News Clips

“The big thing with currency and crypto is just how incredibly volatile it is and how much its value can fluctuate,” said Stephen Spaulding, senior counsel for public policy and government affairs for nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause. “If you take a step back and think about why we regulate the raising and spending of money to influence elections, ultimately, it’s to prohibit corruption and the appearance of corruption that can come with large contributions of cash or other things of value.” Outside of that, Spaulding said, the lack of regulations surrounding these types of donations is also concerning. “People are familiar with the two largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum,” he added. “But there are all sorts of cryptocurrencies that are coming on the market that are not entirely regulated, raising a lot of questions about whether campaign finance law, which is in place to curb corruption, can keep pace with changing cryptocurrency practices.” As for transparency and traceability, he said the amount of money being contributed may not be as important as who is making a contribution. “It’s not so much about the amount of money in politics; it’s where it comes from and what contributors want in return,” Spaulding added. “We’d love to encourage a system that relies on small-donor contributions because there’s less of a chance the contributions from many small-dollar donors will lead to corruption or the appearance of corruption, versus the system awash in large contributions.”

Members of the nonpartisan organization Common Cause say they’ve tracked an increase in disinformation online in 2016 and 2018 with a significant surge in voting related disinformation during the 2020 election cycle. “Disinformation agents are seeking to keep voters from casting their ballots by spreading content designed to confuse voters about the time, place and manner how to vote, intimidate or harass them from going to the polls,” said Yosef Getachew, Media & Democracy Program Director at Common Cause.

Karen Hobert Flynn, president of the progressive group Common Cause, said after the high court‘s string of conservative rulings on guns and abortion, Justice Jackson joining the court gives a “ray of hope” to the nation. “The Court is desperately in need of a boost,” she said.  “With the reputation of the Court in tatters, Justice Jackson’s swearing-in is a monumental step forward, and represents a ray of hope that our nation’s highest court may once again deliver equal justice under the law.”

“In a radical power grab, self-serving politicians want to defy our state’s highest court and impose illegal voting districts upon the people of North Carolina,” said Bob Phillips of Common Cause, North Carolina, which brought the lawsuit that overturned the GOP-drawn maps. “We will continue to stand up for the people of our state and nation as this case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court. We must stop this dangerous attack on our freedom to vote.”

Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said Baker also faces another dilemma: If he withdraws, he would be required to return the matching funds he received. So far, he has received nearly $1 million from the state. Baker wants more officers hired to ‘stop the slaughter’ in Baltimore “That may be why he chose to suspend without shutting it down, because he would need to return that money,” said Antoine, whose group is a proponent of the state’s public financing program and has worked on legislation to strengthen it. Antoine said Baker ending his campaign and possibly endorsing another could be seen as a candidate being “given money and indirectly using their visibility and support to help someone who is not in the program. … I do think it’s unclear as it relates to endorsements and we urge against it.”

Kathay Feng, the national redistricting director at the good government group Common Cause, compared preclearance to the ability to prevent a repeat arson. “But unfortunately, with Shelby County, we have to allow a building to burn down before we can go and seek some kind of justice and by then the harm has already happened,” she said.