News Clips

“We want people who are qualified and know their communities, but we also want people who reflect the community that the commission serves,” said Kiyana Asemanfar, policy manager for California Common Cause, a nonprofit group that assists cities with redistricting outreach. “That’s why we put such a heavy emphasis on the recruitment period. It’s difficult to achieve a representative commission if you don’t begin with a representative applicant pool.”

The FBI indictments and ongoing investigations into corruption at L.A. City Hall, Councilman Jose Huizar being the latest to fall from grace, center around electeds and money—bribes, kickbacks, development projects, and political donations... As disturbing as the recent indictments are, there may be a silver lining; L.A.'s campaign finance laws appear to be working. Bear with me for a moment.

“We need guardrails in place to ensure that governing doesn’t move further out of public view,” Stein said in an interview with Government Technology. “We recognize that government needs flexibility in this moment to respond to the crisis or the multiple crises going on in America today. But in order for government to act effectively, there has to be accountability, and there has to be transparency.”

In this special report "Coronavirus: Facts not Fear," NBC Palm Springs talks to Jonathan Mehta Stein about vote-by-mail and public health. Hear why Ca Common Cause League of Women Voters of California & Community Coalition are defending Gov Newsom sending mail ballots to all registered Ca voters for the Nov 2020 election.

On Wednesday, when California Common Cause filed a motion to become an intervenor, the group’s executive director said “these lawsuits are filled with baseless claims about vote-by-mail being rife with fraud and California’s elections being poorly run. They are light on facts and heavy on partisan rhetoric.”

Businesses or individuals lending a hand to government may enhance their ability to influence policymakers by generating goodwill, said Jonathan Mehta Stein, executive director of California Common Cause, a good-government nonprofit based in Los Angeles.