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Public News Service: Clean Elections Groups Slam Supreme Court Ruling on Campaign Finance
Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, said this means big donors can funnel huge amounts of cash directly to newly elected officials. "This decision is yet another example of the Supreme Court allowing more big money in politics and further opening the door to corruption and big moneyed interests calling the shots," Scherb contended. ... Scherb emphasized he hopes it will drum up more support for the DISCLOSE Act, which would require campaigns and groups spending money to influence politics to report more about their funding, but he is not optimistic. "We're not holding our breaths that 10 Senate Republicans would vote for something like this," Scherb acknowledged. "But if more big money is going to be spent in politics, it absolutely has to be disclosed. The public deserves to see who's trying to influence their voices and their votes."
Found in: Common Cause
Washington Times: Supreme Court sides with Sen. Ted Cruz in FEC case
“Today’s decision creates a shell game that will only serve to further undermine public faith in their elected officials. These loans could run into the millions of dollars and voters will now not know who bankrolled a candidate’s campaign until after the election,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause.
Found in: Common Cause
NBC News: New congressional map for N.Y. sets stage for major clashes in Democratic primaries
Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a voting rights and good governance advocacy group, also criticized the new map, arguing in a statement that it “divides communities of interest and neighborhoods, particularly in New York City, and ignores the cores of the existing Congressional districts.”
Found in: Common Cause
Associated Press: In early primaries, voters favor polling places over mail
Common Cause Georgia deployed “self-help stations” around the state where voters could access a computer, printer and scanner to print out a mail ballot application before Friday’s deadline. “People are believing political propaganda and not understanding this is creating more hurdles to voting,” said Aunna Dennis, the group’s executive director.
Found in: Common Cause
VICE News: ‘Time to Get Out’: Arizona’s Election Security Chief Quits Over Threats and Conspiracies
Yosef Getachew, director of the media and democracy program at the advocacy group Common Cause, told me a “wrong and bad” standard applied to individuals doesn’t mean much. Jan. 6 “wasn’t one or two tweets here or there. It was a massive coordination from numerous organizations,” he said. “You have to have policies that prohibit coordinated efforts to use platforms to incite violence or spread information that leads to the loss of individuals’ right to vote.” Common Cause and about 120 progressive groups appealed to Twitter, Facebook, and all the big social media companies this week to do more to protect democracy with better content enforcement and standards.
Found in: Common Cause
Broadcasting & Cable: Tegna Deal Critics Say FCC Needs More Data
Common Cause, joined by the NewsGuild-CWA union and Public Knowledge, have filed a formal motion for both additional documents that the FCC and the public can peruse and an extension of time to weigh in. Currently, the FCC has set a May 23 deadline for those wishing to formally oppose the deal. "Congress and the Biden Administration extended billions of dollars in taxpayer money last year to ensure the survival of local journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic," the motion says, adding: "Contrast that with the proposed transaction, apparently financed on the back of local journalism job cuts and centralized news operations."
Found in: Common Cause
Reuters: U.S. groups urge social media companies to fight 'Big Lie," election disinformation
“High-profile disinformation spreaders and other bad actors are continuing to use social media platforms to disseminate messages that undermine trust in elections,” read a letter sent to chief executives and signed by more than 100 groups lead by Common Cause. “Candidates are using the Big Lie as a platform plank to pre-emptively declare voter fraud in order to dispute the results of the 2022 election,” they wrote. “This is damaging American democracy by undermining faith in the integrity of our elections.”
Found in: Common Cause
Daily Beast: This Dem May Hate Facebook, but Her Stock Portfolio Doesn’t
Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public policy at good government group Common Cause, told The Daily Beast that disclosure rules are valuable precisely for these scenarios. “Disclosure of Members’ financial holdings is a way for their constituents to evaluate potential conflicts of interest and hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest. That’s what the transparency concerning Rep. Luria’s financial holdings in Facebook affords the public in this example,” Spaulding said. He added that proposed reforms “ought to be a pillar of consensus” in Congress.
Found in: Common Cause
Orange County Register (Op-Ed): End California’s Corridors of Corruption
Right now, appointed local officials cannot receive lavish contributions from wealthy interests when those interests are seeking favorable votes for contracts, licenses, permits, or land use entitlements. That’s common sense. But, bizarrely, the same is not true for local elected officials sitting on our city councils and boards of supervisors. They can accept big checks from wealthy interests and then immediately turn around and vote on the things those interests covet most. And those things are also the things that determine whether our neighborhoods are safe or dangerous, blighted or beautiful, traffic jammed or commuter friendly. Enter Senate Bill 1439, a bill authored by Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer and co-authored by Republican state Sen. Scott Wilk. Supported by Common Cause and other good government groups, the bill would close this loophole in the state’s Political Reform Act, prohibiting local elected officials from accepting a contribution of more than $250 from someone seeking a license, permit or other entitlement while a decision is pending before the local elected officials.
Found in: Common Cause
Politico: The town that will decide New York redistricting for the next decade
“This is the result of forum shopping on the part of the plaintiffs,” Common Cause NY executive director Susan Lerner said after testifying last week. “They knew exactly where they wanted to be. They wanted to be in a remote rural county, and they were successful.”