California Common Cause Board of Advisors
Ric Bainter is a legal advisor and consultant on projects that promote democratic governance. He has worked extensively in Bosnia and also in Vietnam, Azerbijan, and Poland. He was the founding director of the New Politics Program at the National Civic League and executive director of Colorado Common Cause. He served as chair of the California Common Cause Board in 2006 - 2007.
Bonnie Barkett is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Pacific Southwest office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in San Francisco. She has worked for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the California State Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives after beginning her career as a staff member at Common Cause.
Shakari Byerly is a research associate with Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin and Associates, a public opinion research and strategic consulting firm. Previously, she managed the California Governance Project at the Center for Governmental Studies, specializing in redistricting reform and the California Ballot Initiative Process. She also has extensive experience in grassroots community organizing and worked for several years in the California State Legislature.
Board Chair Grant Davis-Denny is an attorney with Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, where he has provided pro bono representation to Common Cause and members of Congress in defending the constitutionality of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. He has published scholarly articles on clean money reforms, coordinated expenditures, and campaign finance disclosure laws.
Todd Dipaola is an entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Manhattan Beach, who co-founded Vantage Media. He previously worked as a public interest advocate for the Kirsch Foundation. Dipaola founded the first Democracy Matters chapter in California and interned with CCC in college. He graduated as a Regents Scholar from University of California, Berkeley in Molecular and Cell Biology with a minor from the Goldman School of Public Policy.
Brandon Kline is the system-wide coordinator of advocacy communications efforts for the University of California Office of the President. Most recently, he was the Vice President for Public Policy and Government Affairs at the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. Prior to this role, he was a legislative aide to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Thad Kousser is an Associate Professor of Political Science at UC San Diego who has published research on term limits, the initiative process, campaign finance laws, voting by mail, reapportionment, and other political reform issues. He has worked on legislative staffs in the California, New Mexico, and U. S. Senates.
Steve Levin is Vice President at Winner & Associates, a strategic communications consulting firm in Los Angeles. Previously, he worked in the political and election law fields, both as an attorney in San Francisco, and with the Center for Governmental Studies, a think tank and governmental watchdog. He has extensive experience in campaign finance law and public financing of elections.
Elisabeth Neubauer is an attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, where, in addition to her private-client work, she has provided pro bono representation in defense of clean money laws and directed the 2008 Los Angeles Election Protection effort. She also has worked on 2004 Election Protection efforts while externing for the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., interned for Senator Dianne Feinstein, and served as a United States Senate Page.
Peter Reinke chairs the K-12 History Department at the Head-Royce School in Oakland, and teaches Advanced Placement American History and Introduction to Constitutional Law. He is a public commissioner on the California State Teachers Retirement System, where he chairs the corporate governance taskforce. Peter is past vice-president of Oakland's Public Ethics Commission and previously served on the legislative staff of U.S. Senator John Chafee.
Katie Selenski is a Senior Analyst at Harvey M. Rose Associates, a public sector management consulting firm, where she works primarily for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. Selenski previously worked with nonpartisan civic participation groups New Voters Project in Nevada and Citizen Works in Washington, D.C. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Kathleen Thurmond is the Controller for California Common Cause and is active in many organizations in her community of Long Beach. She brings experience in successful small business management as well as public policy work.
John Ulin is an attorney who represented CCC on voting machine litigation, on the Indian tribal political contribution reporting, and before the California Voting Modernization Board. When he’s not litigating for CCC, he is an accomplished attorney at Heller Ehrman LLC. He has also served as the President of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps Board of Directors.
Board Vice Chair Roy Ulrich is a public interest lawyer, consumer advocate, and public radio broadcaster living in Santa Monica. Ulrich specializes in drafting legislation on behalf of public interest groups. He hosts a weekly public affairs program on Pacifica station KPFK in Los Angeles and serves as President of the California Tax Reform Association. Ulrich has written for the Los Angeles Times and The Nation magazine, among other publications.
| 
