Here you will find our latest press releases, advisories, reports, statements, letters, and testimony. If you're a reporter and have a question, or would like to sign up to receive our press releases, please email us at press@commoncause.org.
Common Cause announces a far-reaching "Protect the Vote" campaign in nearly a dozen states nationwide to strengthen and protect our nation's system of voting and assure that eligible voters are able to vote and that those votes are counted in this historic election.
Based on the findings of "Voting in 2008: 10 Swing States," which described the potential problems in several state voting administration systems, Common Cause is building on or launching election protection activities in seven swing states: Colorado, Florida, Indiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The campaign will also include targeted election protection work in California and New York.
Today, Common Cause releases a report that looks at how campaign contributions and lobbying by the mortgage finance industry have played a major role in blocking measures that would have addressed the present financial crisis in a timely manner, and helped American families instead of Wall Street. The report, “Ask Yourself Why.. They Didn't See This Coming,” also spotlights the story of the nation’s two largest housing lenders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, their lobbying and campaign activities, and how the government bailout contrasts with how legislators approached the crisis for average people.
“The story of the housing bubble and meltdown that now threatens the homes and communities of literally millions of Americans is largely about political power. The financial services industry focuses its lobbying efforts around its immediate desires, and for more than the past decade, this focus has been on relaxing regulation of the mortgage lending and securitization market,” the report says.
House Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair John B. Larson (D-Conn.) and Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. (R-N.C.) took a giant step today towards making elections about Main Street instead of Wall Street by introducing the Fair Elections Now Act (HR 7022). The proposal from Larson and Jones is a companion measure to the bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act (S 1285) that is sponsored by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).
The Fair Elections Now Act would create a voluntary program where congressional candidates would qualify for a grant large enough to run a competitive campaign. Candidates would qualify for the grant by demonstrating a broad base of community support by collecting a set number small dollar donations. In return for the grant, participating candidates would agree to strict campaign spending limits and forgo all private fundraising. Candidates would also receive vouchers for purchasing broadcast airtime and receive a 20 percent discount below the lowest unit cost on all advertising purchased.
As election officials brace for record-breaking voter turnout on Election Day, a close examination of voting preparedness in 10 swing states shows that significant problems in the basic functions of the American election administration system persist, and in a few cases have worsened over the last few years, a new report by Common Cause and The Century Foundation shows.
The report, “Voting in 2008: 10 Swing States,” examined what, if any, progress has been made since 2006 in seven battleground states: Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In addition, Colorado, New Mexico and Virginia, whose new status as likely swing states, and the potential for election administration difficulties, have also been included.
Today, Common Cause released its vision for the future of media and democracy in America. The report, titled "Media and Democracy in America Today: A Reform Plan for a New Administration," lays out a plan of action for the next President and Congress to take to ensure the media performs its appropriate role in our democracy.
One of the key recommendations in this report cannot wait for a new administration to consider it: to halt a move to further consolidate the media. Congress is currently considering a "Resolution of Disapproval" of the Federal Communication Commission's new media ownership rules. The report calls for the passage of House Joint Resolution 79, which would overturn the FCC's new rules and halt further media consolidation.
Common Cause applauds the decision of United States District Court Judge John D. Bates to reject the President's claim of absolute immunity from having to comply with Congressional subpoenas for former White House counsel, Harriet E. Miers, and the current White House chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten.
"The White House's claim that current and former White House aides are immune from congressional subpoena is another example of President Bush's abuse of power," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. "This groundbreaking decision in support of the Congress' right to enforce its subpoenas is a victory for our democracy."
The House Judiciary Committee today voted 20-14 to find Karl Rove in contempt for ignoring a committee subpoena. However, the contempt resolution the Committee passed today is different from the contempt citations issued against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers.
The citation passed today includes language stating that the House of Representatives should pursue enforcing the subpoena through other legal remedies as appropriate, leaving the door open for the House to exercise its power of "inherent contempt."
Common Cause commends the Democratic and Republican House leadership for appointing a distinguished bipartisan panel to lead the newly created Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) to review allegations of misconduct and make recommendations to the House Ethics Committee. The panel marks the first time people outside of House membership are active participants in that chamber’s ethics enforcement process.
“We hope that the new independent ethics office takes its job seriously and brings the transparency, accountability, independence and objectivity that has been sorely missing from the House in the past decade,” said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause.
Today, leading voting rights groups called on James B. Peake, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to reverse a recent decision that prohibits VA offices and facilities from offering voter registration and potentially registering tens of thousands of veterans.
American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Common Cause, Demos and the League of Women Voters urged Secretary Peake to approve future state requests to allow voter registration at VA agencies and offices. This would be a reversal of his ruling on a May 1, 2008, request by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen that he agree to the designation of VA sites in her state as voter registration agencies, as permitted under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Connecticut Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz made a similar request on July 2, 2008.
Three retired military leaders have sent a letter to Congressional lawmakers urging them to abandon a resolution regarding Iran that is moving Congress. The retired military leaders say the resolution (H.Con.Res. 362) is “poorly conceived, poorly timed, and potentially dangerous.” The full text of the letter – signed by Lt. General Robert G. Gard, Jr., US Army (ret.); former Assistant Secretary of Defense Dr. Lawrence J. Korb; and Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, US Navy (ret.) – is available online here.
