Press Release
Government Watchdog Supports New Bill to Ban Members of Congress from Trading Stock
Majority of Americans support a stock trading ban
Press
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
Los Alamos Daily Post: Officials And Organizations Express Condolences On Passing Of Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson
Common Cause New Mexico State Director Heather Ferguson:
“He was one of the strongest Governors New Mexico ever had. While he might be remembered more for his diplomacy and the economic advances he brought to New Mexico (the film industry, the Spaceport, the Rail Runner to name a few) we remember him for his 2007 Ethics Reform Task Force. It spurred so much legislation over the subsequent decades—a Gift Ban, Public Financing of the PRC and state judicial races, limits on campaign contributions and an ethics commission. He...
“He was one of the strongest Governors New Mexico ever had. While he might be remembered more for his diplomacy and the economic advances he brought to New Mexico (the film industry, the Spaceport, the Rail Runner to name a few) we remember him for his 2007 Ethics Reform Task Force. It spurred so much legislation over the subsequent decades—a Gift Ban, Public Financing of the PRC and state judicial races, limits on campaign contributions and an ethics commission. He...
News Clip
Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer: Rigged legislative districts boost partisanship, diminish compromise: Civil Discourse Initiative
The reform proposals that voters adopted during the last decade to stop gerrymandering were thwarted because redistricting remained in the hands of politicians, says Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Catherine Turcer.
Now, she’s supporting a new citizen initiative that would put an independent citizen commission in charge of mapmaking. She said states that redistricted through independent citizen commissions got legislative and congressional district lines that didn’t unfairly favor one party or another.
Now, she’s supporting a new citizen initiative that would put an independent citizen commission in charge of mapmaking. She said states that redistricted through independent citizen commissions got legislative and congressional district lines that didn’t unfairly favor one party or another.
News Clip
Newsday: Term-limited Bellone continues fundraising
Susan Lerner, executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York, said politicians should not hold fundraisers without declaring their intentions.
"Common Cause/NY believes that candidates must explicitly announce what office they are running for when asking donors for money - and not build up a war chest for an unknown position," she said in a statement. "New York law must change so that candidates are only able to raise money once they've announced their campaign for an intended office."
"Common Cause/NY believes that candidates must explicitly announce what office they are running for when asking donors for money - and not build up a war chest for an unknown position," she said in a statement. "New York law must change so that candidates are only able to raise money once they've announced their campaign for an intended office."
News Clip
Washington Post: Justice Thomas details jet travel, property deal with billionaire
He described Crow as a “personal friend,” according to the disclosure form, one of several from the 1990s that is no longer publicly available but was provided to The Washington Post by watchdog organizations Common Cause and Documented.
News Clip
Inside Sources/Tribune News Service (Op-Ed): How the Supreme Court Stopped a Dangerous Legislative Power Grab
When I was in the Supreme Court last December listening to oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, I was struck by Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s questions in this case that put the future of American democracy’s checks and balances at risk.
Barrett doubted that the “independent state legislature theory” should give state legislatures absolute power to write laws for federal elections without facing state judicial review. And Barrett probed repeatedly about when, if at all, the Supreme Court should intervene in state court...
Barrett doubted that the “independent state legislature theory” should give state legislatures absolute power to write laws for federal elections without facing state judicial review. And Barrett probed repeatedly about when, if at all, the Supreme Court should intervene in state court...
News Clip
New York Times: Republicans Target Wisconsin’s Election Chief for Removal, Fueled by Falsehoods
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, a government watchdog group, said Ms. Wolfe’s removal would be a major blow to the state, which is likely to once again be a crucial battleground for the presidential race.
“The vast majority of Wisconsin’s voters and citizens can and will lose confidence and trust in our elections,” he said.
“The vast majority of Wisconsin’s voters and citizens can and will lose confidence and trust in our elections,” he said.
News Clip
San Jose Mercury News: Thought San Jose’s 2022 mayor’s race was expensive? Experts say brace yourself.
Sean McMorris, a member of government transparency nonprofit California Common Cause, said he’s unsure whether the city needs to eliminate the cap at all.
“I know that San Jose is being proactive, but it is not clear to me that the SCOTUS ruling, which pertained to federal campaign finance law and post-election fundraising, would necessarily apply to all local campaign finance laws pertaining to candidate loans or that a city cannot narrowly tailor such a law to avoid running afoul of the SCOTUS ruling,” he wrote in an...
