Atlanta mayoral runoff needs an ethics debate

Georgia's cities held municipal elections yesterday. We congratulate the winners and thank all candidates who stepped up for public service. You are the backbone of our representative democracy! Atlanta's mayoral race is headed to a runoff between Councilwoman Mary Norwood and former State Senator Kasim Reed. Common Cause Georgia strongly invites these two candidates to embrace our call for pay-to-play reform in City contracting. Public safety and financial responsibility are certainly important issues. However, we also need to rebuild trust, and signaling that the City is ready to depart from its patterns of cronyism in contracting would go a long way.  City Council candidate Amir Farokhi (in the December runoff) has endorsed our pay-to play proposal. Common Cause will continue to build support for pay to play reform to be introduced when the new Council sits in January. To see the highlights of the Common Cause proposal: Pay-to-Play reforms. To read the full text: model legislation.

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.

A bill that all but eliminate the Electoral College and create a national popular vote in presidential elections is expected to reach the Massachusetts House before they recess in mid-November. The proposal, which has been passed in five states already, is supported by 70% of Americans.

Click here to send a letter to your legislators.

Click here to view a summary of the bill.

 

Chapel Hill’s first-in-the-state voter-owned election program got off to a strong start this year, with both voter-owned candidates winning seats in yesterday’s election.

 

Mark Kleinschmidt won in a tight race for mayor, despite being outraised by his main opponent by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Though Kleinschmidt’s fundraising was identical to his 2007 race for city council, the $13,000 in public funds enabled him to compete on a more level playing field with fellow Councilor Matt Czajkowski, who funded his campaign with private donations.

 

In light of the result, Kleinschmidt said, “The voter-owned fund played a crucial role in making sure that I could get my message out to voters. This was one of the most substantive campaigns I’ve ever been a part of, and a lot of that is because participating in the public financing program took the focus off of money and put it on issues.”

 

Councilor-elect Penny Rich also benefited from the public fund. Rich had run for council in 2007, but finished sixth. This year, however, she was the leading vote-getter in a crowded field of 8 candidates.

 

Noting the importance of the program to her campaign, Rich said, “The voter-owned elections program really required me to get out into the community and talk with voters early in the campaign. Asking people to invest $5 in my campaign felt good—and really helped strengthen my relationships and my understanding of issues facing Chapel Hill. I would not have made the leap from sixth to first without the voter-owned election program.”

 

Legislation pending in the state legislature would expand public financing options to more than a dozen larger cities across the state. Josh Glasser, Director of Local Campaign Finance Reform for Common Cause, said, “The Chapel Hill example proves that voter-owned elections can work at the local level in North Carolina. It’s time for the legislature to afford other cities the same opportunity to conduct reform and strengthen democracy.”

 

The program, which was devised by the Chapel Hill Town Council and implemented by the NC State Board of Elections, was strongly supported by an array of democracy reform organizations, including Common Cause, Democracy NC, the NC Center for Voter Education, NC Voters for Clean Elections, and the League of Women Voters. The 2009 campaign was the first year of the pilot; the 2011 elections will offer another opportunity to see how the program works to change the dynamics of local campaigns.

Assemblyman Gianaris, Citzens Union, Common Cause/NY Contend Current State Law Allows Governor Paterson To Appoint Lt. Governor Shows How State Constitution and Public Officers Law Can Be Used to Break Albany Impasse

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.

The letter contends that Section 43 of the Public Officers Law applies in this situation and is not precluded by the Constitutional mandate that the Temporary President of the Senate shall perform the duties of the Lt. Governor during a vacancy. Public Officer Law Section 43 states " [i]f a vacancy shall occur, otherwise than by expiration of term, with no provision of law for filling the same, if the office be elective, the governor shall appoint a person to execute the duties thereof until the vacancy shall be filled by an election…"

Read the full release here...

 

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/PA Petitions U.S. Supreme Court
on Legislative Abuses and Judicial Conduct Litigation

 Lower Court Rulings Threaten Citizens’ Right to Sue

September 16

On September 4, Common Cause/PA and its co-plaintiffs asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling in its case on the state legislature’s violations of the state constitution which led to the illegal passage of the 2005 pay grab, and the alleged improper deal-making between state Supreme Court justices and legislative leaders to acquire pay raises for judges.

The lower courts ruled that Common Cause/PA and its allies have no right to sue in the underlying case because any harm inflicted on us was equally experienced by every other citizen of PA, and thus neither we, nor anyone else, have any cognizable right to action in the courts.

The lower courts basically said, if every citizen is harmed in the same general manner, then no one has a right to sue. Common Cause/PA contends that this flies in the face of decades of Supreme Court decisions. Had it been the judicial standard in the 1950s and 60s none of the groundbreaking civil rights litigation of that era would have been possible. The determination of the lower courts seriously jeopardizes all citizen groups’ access to the courts to address constitutional violations. Common Cause/PA believes the lower courts are wrong on the facts and on their interpretation of standing. We also believe that because federal circuit courts across the nation have applied theories on standing that are not only widely divergent, but in many cases contradictory, the U.S. Supreme Court must establish and apply a uniform position to which all courts must adhere.


To see the full Common Cause/PA filing to the Supreme Court, please click here.