Press Release
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
NPR: Is drawing a voting map that helps a political party illegal? Only in some states
State courts have become the battleground for partisan gerrymandering after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2019 ruling in the case known as Rucho v. Common Cause.
"For several decades, people in the states had held out hope that the Supreme Court would lay down a standard for finding that partisan gerrymandering had happened and potentially overruling maps where that kind of vote rigging had happened," says Kathay Feng, vice president of programs at Common Cause, the advocacy group that has also helped lead the ongoing case...
"For several decades, people in the states had held out hope that the Supreme Court would lay down a standard for finding that partisan gerrymandering had happened and potentially overruling maps where that kind of vote rigging had happened," says Kathay Feng, vice president of programs at Common Cause, the advocacy group that has also helped lead the ongoing case...
News Clip
Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Redistricting Board adopts final political map after landmark gerrymandering ruling
After April’s decision, Alaska became the 13th state to have its highest court interpret the state’s constitution to ban partisan gerrymandering. A further seven states have a statutory ban on partisan gerrymandering, according to Dan Vicuña, national redistricting manager at Common Cause, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that campaigns to end gerrymandering across the nation.
“Whether it happens in a red state or a blue state, a constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering is always a landmark victory for the...
“Whether it happens in a red state or a blue state, a constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering is always a landmark victory for the...
News Clip
Politics PA: Federal Suit Over PA Voter Rolls Settled
“Today, we put Judicial Watch’s false claims about the security of our elections to rest. This settlement confirms what the vast majority of Pennsylvanians know: our elections are free and fair,” said Jill Greene, voting and elections manager at Common Cause of Pennsylvania. “We’ll continue to protect our neighbors from attempts by outside groups to rob them of their right to vote.”
News Clip
Delaware News Journal: Voting rights for Delaware corporations being weighed; Bill advanced to allow artificial entities say in Seaford elections
Claire Snyder-Hall, executive director of Common Cause Delaware, an organization that advocates for open government, called this an "outrageous attempt to get wealthy property owners, some of whom don't even live in Delaware, an unfair say in town elections."
"We're seeing attacks on freedom to vote all over the country, and mostly Republicans trying to create barriers to voting," she told Delaware Online/The News Journal. "And this is kind of a different way of getting at the same thing, right?
"It's like 'Oh, we...
"We're seeing attacks on freedom to vote all over the country, and mostly Republicans trying to create barriers to voting," she told Delaware Online/The News Journal. "And this is kind of a different way of getting at the same thing, right?
"It's like 'Oh, we...
News Clip
The Guardian: ‘Impossible to hold him accountable’: DeSantis signs laws to ease 2024 run
“It looks like they’re laying the groundwork to transfer the money to some sort of vehicle that would support his presidential run,” said Stephen Spaulding, a campaign finance expert at Common Cause, a government watchdog group. “What that, again, goes to show is how loose the coordination rules are, how they need to be strengthened, and how existing rules need to be enforced.”
News Clip
Texas Tribune: Eliminating countywide voting in Texas would make the process harder on voters, cost more money, election leaders say
“It is stunning to me that this bill has moved forward,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. “Countywide voting is the solution to so many problems.”
“If we end countywide voting, we are just ramping up more and more confusion for Texans,” Gutierrez said. He pointed to a study by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, which found that confusion over voter ID laws kept some people from voting in Harris County.
“If we end countywide voting, we are just ramping up more and more confusion for Texans,” Gutierrez said. He pointed to a study by the University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, which found that confusion over voter ID laws kept some people from voting in Harris County.
News Clip
Politico: The Supreme Court has an electoral ‘bomb’ on its hands. Will it defuse it before 2024?
The North Carolina state court ruling “makes it even more clear that the Supreme Court needs to make a decision about whether or not that legislature should be able to rule over federal elections without any checks or balances or if we still want courts to have a role,” said Kathay Feng, the vice president of programs at the good government group Common Cause. Common Cause is one of the parties in the federal lawsuit opposing the ISL theory.
“We need to have a definitive answer from the Supreme Court,” she continued.
“We need to have a definitive answer from the Supreme Court,” she continued.
News Clip
Associated Press: Air Force One doubles as a campaign jet for Biden’s reelection run. Who pays what?
When it comes to paying back the government for travel, “it’s always somewhat of an opaque process for how it’s reimbursed,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at the watchdog group Common Cause. “It’s a little bit more of an art than a science.”
News Clip
Roll Call: DOJ urges Supreme Court not to decide case on federal elections
Only one party in the case, Common Cause, argued for the Supreme Court to decide the issue — and rule against North Carolina. In a brief filed Thursday, the group argued that the mere fact that North Carolina’s high court ruled in the case means the U.S. Supreme Court can still decide it.
“Petitioners’ core contention before this Court is that the Elections Clause prohibits state constitutions—and state courts—from imposing limits on the authority of state legislatures over congressional redistricting. But the North...
“Petitioners’ core contention before this Court is that the Elections Clause prohibits state constitutions—and state courts—from imposing limits on the authority of state legislatures over congressional redistricting. But the North...
Press Release
Filing: SCOTUS Should Rule in Major Voting Rights Case, Moore v. Harper
Recent NC Supreme Court Actions Do Not Change Jurisdiction
Press Release
Common Cause Testimony for House Hearing on Political Speech
Today at 9:30 a.m., the Committee on House Administration will hold a hearing on “American Confidence in Elections: Protecting Political Speech.” Stephen Spaulding, Common Cause Vice President for Policy & External Affairs, will be testifying. His testimony submitted in advance of the hearing discusses the myriad threats that undermine public confidence in our democracy and offered several solutions as well. He includes voter suppression and gerrymandering as hugely detrimental to public confidence and focuses his testimony on the...
News Clip
CBS: Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 federal charges including using campaign donations for personal expenses, including designer clothes and cash
"Mr. Santos' breathtaking scope of lies has left his constituents -- and all New Yorkers -- gasping for air and calling for accountability. Now that the Eastern District of New York has appropriately indicted him, Mr. Santos should resign. It's been clear for a long time that the voters have been defrauded, and Mr. Santos' seat in Congress is tantamount to an ill gotten gain: he should not be allowed to profit from the fruits of his deception. Voters deserve a representative who doesn't lie and deceive their way into power, and unfortunately...
