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Government Watchdog Supports New Bill to Ban Members of Congress from Trading Stock
Majority of Americans support a stock trading ban
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Media Contacts
Katie Scally
Communications Director
kscally@commoncause.org
202-736-5713
Ariana Marmolejo
Communications Strategist
amarmolejo@commoncause.org
Kenny Colston
Regional Communications Strategist (Midwest)
kcolston@commoncause.org
Maya Majikas
Communications Strategist
mmajikas@commoncause.org
Common Cause’s network of national and state democracy reform experts are frequent media commentators. To talk with one of our experts, please reach out to any member of the press team above.
News Clip
Public News Service: Report: AZ Earns ‘B minus’ grade for redistricting practices
Jenny Guzman, program director for Common Cause Arizona, says the AIRC can be a lot stronger and more independent.
"The way the current Arizona redistricting commission works is in order to appoint commissioners, the first few have to be appointed by the Arizona state party leaders. That can make things a little tricky," she explained.
Guzman said that meant fewer "guardrails" to ensure all races were properly represented in the redistricting process. She says this negatively impacted Arizona.
"The way the current Arizona redistricting commission works is in order to appoint commissioners, the first few have to be appointed by the Arizona state party leaders. That can make things a little tricky," she explained.
Guzman said that meant fewer "guardrails" to ensure all races were properly represented in the redistricting process. She says this negatively impacted Arizona.
News Clip
Source NM/States Newsroom: Boosted accessibility for voters in ongoing NM local election
New Mexico doesn’t require any reason for someone to request an absentee ballot.
There are only really benefits to that, said Mason Graham, policy director for Common Cause, a nonprofit that works to uphold voter rights. He said it started up with the COVID-19 pandemic. He said absentee ballots allow for more convenience in voting and can help people do more research on candidates.
Despite baseless misinformation around mail-in voting, it’s just as secure as in-person voting. Graham said there are extensive...
There are only really benefits to that, said Mason Graham, policy director for Common Cause, a nonprofit that works to uphold voter rights. He said it started up with the COVID-19 pandemic. He said absentee ballots allow for more convenience in voting and can help people do more research on candidates.
Despite baseless misinformation around mail-in voting, it’s just as secure as in-person voting. Graham said there are extensive...
News Clip
Capitol Beat: Lawsuit challenging redrawing of Georgia’s congressional districts moving forward
“Having fair maps makes elected politicians responsive to the needs and wants of the people by having elections where voters make the calls,” Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said following Tuesday’s ruling. “We deserve better, and the law demands better, than the current voting maps that prevent Georgia’s communities on the margins of society from having a meaningful say in the halls of Congress.”
Press Release
Common Cause Georgia, League of Women Voters, SPLC Applaud Court’s Decision to Move Redistricting Case Forward
A three-judge panel for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia is allowing a case challenging Georgia’s racially gerrymandered congressional district map to move forward. The case, brought by several Georgia voters, Common Cause Georgia and the League of Women Voters of Georgia will go to trial in November.
News Clip
Public News Service: Amid multiple lawsuits, Texas’ redistricting gets D- from elections watchdog
Dan Vicuna, director of redistricting and representation with Common Cause, said the solution to extreme gerrymandering is establishment of a nonpartisan system or commission with broad representation to draw up districts - which only exists in a handful of states.
"The public understands that whether you're kept in one district with a community that shares concerns of all sorts can really make the difference between having a champion in the halls of power - or not having a champion," he explained.
"The public understands that whether you're kept in one district with a community that shares concerns of all sorts can really make the difference between having a champion in the halls of power - or not having a champion," he explained.
News Clip
Ohio Capital Journal: Does Sec. of State LaRose have no Senate campaign HQ, or is it where he’s moving his state office?
“You need space,” said Catherine Turcer, executive director of the watchdog group Common Cause Ohio. “You need space to organize simple things like yard signs. A robust campaign actually needs at least one office — often more than one — if you’re going to be successful. Think about the number of media markets you have in Ohio. The secretary of state is running for the U.S. Senate.”
“If in fact this has been planned for nearly five years, we should have been in the know for a really long time,” Turcer said.
“If in fact this has been planned for nearly five years, we should have been in the know for a really long time,” Turcer said.
Press Release
FEC Urged to Amend Regulation to Account for False AI Content
Today, Common Cause and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights filed comments with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in support of a petition for rulemaking filed by Public Citizen to amend its regulation on “fraudulent misrepresentation” to include “deliberately false Artificial Intelligence-generated content in campaign ads or other communications.”
News Clip
VoteBeat/AZ Mirror: Three seconds to spot fraud? Testing Arizona’s ballot signature checking process.
The potential change in process to come from this lawsuit worries Jenny Guzman, the program director for Common Cause Arizona, which advocates for voter rights. The organization isn’t sure signature verification is the best way to verify a ballot, but wants to make sure that officials have a large database to work from if this is the method they are using, she told me. Officials should also be attempting to contact voters whose signature is being questioned, Guzman said, which happens in Arizona under state law but doesn’t happen in every...
News Clip
The Daily Beast: This Top GOP Recruit Has a Swampy Connection to a Trumpy Rep
Stephen Spaulding, vice president of policy at the good government group Common Cause, told The Daily Beast that the Sheehy-Zinke relationship—consisting of major campaign contributions, federal contracts, and favorable legislation—was the exact kind of “pungent mix” that gives voters the impression that elected officials put corporate money over the public interest.
Americans, Spaulding said, are “rightly turned off” by such relationships.
“It’s what gives rise to corruption and the appearance of...
Americans, Spaulding said, are “rightly turned off” by such relationships.
“It’s what gives rise to corruption and the appearance of...
News Clip
AmericaOne Radio The Ron Show: Redistricting Report Cards & Athens’ DA Dilemma
Dan Vicuna with Common Cause joined me today to dive into the C.H.A.R.G.E. batch of report cards for each state's redistricting efforts, and - surprise - Georgia got a D. IN fact, 18 of the 20 failing states are GOP-controlled.
News Clip
The Oregonian/Oregon Capital Chronicle: Oregon’s failure to get tribal input earns it poor grade for redistricting in national report
“For too long public dialogue about redistricting has focused almost exclusively on the partisan horse race,” said Dan Vicuña, national redistricting director for Common Cause, one of the organizations in the coalition. “It’s undeniable that manipulation of voting districts for political advantage is a direct threat to the health of our democracy. However, that threat doesn’t derive from which party is up or down at a given moment. It derives from the slicing and dicing of communities into districts in ways that make it impossible...
News Clip
Charlotte Observer: Not just about money: New laws in state budget give more power to the General Assembly
Ann Webb, the policy director of government watchdog group Common Cause North Carolina, said “an agency that is designed to protect the interests of the public spending, state funds should be operated in such a way that it reflects the public interest in its structure — not simply the interest of a couple of very powerful individuals.”
“Democracy requires transparency,” Webb said.
Webb, with Common Cause, said it’s “really important to look at the holistic picture. All the ways that the legislature...
“Democracy requires transparency,” Webb said.
Webb, with Common Cause, said it’s “really important to look at the holistic picture. All the ways that the legislature...
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