A bipartisan, bicameral group of thirty former members of Congress released an open-letter today calling on Congress and all of Washington, D.C. to embrace, support, and pass the Fair Elections Now Act. The release of the letter was in conjunction with a full-page ad that appeared in today’s Roll Call newspaper. The ad and the letter can be seen at www.FairElectionsNow.org/FormerMOCs.

The Fair Elections Now Act, sponsored by Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and House Caucus Chair John Larson (D-Conn.), would allow candidates for Congress to seek office without relying on big money contributors. Candidates would pay for their campaigns by qualifying for a limited public grant coupled with a four-to-one match on contributions of $100 or less. The House version of the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826) has bipartisan support and currently has 140 co-sponsors.

Finally, the House Ethics Committee did its job last week when it admonished Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) for accepting corporate-sponsored travel to the Caribbean. But the panel still has a long way to go in addressing more serious allegations made against Rep. Rangel.

The Ethics Committee said that Rangel should have known that two trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008 were funded by corporations, a violation of House ethics rules. The committee found that two Rangel aides knew the funding source of the trip. Rangel has complained that it is unfair to hold him responsible for what his staff knew. That is unbelievable. Rep. Rangel has been in Congress long enough to know how the process works, and at the end of the day, members of Congress are responsible for their own actions.

Common Cause calls on Attorney General Eric Holder to reject the whitewashing of an internal Justice Department ethics review of former Bush Administration lawyers who authored memos that paved the way for torture of terror suspects, and to stand by the report’s original findings and recommendations.

Justice’s internal watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), late Friday released a long-awaited report that concluded that legal advice provided by John C. Yoo and Jay S. Bybee, who worked in the Office of Legal Counsel, constituted professional misconduct and warranted possible disbarment. But Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis, who was in charge of the final recommendations, softened it and said neither lawyer should face discipline or disbarment.

Nearly 60 major Democratic party donors sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) today urging her to push the Fair Elections Now Act (S. 752, H.R. 1826) as the response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC.

“Allowing corporations to fund political speech deeply undermines Congress' ability to take strong stances without fear of corporate retribution,” said Jonathan Rose, president of Jonathan Rose Companies* and a signer of the letter. “It makes no sense, for example, that foreign corporations have been given rights to America's natural resources since the 1870s without adequately bidding for that right, making it harder to pay down our national deficit. The only logical explanation is that far too many members of Congress and Senators are more influenced by corporate contributors than the public's concern about our deficit. We need legislators brave enough to pass the Fair Elections Now Act.”

A legislative response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizen United vs. FEC unveiled today by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is a good start and Congress should move to pass the legislation, but it doesn’t address Congress’ reliance on Wall Street and other big special interests, Public Campaign and Common Cause said. The two reform groups urge Congress to pass the Fair Elections Now Act to give voters back a voice in government.

“These are good first steps but as a package they fall short of getting to the heart of the problem of money in politics,” said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign. “At the end of the day, these proposals still leave members of Congress dependent on money from Wall Street interests, insurance companies, and the other deep pocket interests who control Washington, D.C. Congress needs to move quickly to enact the Fair Elections Now Act that gives voters control, and do so without delay.

Voters are disillusioned with Congress and concerned about the influence of special interests on their elected officials, according to a national survey conducted by the bipartisan pair of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (D) and McKinnon Media (R). The poll was released today by campaign finance groups Change Congress, Common Cause, and Public Campaign Action Fund.

From the research findings: Voters will support members of Congress that support broad and bold legislation to blunt the Citizens United Supreme Court decision and 62 percent of voters support a description of the bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act (S. 752, H.R. 1826).

On Thursday, the House Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826), championed by House Democratic Caucus Chairman John B. Larson (D-Conn.), gained its 134^th co-sponsor, pushing the number of supporters to more than half of the Democratic Caucus. This high level of support is a sign of the growing momentum for changing the way campaigns are financed in this country, according to Public Campaign and Common Cause.

"The country needs both parties to work to solve the political crisis created by the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United, and the bipartisan solution that has the broadest support within Congress is Fair Elections," said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign. "Not only is it the best policy response to the escalating cost to run for office, it will take candidates off the fundraising treadmill and encourage them to seek support from voters back home. This bill is democracy-in-action."

