Brunswick House Party

Our house party in Brunswick drew over fifty people over the course of a sunny afternoon in western Maryland, as Common Cause sought to beef up membership all across the state. Special guests included Frederick County Commission President Jan Gardner and Delegate Rick Weldon.

Click here for the full-text and summary of the law. 

Next Tuesday, June 23, at 7:00 pm, Common Cause and Democracy North Carolina will host a forum about the new program of clean elections in Chapel Hill. UNC Law Professor Gene Nichol will also be present, to offer remarks on the importance of this innovative new system.

 

In November, the Town of Chapel Hill will become just the third municipality in the country (and the first in the state) to offer public grants to candidates. Those who run will thus be able to spend more time courting voters, and less time pursuing campaign cash. The program will also enable a level playing field, so that candidates are not excluded on the basis of personal wealth.

 

It's important that the citizens of Chapel Hill get acquainted with the new system. In addition to brief remarks from the panelists, there will be opportunities for the audience to get their questions about the program answered.

 

So join us Tuesday at 7:00 pm, in the Town Council Chambers at Town Hall!

We at Common Cause New York are fed up with the gridlock in our State Senate

Already, their antics have

* Stalled important bills on campaign finance, election reform, federal stimulus oversight, and ethics,
* Blocked renewal of City and county authority to help the unemployed, run schools and collect sales tax, and
* Generally made Albany a national laughingstock.

Aren't you fed up too? We need our State Senators to put aside petty power struggles and get the people's work done. That's what they've been elected to do.

Let's send a message to New York's State Senators.  Tell them to get back to work and stick with it!

We'll deliver your message attached to a glue stick so that your State Senator will understand you mean business.

Our groups believe that the rules changes adopted last night include changes that will make the State Senate more open and accountable, but do not go far enough to improve the arcane internal operations of the Senate.

With the State Senate set to reconvene this afternoon, good government groups Citizens Union of the City of New York, Common Cause/NY, the League of Women Voters/N.Y.S. and NYPIRG urged senators to stick with their promises of enacting real reform. The groups pointed to statements made by various senators from both parties during the month-long stalemate declaring the crisis was fueled by the need for meaningful reform, not power politics. The good government groups urged the senators to stick with their promises for reform.

Over the past several months, the NYS Stimulus Oversight Group, Senator José M. Serrano (D-Manhattan/Bronx), and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) have led an initiative to ensure that Federal Stimulus funds are utilized with utmost efficiency. A Stimulus Oversight Panel launched yesterday by Governor Paterson incorporates many of the major components of a bill introduced by Serrano and Gianaris.

The legislation (S5879/A8941) aimed to make New York the most reliable recipient of federal stimulus funds in the country by establishing an independent Ombudsman's office to help disburse and track the impact of Federal stimulus funds.

Common Cause applauds Governor Paterson for appointing a new Lieutenant-Governor, a bold and much-needed action that will help to bring an end to one large factor contributing to the ongoing Senate stalemate. By filling the vacancy, the Governor is ensuring the State Senate will once again have a presiding officer who can cast a tie-breaking vote and put to rest the question of succession.

Common Cause is pleased that Governor Paterson has followed the recommendation put out forth by Common Cause/New York, the Citizens Union of the City of New York and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, and will pursue this legal and constitutional course of action. In the days since Common Cause announced its recommendation that Governor Paterson appoint a new Lieutenant-Governor, a number of legal experts and constitutional scholars have come forward in support of the idea, demonstrating its constitutional viability.

Citizens Union and Common Cause/NY today announced the formation of a group of state and constitutional legal experts who support the interpretation of how, under current law, Governor Paterson can appoint a Lt. Governor. The two civic groups, along with Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, on Monday called upon the Governor to act quickly in appointing a Lt. Governor as a means to end the partisan chaos in the state senate and clarify the line of succession to the office of Governor. At the moment, the issue of succession is unclear given that no one individual is universally recognized as Senate President pro tempore.

New York State Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, Citizens Union Executive Director Dick Dadey, and Common Cause/NY Executive Director Susan Lerner today sent Governor David A. Paterson a letter outlining how under current law he can appoint a Lt. Governor and in doing so resolve the impasse that has paralyzed state government.

Though it has become accepted conventional wisdom that a vacancy in the office of Lt. Governor cannot be filled until the next statewide election, the letter posits that the plain language of the Constitution and the Public Officers Law gives the Governor the power to appoint a Lt. Governor who can serve until next year's elections.

A coalition of long-time reform organizations today released the outline of their plan to end the Senate stalemate. Citizens Union, Common Cause/NY, the League of Women Voters, and NYPIRG issued their plea as the state Senate entered its fourth week of gridlock.

At this late date, it appears that efforts to develop a long-term solution have failed. Thus, the groups’ plan urges a “moratorium” on the debate over leadership, a bipartisan agreement to wrap up session and approval of new rules. At least initially, the plan focuses on achieving action on the immediate needs facing the state. There is a host of “must do” legislation that demands action. From local taxes to New York City Mayoral control of schools, from allowing additional debt to overhauling the state’s ethics laws, key items need action, now.

Senator José M. Serrano (D-Manhattan/Bronx) and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) drafted a bill to make New York State the national leader in stimulus accountability and effectiveness, with the creation of a dedicated federal Stimulus Ombudsman‟s office. The proposal (S5879/A8941) is supported by the NYS Stimulus Oversight Working Group, the state‟s leading network pushing for fair and equitable distribution of stimulus investments.

"The leadership battle in the Senate has garnered attention that must be rechanneled in a more positive and productive direction. We must not lose focus, and we must continue to do the work of the people," said Senator José M. Serrano (D-Manhattan/Bronx). "With the country's current unemployment rate at 9.4 percent, it is incumbent upon us to move the economy forward and to create jobs. This bill gives New York the fantastic opportunity to be the most reliable recipient of federal stimulus funds in the entire country, and to set the example for other states to follow."

Common Cause study shows $4.4 million in contributions
from gaming industry to Pennsylvania candidates from 2001-2008

June 23, Philadelphia, PA - As Pennsylvania debates further expanding legalized gambling to include tables games in casinos, and possibly video poker machines in bars and clubs, the Common Cause Education Fund released a study showing that the gaming industry gave $4.4 million in campaign contributions to political candidates and committees in the state from 2001-08.

Pennsylvania is one of the few states that does not limit campaign contributions. In April of this year, the state supreme court overturned a ban on contributions from donors with a financial stake in a casino, so that gaming interests can give as much as they want to elected officials as they lobby to further expand legalized gambling. The study includes a list of the Top 20 Donors and Top 20 Recipients from 2001-2008. Among the top three donors are Louis DeNaples, whose casino license was temporarily revoked after the Dauphin County Attorney's Office questioned whether he had lied about his ties to organized crime, and Peter DePaul, who brought the lawsuit that voided Pennsylvania's ban on gaming contributions.

"This study helps explain the gaming industry's winning streak in Pennsylvania," said James Browning, Associate Director for Development for Common Cause/PA, "and it suggests that gaming interest will go on a giving binge now that they have the chance."

In the absence of any limits on the industry's ability to make political contributions, and with state legislators not required to file their next campaign finance reports until January 2010, Common Cause/Pennsylvania called on the legislature and statewide officials to voluntarily disclose gaming contributions they have received since the ban was struck down in April. Otherwise, contributions made since the decision will not have to be disclosed until January 2010, long after the legislature may have voted to expand gambling.

The complete study is available at http://www.commoncause.org/PA/GamingReport