under siege in our nation. Many of the reforms included in H.R. 1 are tested reforms that are working at the state and local level with bipartisan support to restore the rule of law, empower the voices of all Americans, curb abusive partisan gerrymandering, and strengthen the right to vote for every eligible American.

Today’s District Court ruling is a victory for equal representation for every resident of the United States. Americans expect and deserve a fair and accurate census and striking the citizenship question will help ensure that occurs.

Today, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate introduced the Save the Internet Act. The bill reverses the reckless and unlawful repeal of net neutrality by the Trump FCC in December 2017 and returns to the framework in the 2015 Open Internet Order. Under the current framework, broadband service providers are free to block, throttle, or create fast lanes and slow lanes by charging extra fees to prioritize certain content. Common Cause welcomes the introduction of the Save the Internet Act to restore strong net neutrality rules.  

Today, Common Cause urged every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the For the People Act (H.R. 1) when it goes to a floor vote on Friday. The letter notes that Common Cause plans to key-vote final passage of H.R. 1, as well as the motion-to-recommit (MTR), in our Democracy Scorecard, which we send to our 1.2 million members. The bill contains the most comprehensive set of democracy reforms to be introduced in Congress since the post-Watergate reforms were passed in the 1970s. The letter emphasizes that our democracy faces a crisis not seen since the Watergate era.