“I know that San Jose is being proactive, but it is not clear to me that the SCOTUS ruling, which pertained to federal campaign finance law and post-election fundraising, would necessarily apply to all local campaign finance laws pertaining to candidate loans or that a city cannot narrowly tailor such a law to avoid running afoul of the SCOTUS ruling,” he wrote in an...
News Clip
Houston Public Media: Texas prepares to leave multistate compact to clean its voter rolls, without an alternative
All of this is a concern for voting rights groups. Katya Ehresman, voting rights program manager for Common Cause Texas, said its been just four years since the state attempted to purge tens of thousands of people incorrectly identified as noncitizens from the state's voter rolls. The furor over that effort helped to sink Acting Secretary of State David Whitley's bid for confirmation in the post. Ehresman noted that Keith Ingram, who served as elections director under Whitley, was appointed by current Secretary of State Jane Nelson to head the...
News Clip
Boston Globe: Carlson’s early exit renews calls for limiting early voting or using ranked-choice voting
But John M. Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, called the GOP statement “a knee-jerk reaction to what is a fairly common occurrence in elections all across the country.”
“This is not the first time a candidate has withdrawn from a race but remained on the ballot, and it won’t be the last time,” he said. “Restricting a popular and secure way for voters to vote is not the right reaction.”
In offering 20 days of early voting, Rhode Island is matching the national average in the 47...
“This is not the first time a candidate has withdrawn from a race but remained on the ballot, and it won’t be the last time,” he said. “Restricting a popular and secure way for voters to vote is not the right reaction.”
In offering 20 days of early voting, Rhode Island is matching the national average in the 47...
News Clip
Wisconsin Law Journal: Protasiewicz prohibited from hearing abortion, gerrymandering cases if impeachment commences
Jay Heck, director of Common Cause, told the Wisconsin Law Journal he believes Vos’ threat of impeachment is hypocritical.
“It’s such self-serving hypocrisy with Vos. Where was Vos in 2012 when conservatives all voted to dismiss illegal coordination with Walker and Club For Growth? It has been well documented that Walker engaged in coordination to raise money for his recall election, which was illegal. Candidates cannot coordinate with outside special interests, and the Legislature changed that in 2015, but I didn’t...
“It’s such self-serving hypocrisy with Vos. Where was Vos in 2012 when conservatives all voted to dismiss illegal coordination with Walker and Club For Growth? It has been well documented that Walker engaged in coordination to raise money for his recall election, which was illegal. Candidates cannot coordinate with outside special interests, and the Legislature changed that in 2015, but I didn’t...
News Clip
Public News Service: Feds Consider Whether to Allow Betting on Election Outcomes
Stephen Spaulding, vice president of policy for the nonprofit Common Cause, said gambling on elections is bad for democracy.
"You can imagine wealthy gamblers could make significant money by exploiting disinformation to influence an electoral outcome that would protect the bettors' bottom line," Spaulding pointed out. "This again opens up a significant risk to the perception that the winners and losers of an election are not determined by voters, but by those who stand to gain financially."
Spaulding noted the...
"You can imagine wealthy gamblers could make significant money by exploiting disinformation to influence an electoral outcome that would protect the bettors' bottom line," Spaulding pointed out. "This again opens up a significant risk to the perception that the winners and losers of an election are not determined by voters, but by those who stand to gain financially."
Spaulding noted the...
Press Release
New Report on 2022 Election Disinformation Looks Ahead to 2024
As social media platforms drastically scale back efforts to control the expanding threat of election disinformation, a new report from Common Cause takes a look at efforts to combat the rampant problem in 2022 and previews what to expect in 2024. “Under the Microscope: Election Disinformation in 2022 And What We Learned for 2024” examines the preparations and what we saw during the midterms and looks at how to apply lessons to the already unfolding race for the White House. And finally the reports points to existing and proposed...
Common Cause is fighting to make a democracy that works for everyone
Common Cause has spent 2025 proving that special interests are no match for our people-powered movement that began over 50 years ago.
From the halls of Congress to local election offices, we’ve built a movement that stands up to corruption, strengthens accountability, and protects the power of the people. And with your help, we can go even further.
Make your Year End gift to defend YOUR rights →