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“Some counties have had nasty battles over redistricting,” Heidorn said. “They (tell Common Cause): ‘we don’t want to touch redistricting; we want someone else to do it.’” California adopted a Redistricting Commission earlier this decade, which is now considered a model for other states as it ensured greater non-partisan preferences for voting regions covering the state Assembly and Senate.

“This is the most important campaign-finance law before the Legislature this year,” Nicolas Heidorn of the citizens’ watchdog group California Common Cause said. “When you know who the messenger is you can more effectively evaluate the message. By removing the veil of anonymity, we force groups to put their brand next to their words, which will help nudge our politics slowly towards the ideals of an open legislature. This is a ‘We the People’ issue.”

Elected officials, representatives and voting rights advocates have partnered in the past to make voting convenient and without risking voters’ security, according to Board Chair at California Common Cause Chair Jonathan Stein.

Kathay Feng, executive director for California Common Cause, criticized the practice of taking money from city contractors and called it unusual for fund-raising to happen in a small city so far removed from an election.

California voting rights groups announced Tuesday they had filed a lawsuit against the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Transportation for failing for comply with a federal law that makes it easier for people to register to vote.

Steinberg knows he needs public trust to make real progress on his ambitious to-do list on jobs, the homeless, youth services and much more. But confidence in government is not very high these days, and it hasn’t helped that ethics reform has dragged on this long. So far, the most significant accomplishment is that in November, voters approved a measure creating a citizens commission that will draw City Council districts, though that won’t happen until after the 2020 census.