More than 200 faith leaders representing a diversity of religions have signed onto a letter to Congress expressing concern over the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse decades of campaign finance law to allow unlimited corporate spending on elections. The faith leaders are also pledging to work with their congregations to encourage passage of legislation that put voters – not special interests – in charge of our democracy. Common Cause and Public Campaign released the letter Wednesday.

“We believe existing campaign finance laws already permit the unfair influence of persons and groups with extraordinary wealth over the political process by providing them with special access to elected officials,” the religious leaders wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). “This special access ultimately results in legislative outcomes that reflect the needs of those with the financial means to make political contributions, and not the needs of the poor or disenfranchised.”

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was caught on camera during the State of the Union visibly disagreeing with President Obama that the recent Citizens United decision has opened the floodgate for corporations, including those with a majority of foreign owners, to spend unlimited amounts around our elections.

What other way is there to interpret the court’s decision? This deeply flawed opinion will allow corporations, including those owned by a majority of foreign entities, to spend without limit to influence US elections. In short, it has made a bad situation even worse.

The Supreme Court Citizens United decision is judicial activism and arrogance at its worst.

This is a political coup by the High Court for the deepest political pockets in America, and without any factual record before them to support it. The Court declares outright – beyond overruling Austin and McConnell – that corporate expenditures cannot corrupt elected officials, that influence over lawmakers is not corruption, and that appearance of influence will not undermine public faith in our democracy.

The Supreme Court of the United States handed down a decision today that will enhance the ability of the deepest-pocketed special interests to influence elections and the U.S. Congress, said a pair of leading national campaign finance reform organizations, Common Cause and Public Campaign. The decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, which overturned the ban on independent expenditures by corporations, paves the way for unlimited corporate and union spending in elections.

The U.S. Supreme Court today announced it will hold a special session Thursday at 10 am, and it appears likely that the Court could announce a decision in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, according to SCOTUSBlog. Citizens United is a long-awaited ruling that could greatly expand the role of corporations and labor unions in financing American elections. If the decision is released, the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21 and Public Campaign will hold a telephone press conference at noon Thursday featuring campaign finance experts who will give legal analysis, respond to the decision and talk about what it means for the 2010 mid-term elections and beyond.

Campaign finance experts will give legal analysis and reaction via teleconference to the Citizens United decision at noon ET on the day of the decision.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) must look at whether campaign contributions from the financial industry to members of Congress assisted in weakening the financial regulatory system that led to the economic collapse, according to a letter sent to the commission today by Public Campaign and Common Cause.

According to the letter: "We strongly urge the financial sector representatives to answer the question, 'what role did campaign contributions play in your attempts to influence Congressional action on financial issues?'"

Reform groups issued a report card today on the Executive Branch lobbying, ethics and transparency reforms implemented by the Obama Administration in its first year.

The groups include Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters and U.S. PIRG.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue opinions Tuesday and Wednesday, according to SCOTUSblog, and the Court could announce a decision in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a ruling that may greatly expand the role of corporations and labor unions in financing American elections. The Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21 and Public Campaign will hold a telephone press conference on the day the decision is announced featuring campaign finance experts who will give legal analysis, respond to the decision and talk about what it means for the 2010 mid-term elections and beyond.

Campaign finance experts will give legal analysis and reaction via teleconference to the Citizens United decision at noon ET on the day of the decision.

When the House of Representatives passed a sweeping financial reform package last week, it rejected several high profile amendments, including the so-called “cramdown” provision. Introduced by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), whose district has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country, the provision would temporarily allow bankruptcy judges to adjust the value of a mortgage to reflect the current value of the home.

In March, the House passed an identical proposal as a stand-alone bill, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. But the same chamber rejected it this time, thanks to nearly four dozen members of Congress who switched their position on the issue since the spring.

The controversy over Sen. Harry Reid's (D-Nev.) request to delay weekend votes on the omnibus spending bill purportedly to attend a fundraiser in New Orleans exemplifies our broken campaign finance system, two national campaign finance watchdogs said today. The groups criticized the money-driven political system which forces elected leaders to spend too much time fundraising when they should be addressing the critical issues that face our country.

"That the leader of the US Senate would even consider delaying Senate proceedings and negotiations on an issue as important as health care reform, reportedly to attend a fundraiser, speaks volumes of the constant pressure that members of Congress are under to raise money for themselves, their colleagues and their political party," said Bob Edgar, president and CEO Common Cause. "We need a Congress that is immune to the pressures of fundraising and that serves the public interest. It's time to pass the Fair Elections Now Act."