News Clips

"We're a purple state, so it makes for a bit of a contentious conversation at times around democracy," says Khalif Ali, executive director of the advocacy group Common Cause Pennsylvania.

“In Ohio we have a system that leaves us in the dark, so what jurors are going to have to do is tease out what is legal behavior in a system that avoids public scrutiny,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio and a longtime Ohio advocate of campaign finance and government reform. “It’s really important that Ohioans hear what happened behind the scenes,” she said.

Tyler Daye of Common Cause North Carolina said the legislation, if enacted, could be used to punish bystanders or speakers whose words inadvertently incite violence. “If a riot takes place, some innocent, peaceful protesters may be interwoven with intruders who have come to hijack their message,” Daye said.

“Without term limits, you run the risk of having leaders who must either be politically disposed, forced out under ethical clouds, or rarely, they might just lose interest and leave voluntarily. None of those scenarios are healthy,” said Geoff Foster, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts. “Term limits are really important to ensure stable transitions of power.”

"I wouldn't be surprised if they just went through the kabuki theater, and we actually end up with exactly the same maps," Catherine Turcer, the executive director of Common Cause Ohio, which campaigns against partisan redistricting, said of the commission.

Despite his initial concerns, Aaron Scherb, Common Cause’s senior director of legislative affairs, said that with Jeffries' quick appointments, OCE would “now be back up at full speed for the 118th Congress.”