All three signatories to the letter are available for interviews. Both Common Cause and Center for Arms Control and Nuclear Proliferation have concerns about the resolution and solicited the opinions of these experienced individuals to gain a better understanding of the potential military implications of the resolution.
The Supreme Court today, in a 5-4 decision, overturned the so-called Millionaire’s Amendment to the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA), the landmark campaign finance reform law known as McCain-Feingold that banned soft money to the national political parties.
The Millionaires’ Amendment allowed candidates for Congress to accept larger contributions than otherwise permitted if they were running against opponents who spent large amounts of personal wealth on the campaign, under certain circumstances.
Eight government watchdog organizations today urged Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain to reveal more details about fundraisers for their presidential campaigns who "bundle" contributions in amounts greatly exceeding what they're permitted to contribute on their own, and to furnish additional data about their small donors.
The organizations sent their letters as Obama tries to recruit Hillary Clinton’s top fundraisers in Washington on Thursday and McCain rushes to raise private money before switching later this summer to public financing.
Today, the House of Representatives passed new legislation to overhaul the rules governing the Bush Administration’s controversial government wiretapping program. The legislation includes some modest provisions to reign in the relatively unchecked powers of the government to spy on Americans since the Bush Administration began the program in 2001. The bill also effectively grants sweeping immunity to telecommunication companies that illegally collected private communications of American citizens and handed it over to the government.
“It looks like the Democrats caved to the White House,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “There is no reason telecom companies should be let off the hook for knowingly violating the well-established civil rights of Americans. If this legislation is ultimately signed into law, all of the Americans who sued the telecom companies in protest will never have their day in court.”
“It has seemed clear for some time that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) would not opt into the presidential public finance system for the general election, so his announcement today is not a surprise.
For years Common Cause has said the presidential public finance system is badly outdated and in need of a major overhaul so we made a decision at the beginning of the election season not to criticize candidates for not participating in a flawed system.
The Supreme Court ruling that foreign terrorist suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay have constitutional rights to challenge their detention in US courts is a welcome affirmation of our national values and commitment to the Constitution.
In rebuffing the Administration's assertion of the power to disregard the right of habeas corpus to detainees held in Guantanamo Bay, the Court was performing its proper role as envisioned by the framers of the Constitution. It is the duty of the Supreme Court to safeguard constitutional rights and to challenge and counter balance the Bush Administration's expansive view of executive power and its aggressiveness in asserting its interpretation of its proper authority.
Common Cause urged the Senate committee considering the nominations of three candidates to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to create a body that puts upholding the nation’s campaign finance laws above party loyalty.
“It is time to rethink how we enforce our campaign finance laws,” Common Cause President Bob Edgar said in a letter to the Rules Committee. “Congress should model the FEC after more effective law enforcement agencies that are headed by a single administrator who is appointed for a fixed term by the President and confirmed by the Senate. We believe this would avoid the politicization of the FEC that has prevented it from being an effective agency.”
National civic engagement organization Common Cause announced its partnership with Mobilize.org on the first Democracy 2.0 Entrepreneur Grant Summit for 2008 today. Common Cause joined Mobilize in its commitment to Millennial-generated ideas and projects to tackle critical national issues and has adopted a unique strategy to getting Millennial plans into action: give them the financial support to make ideas a reality.
The first summit will take place July 18-21, 2008, in Denver, Colorado. The topic, “Money in Politics,” will focus upon the impact of special interest-funded campaigns on citizen-centered democracy. Emphasizing the problem at the national level, Common Cause and Mobilize.org will challenge Millennials, those under 30, from across the nation to compete for grant monies to support projects working to promote clean elections practices.
In a letter sent Wednesday to all Members of the US Senate, Common Cause criticized the White House for refusing to re-nominate a Federal Election Commission member in apparent retribution for his letter to fellow Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain about a controversial loan agreement. In addition, Common Cause urged a vote against the confirmation of Hans von Spakovsky and Donald McGhan for seats on the FEC.
In his letter to McCain in February, FEC Chairman David Mason pointed to a loan agreement Senator McCain signed that might automatically enter him into a binding agreement for matching funds under the presidential public finance system. If the FEC were to determine that Senator McCain can not withdraw from the public finance system, he would be in violation of the law’s spending limits, Common Cause President Bob Edgar said in the letter.
Indiana voters face a series of obstacles to cast a ballot in the state’s primary election on Tuesday, and should plan to go prepared to the polls or risk losing the right to vote. The combination of a draconian voter ID law that allows citizens to vote only with Indiana state or US government-issued photo ID, the fact that Indiana still deploys paperless electronic voting machines that have been known to malfunction, and the late surge in voter registrations, is sure to test the election system, according to a report by Common Cause and the Verified Voting Foundation.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Indiana voters to be part of the process of choosing our next president,” said Stevie Miller, executive director of Common Cause Indiana. “But we are also looking at circumstances that require voters to know their rights and come prepared.”
Common Cause applauds Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) latest effort to fill the vacant seats on the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and make it operable for the first time since January. The FEC has four vacancies that must be filled before it can take any formal action to enforce federal campaign finance laws during this critical presidential election year.
“The fact that the country does not have a functional election watchdog during the most important presidential election in a generation is a national embarrassment,” said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. “It is like playing the World Series without an umpire. Without enforcement, our campaign finance laws are rendered meaningless.”
