News Clips

Sandy Ma, the executive director of Common Cause Hawaii, said Gabbard’s votes aren’t representative of the people in her district. She said Gabbard “shamed herself.” “In Hawaii, our constituents, the public in Hawaii, especially Representative Gabbard’s constituents, have been very vocal in saying that President Trump has violated his oath of office, has violated the rule of law and has violated the U.S. Constitution,” Ma said.

Critics say the partisan nature of Will’s case is clear. “Let’s be honest, Esenberg wouldn’t be pursuing this if it was going to decrease the number of conservative Republican voters as opposed to Democratic and progressive voters,” said Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin. ... “They’ll wait in line and then they’ll find out that they’re not registered and then they’ll be told they have to register,” Heck said. “You’ll have people who just say ‘to hell with it’”.

Boston's rally was bipartisan, with not only Democrats invited to speak but also former Massachusetts Republican Gov. William Weld, who is challenging Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, said Pam Wilmot, the executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, one of the organizers. "We want to demonstrate that people care about this, that the rule of law is important and that our country will not stand for a fake trial and just sweeping this under the rug," Wilmot said. "This is a serious matter. It should not be about politics." She said she was worried about the kind of trial the Senate would hold, given McConnell's statements. "If we let it go now, it will become the norm or at least much more acceptable and that’s not good for America," she said. … In Los Angeles, at the rally across from City Hall, Katie Hill, the former Democratic congresswoman who resigned earlier this year amid allegations of an affair with an office staff member and the online release of intimate photos, spoke along with actress Alyssa Milano. "If we simply turn a blind eye to Trump's behavior or let him walk clean, that is a sign for the next president, and those who follow, that they can get away with abuses of power, obstruction of justice and violating the Constitution,'' Kathay Feng, Common Cause's national redistricting director said. "Staying silent is not an option."

Susannah Goodman, director of election security for Common Cause. stressed that does not necessarily mean high-tech or expensive solutions. Many of the likely consequences of an attack on election systems—machines malfunctioning, inaccurate voter registrations, loss of power—are things election administrators have faced before and can be mitigated with robust back-up plans. “We don’t need a ‘Star Wars’ sort of defense system over our election infrastructure, but we do need to support our states and counties with these funds so they can buy basic things,” she said. Even if security funding for 2020 is less than ideal, Goodman expects the threat to elections will only become more dire in years to come, so Congress will have many more opportunities to address the issue. “This isn’t going to stop,” she said. “In the 2022 elections, in the 2024 elections, we are going to face different and perhaps more sophisticated attacks... This is the way wars are fought now.”

Common Cause, for example, recommended the House pass nine articles. “Not including expanded articles … gives a green light for future presidents that these abuses can go unpunished,” Aaron Scherb, director of legislative affairs at Common Cause recently told me.

Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a good government group that supports a contribution match system, said limits on contributions exist to prevent corruption. “A candidate cannot be corrupted by her own spending, so it can’t be limited. By contrast, there can be corruption of a candidate by a donor giving a big check,” he said.