2127 Search Results Containing ":"
Florida Politics: Senate sends elections bill hiking fines on voter registration groups to floor
“If we want a democracy that works for everyone, we should be making it harder for money to influence politics and easier for eligible voters to register and cast their ballot, but this bill gets it backwards,” said Amy Keith, program director of Common Cause Florida.
Found in: Common Cause
The Guardian: Texas consider bills criminalizing voter fraud despite no evidence
“These bills seem to be wanting to prosecute widespread voter fraud, yet there’s no evidence for these being needed right now other than conjecture or partisan politics,” said Katya Ehresman, the voting rights program manager for Common Cause Texas. She said that often lawmakers like Paxton in Texas use the biannual legislative session to “create political theater” that will help them in their bids for re-election. “It’s largely a problem in search of a solution, especially as less than 18 months ago, both chambers agreed that a felony is not the level of penalty needed for these election issues,” Ehresman said. “We’re really worried that it’s an example of bad faith partisan attempts to subvert our elections and to create additional intimidation around our elections.”
Found in: Common Cause
Raw Story: Revealed: Nearly $500 million continues to sit in a bloated, unused government fund
Nonprofit government reform group Common Cause supports citizen-funded elections, too, including campaign funding vouchers. Common Cause said it would prefer to see the current presidential public financing system modernized rather than see the fund emptied. “The disclosure laws and regulations have not kept pace at all with outside spending,” said Stephen Spaulding, vice president of policy and external affairs at Common Cause. “A significant percentage of money comes through ‘dark money’ groups that don't have to disclose where the money is coming from, and so voters are left in the dark, and this sort of secret spending is really dangerous for democracy because it means that you're no longer able to follow the money.”
Found in: Common Cause
Bloomberg: The GOP Is Making It Harder for College Students to Vote
Mia Lewis, associate director of the voting rights organization Common Cause Ohio, questioned why the change was needed. “Our secretary of state has said for years that Ohio runs model elections, setting a standard for the entire country, and yet suddenly there’s a desire to change them,” she said. “It’s perfectly legitimate to ask what’s driving these sudden changes.”
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Post: Clarence Thomas might have recognized law at issue in his real estate deal
Back in 2011, he updated years of his financial disclosure reports to include employment details for his wife, conservative activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. The updates came after the watchdog group Common Cause raised red flags. Thomas said the employment information was “inadvertently omitted due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.” Despite Thomas having acknowledged the error and amended his filings, Common Cause wasn’t impressed and suggested it didn’t add up. “Justice Thomas sits on the highest court of the land, is called upon daily to understand and interpret the most complicated legal issues of our day and makes decisions that affect millions,” Common Cause President Bob Edgar said at the time. “It is hard to see how he could have misunderstood the simple directions of a federal disclosure form.”
Found in: Common Cause
Miami Herald/CQ-Roll Call: Asking Clarence Thomas to testify in Senate could spark a showdown
Common Cause sent a letter Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee asking them have Thomas testify and “put it on the record for the American people,” as well as have Roberts testify. “The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly proven itself incapable of policing itself without a code of ethics,” Common Cause co-president Marilyn Carpinteyro said in a news release. “It is time for Congress to hold hearings and pass legislation to establish a code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices to hold them to the same standards as every other federal judge in the nation.”
Found in: Common Cause
USA Today/Gannett: GOP billionaire Harlan Crow purchased property from Justice Clarence Thomas, according to new report
"Americans expect and deserve a fair and impartial Supreme Court and we need transparency in order to identify potential conflicts and to restore public trust in our nation’s highest court,” Common Cause co-president Marilyn Carpinteyro said earlier this week, before the latest revelation. "The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly proven itself incapable of policing itself without a code of ethics."
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: Trump’s response to criminal charges revives election lies
Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, which has long been critical of Trump’s allegations of election rigging, noted that all the investigations of the former president began well before he started running for president again. “Nobody is above the law, including former presidents, and running for president cannot and must not serve as a shield for wrongful conduct,” Scherb said.
Found in: Common Cause
Florida Public Radio/WFSU: Florida elections bill would further restrict voter registration groups
“We saw that it has a lot more restrictions on third-party voter registration organizations," said Amy Keith, program director for Common Cause Florida, an organization that works to ensure fair and free elections. "When you put more rules, when you put more fines, you restrict their work." "When you restrict a small community organization, and you put more of a burden on them, they don't have the ability to comply," Keith said.
Found in: Common Cause
Charleston Gazette-Mail: As Morrisey mounts gubernatorial run, environmental advocates fear he has damaged WV's climate future
“Attorney General Morrisey should know better,” Aaron Scherb, senior legislative affairs director at Common Cause, a Washington, D.C.-based government watchdog group, said in a phone interview. Common Cause filed complaints with the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission against Trump in 2018 alleging a $130,000 payment to Stephanie Clifford, a pornographic actress known as Stormy Daniels, was an unreported in-kind contribution to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign committee in violation of federal law. “[T]he former president deserves the same treatment as any American,” Scherb said. Scherb argued that some Republican elected officials attacking Trump’s indictment are pandering for his support with their eyes on higher office.