2128 Search Results Containing ":"
San Diego Union-Tribune: Should the city attorney be stripped of civil duties? Experts and candidates for the office oppose the effort
Sean McMorris, a California Common Cause program manager, said the notion of dividing the city attorney’s civil and criminal responsibilities appears to him like a “power grab.” “This seems like it could be a recipe for confusion and contention, especially if the appointed city attorney and elected city attorney clash on matters,” he said. The proposal “also seems to give the council president too much power in the appointing process, which could lead to the appearance of corruption.”
Found in: Common Cause
CT Insider: In Connecticut’s smallest city, mayoral candidate’s Jan. 6 charges set up divisive Republican primary
Cheri Quickmire, executive director of the voter advocacy and election watchdog organization Common Cause in Connecticut, says the primary will be a test for Trump supporters and mainstream Republicans. "I don’t think he should be on the ballot," Quickmire said of DiGiovanni. "I think anyone who participated in an insurrection against the U.S. government should be disqualified."
Found in: Common Cause
Honolulu Civil Beat: What Does Hawaii Have In Common With These Red States? A Fear Of Direct Democracy
There was a push to establish statewide initiatives, referendums and recalls during the last constitutional convention in 1978. A key proponent was the good-government organization Common Cause Hawaii. In a newspaper interview at the time, Common Cause’s Carol Zachary said special interests “can better use the established legislative process than they can the entire electorate. Their defense of the present system proves that they don’t want to give people the franchise. They’re scared of what they might do.”
Found in: Common Cause
Los Alamos Daily Post: Officials And Organizations Express Condolences On Passing Of Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson
Common Cause New Mexico State Director Heather Ferguson: “He was one of the strongest Governors New Mexico ever had. While he might be remembered more for his diplomacy and the economic advances he brought to New Mexico (the film industry, the Spaceport, the Rail Runner to name a few) we remember him for his 2007 Ethics Reform Task Force. It spurred so much legislation over the subsequent decades—a Gift Ban, Public Financing of the PRC and state judicial races, limits on campaign contributions and an ethics commission. He was a champion you wanted to have in your corner—with courage, deft negation skills and a fighting spirit. We will miss him.” Former Executive Director Viki Harrison of the New Mexico Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty & Founding Advisory Committee Members of Death Penalty Action: “Governor Richardson changed the course of history in New Mexico when he signed the bill to abolish the death penalty in March 2009. He became a champion of abolition and helped in many other places over the last decade. I lost a mentor and a friend and am devasted by this news – just messaged with him a couple of months ago. Sending much love to Barbara and the rest of the family.”
Found in: Common Cause
Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer: Rigged legislative districts boost partisanship, diminish compromise: Civil Discourse Initiative
The reform proposals that voters adopted during the last decade to stop gerrymandering were thwarted because redistricting remained in the hands of politicians, says Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Catherine Turcer. Now, she’s supporting a new citizen initiative that would put an independent citizen commission in charge of mapmaking. She said states that redistricted through independent citizen commissions got legislative and congressional district lines that didn’t unfairly favor one party or another. “Ohioans put good rules into the Ohio Constitution, and those rules would have been adequate if elected officials had actually followed them rather than drawing lines that favored one political party,” says Turcer. “These folks are drunk on power. What do you do with someone who is drunk? You take away their keys.” Turcer, Miller, and others who back the upcoming proposal for an independent commission say legislative maps in Arizona, California, Colorado and Michigan became more competitive after they were drawn by an independent commission.
Found in: Common Cause
Newsday: Term-limited Bellone continues fundraising
Susan Lerner, executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York, said politicians should not hold fundraisers without declaring their intentions. "Common Cause/NY believes that candidates must explicitly announce what office they are running for when asking donors for money - and not build up a war chest for an unknown position," she said in a statement. "New York law must change so that candidates are only able to raise money once they've announced their campaign for an intended office."
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Justice Thomas details jet travel, property deal with billionaire
He described Crow as a “personal friend,” according to the disclosure form, one of several from the 1990s that is no longer publicly available but was provided to The Washington Post by watchdog organizations Common Cause and Documented.
Found in: Common Cause
Inside Sources/Tribune News Service (Op-Ed): How the Supreme Court Stopped a Dangerous Legislative Power Grab
When I was in the Supreme Court last December listening to oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, I was struck by Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s questions in this case that put the future of American democracy’s checks and balances at risk. Barrett doubted that the “independent state legislature theory” should give state legislatures absolute power to write laws for federal elections without facing state judicial review. And Barrett probed repeatedly about when, if at all, the Supreme Court should intervene in state court interpretations of state constitutions in these election cases.
Found in: Common Cause
New York Times: Republicans Target Wisconsin’s Election Chief for Removal, Fueled by Falsehoods
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, a government watchdog group, said Ms. Wolfe’s removal would be a major blow to the state, which is likely to once again be a crucial battleground for the presidential race. “The vast majority of Wisconsin’s voters and citizens can and will lose confidence and trust in our elections,” he said.
Found in: Common Cause
San Jose Mercury News: Thought San Jose’s 2022 mayor’s race was expensive? Experts say brace yourself.
Sean McMorris, a member of government transparency nonprofit California Common Cause, said he’s unsure whether the city needs to eliminate the cap at all. “I know that San Jose is being proactive, but it is not clear to me that the SCOTUS ruling, which pertained to federal campaign finance law and post-election fundraising, would necessarily apply to all local campaign finance laws pertaining to candidate loans or that a city cannot narrowly tailor such a law to avoid running afoul of the SCOTUS ruling,” he wrote in an emailed statement.