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Boston Globe: New R.I. Ethics Commission appointee faced sexual harassment allegations from six women
But John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, said Da Cruz’s conduct as a member of the South Kingstown Town Council “makes him unfit to serve on such an important body as the Rhode Island Ethics Commission.” Ethics Commission appointments are arguably the most important that a governor makes, aside from choosing state judges, Marion said. Rhode Island’s constitution gives the Ethics Commission “extraordinary powers,” including removing elected officials from office, and Common Cause fought for a law that holds Ethics Commission members to a higher standard, including banning lobbyists from the panel, he said. “Potential appointees should be fully vetted so that people who are asked to serve meet the highest standards,” Marion said. “In this case, it appears that vetting, if it did occur, failed, or the governor overlooked some rather egregious behavior by his most recent appointee.” Marion said the town manager appeared to find the sexual harassment allegations against Da Cruz “serious enough to tell the victims that, but for the fact that the town’s sexual harassment policy did not cover elected officials, Mr. Da Cruz would have been disciplined.” On the Ethics Commission, Da Cruz will have jurisdiction over those same employees, should they still work for the town, Marion said, noting that Town Council has since changed its sexual harassment policy to include its own members. “Mr. Da Cruz was allowed to get away with this behavior only because the town’s policy did not include his position at the time,” Marion said, “and he should not be trusted with the critical work of the Ethics Commission.”
Found in: Common Cause
Indiana Public Media/Indiana Capital Chronicle: With gambling legislation on pause, some push for reform
The recent scandals show Indiana’s lobbying and campaign finance regulatory processes are a “complete failure,” said Julia Vaughn, leader of government watchdog Common Cause Indiana. “No state agency even recognized what was going on. … Thank goodness that the (Federal Bureau of Investigation) was paying attention,” Vaughn said — although she said Indiana Election Division and Indiana Lobby Registration Commission (ILRC) staff were “doing the best they can under the very bad structure” in place. “We need some sort of (review) process. I hate to be the person who says, ‘I hope this scandal blows up into the biggest thing ever,’ but that’s what spurs reform,” Vaughn said.
Found in: Common Cause
Houston Chronicle (Op-Ed): How billionaires use dark money to take aim at Texas schools
We are waiting to hear whether Gov. Greg Abbott will announce yet another special session focused on school vouchers. Are school vouchers an urgent priority that necessitates an extra session of the Legislature? Not according to state lawmakers. Just weeks ago, leaders in Austin had the opportunity to pass the governor’s voucher program, and on a bipartisan vote, they declined. If you follow the money, school vouchers are important to the governor’s main benefactors: billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks and a special interest group called “ALEC.” Our new report, “ALEC-tioneering: Unmasking Money in Texas Politics,” sheds light on how big monied special interests have influenced public policy outcomes in our state using an all too predictable rinse-and-repeat formula.
Found in: Common Cause
CalMatters (Op-Ed): Californians want lawmakers to safeguard elections from artificial intelligence
Since 2020, voters in California and beyond have seen disinformation proliferate and poison our politics more than ever before. Generative artificial intelligence has the power to rapidly intensify this trend for the worse.
Found in: Common Cause
Los Angeles Times: L.A. will switch to independent redistricting if voters approve in 2024 election
“The city of Los Angeles is building on the best practices from around the state and the country and really, I think, setting a gold standard for everybody to be looking for,” said Kathay Feng, national redistricting director for the nonpartisan government accountability watchdog group Common Cause. Feng previously helped lead the effort to institute independent redistricting on the state level.
Found in: Common Cause
Newsday: Suit aims to block touch screen voting machine
Led by Common Cause New York, the group contends the state Board of Elections erred in August when it certified for use the ExpressVote XL, a touch screen machine. The machine allows voters to mark a ballot electronically instead of on paper and ... displays selections on a summary card. Advocates said that's not enough to verify ballots independently, as required by state law. In their lawsuit, the advocates said: "As a voter cannot read a bar code, the voter's ballot is not certifiable. No voter can verify that the bar code accurately reflects the voter's selections shown on the summary card." The advocates want a court to reverse the certification, ... which would mean county boards of election couldn't purchase the ExpressVote XL. In New York, each county purchases its own voting machines, selecting from choices certified by the state.
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: Georgia Republicans move to cut losses as they propose majority-Black districts in special session
“This proposal does not do what it needs to do and it does not create additional representation for Black voters,” Aunna Dennis of Common Cause Georgia told the Senate committee.
Found in: Common Cause
Colorado Newsline: Former Republican secretary of state of Colorado argues Trump should be barred from ballot
Buchanan joined the advocacy group Colorado Common Cause in making that argument in a brief they submitted as part of a case over whether Trump should be disqualified under a Civil War-era provision of the 14th Amendment. “This country and its institutions are at a crossroads,” the brief says. “Either the plain mandates of our Constitution will be honored and enforced in the face of partisan outcry (thus preserving the rule of law in America) or they will be subverted to avoid that same partisan outcry (eroding the rule of law accordingly). There is no third future. It would be an error of historical scale to pretend otherwise.” Buchanan and Colorado Common Cause write in their brief that Wallace got her ruling right except for deciding Section 3 doesn’t apply to the presidency, a component they say is “reversible.” “(Trump) allowed a lust for power to supersede his own Oath of Office and over two centuries of American political precedent. Mr. Trump has sought at every turn to inject chaos into our country’s electoral system in the upcoming 2024 presidential election,” they write. “He should be given no opportunity to do so in the state of Colorado.”
Found in: Common Cause
Santa Fe New Mexican: New Mexico Supreme Court hands Democrats a victory in redistricting case
Mason Graham, policy director of Common Cause New Mexico, said in a news release Monday he applauds the state Supreme Court’s decision. “The redistricting process was more accessible and transparent this time, due to the involvement of the Citizen Redistricting Committee, but we can make it better,” Graham said.
Found in: Common Cause
New York Public Radio/WXXI: Hochul urged to sign bill that would shift some local elections to even-numbered years
Skoufis on Monday held a news conference attended by government reform advocates, including Susan Lerner of Common Cause. Lerner said the state holds so many elections on various dates throughout the year — including village elections in March, school budgets in May, and primaries in June — that voters can become confused and weary. “New York state, there's a concept called voter fatigue,” Lerner said. “And unfortunately, we are fatiguing our voters.”