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The Intercept: A TRUMP APPOINTEE IS TRYING TO GUT THE FEC’S ABILITY TO INVESTIGATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE CRIMES
The proposal, if approved, will result in the commissioners “micromanaging things” that have long been in the OGC’s purview, said Stephen Spaulding, vice president of policy and external affairs at Common Cause, who served as a special counsel to a former Democratic FEC commissioner from May 2016 to May 2017. “It will slow investigations down and ultimately leaves the law unenforced, if they’re tied up in having meetings about whether the nonpartisan attorneys in the Office of General Counsel can even bring in another witness.”
Found in: Common Cause
Axios: Ohio redistricting fight resumes this week
What they're saying: Catherine Turcer, executive director of the government watchdog group Common Cause Ohio, says the reforms of 2015 and 2018 were not enough to keep partisan officials from being "drunk on power." "What we've learned is it's not enough to have good rules in the Ohio Constitution," she tells Axios. "We need independent mapmakers who aren't influenced by loyalty to party."
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates often speak out on hot topics. Only one faces impeachment threat
“It’s self-serving, selective outrage,” Jay Heck, director of Common Cause of Wisconsin, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, said of impeachment. “Where was their outrage and their demands for recusal when conservatives in the past have weighed in about their values?”
Found in: Common Cause
The Guardian: Republicans threaten to impeach newly elected Wisconsin supreme court judge
“I think what you’re seeing all around the country are governors and Republican-controlled legislatures looking at what other states have done and saying, ‘Wow, look at that. We should try that here,’” said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin. Heck called the threat of impeachment an overreach and described concerns about Protasiewicz’s campaign statements as “selective outrage”, given previous conservative justices’ public comments on issues before the court. Heck pointed to a 2015 case in which multiple supreme court justices who received campaign donations from the Club for Growth ruled that the conservative group had not violated campaign finance laws in its dealings with former governor Scott Walker.
Found in: Common Cause
Fresno Bee (Op-Ed): Fresno officials gerrymandered their districts. Time to take our voting rights back
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy and the fundamental right that makes possible all other civil liberties and policy decisions. But a threat to that right now comes before the ballot box: Redistricting, which can make or break a community’s ability to participate in our democracy. It determines who does — and does not — have fair representation.
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: Wisconsin GOP threatens to impeach justice over donations, but conservatives also took party cash
“It’s what I call selective outrage,” said Jay Heck, a longtime observer of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and director of Common Cause of Wisconsin, a nonpartisan government watchdog group. “It’s incredibly hypocritical.” There was no outrage from Republicans when conservative justices heard numerous cases over the years involving their conservative donors, Heck said. “The rules and parameters of recusal were put in place by the conservatives and by the Republicans,” said Heck, with Common Cause. “If they don’t like the way the situation is now, all they have to do is look at their own behavior.”
Found in: Common Cause
NPR: A 25-year-old from a small town leads North Carolina's Democratic Party toward 2024
But to local organizers, like North Carolina-based Vashti Hinton-Smith from the left-leaning group Common Cause, this is an ongoing, long and hard fight. "I do wonder sometimes if it's too late," said Hinton-Smith, who runs Common Cause's civic engagement program at HBCUs within the state. Though she agrees with Clayton's youth outreach plan and remains cautiously optimistic, she said politicians need to play the long game in order to make change, which may require less focus on wins right now. "Let's also look four more years past," Hinton-Smith said, referring to the 2028 election. "What does that look like? How do we prepare for that?"
Found in: Common Cause
U.S. News & World Report: Judges Reject Gerrymandered Districts Ahead of Hotly Contested Elections
"The Alabama legislature's defiance of a clear mandate from the Supreme Court to discriminate against Black voters is so brazen, a delaying tactic seems to be the only explanation that makes any sense," says Dan Vicuna, director of redistricting and representation at the advocacy group Common Cause. "I think it's not going to sit well with the Supreme Court," he says.
Found in: Common Cause
Public News Service: Tech Companies Scale Back Efforts to Control Election Disinformation
Emma Steiner, information accountability project manager with the non-partisan group Common Cause, said disinformation can often be hard to spot. "A lot of times people fall for disinformation," said Steiner, "because it seems to confirm something they already believe and that's where people get tripped up." Steiner recommended that people always refer to official sources for voting information - including Secretary of States' offices or local election boards. "Disinformation spreaders and disinformation campaigns tend to target marginalized populations and people who live in information voids," said Steiner, "meaning they don't have the resources or capacity to find reliable information." Steiner said while Facebook - for example - has made some effort to fight disinformation by launching its Voting and Election Center, tech companies still have a responsibility to ensure information being shared on their platforms is accurate.
Found in: Common Cause
New York Times: How a New City Council Map of L.A. Turned Into a Political Brawl
Jonathan Mehta Stein, the executive director of California Common Cause, which closely monitored the redistricting process, said he believed there was also a larger political goal: “They pulled her base out from under her to have her turn down the volume on behalf of renters,” he said.