Abuse of Power

As Democrats take power in Washington, if only tenuously, many democracy reform groups see a potential path toward making the American political system work better. In this installment, Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause, answers our questions about 2020 accomplishments and plans for the year ahead. Her organization has long been on the front lines of advocating for democracy reform. Hobert Flynn's responses have been edited for clarity and length.

“It’s sort of baffling considering that besides the president, Republicans won up and down the ticket and had record turnout as well,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections at Common Cause. “These are states with Republican election officials and Republican legislatures because these policies have been used by Republican voters that elected those individuals.”

Common Cause in Wisconsin has long opposed this cynical, anti-democratic strategy, and we will be in the forefront of resisting upcoming efforts to restrict voting further. Gov. Tony Evers says he will veto any such measures and oppose voter suppression. Yet the governor’s opposition to this looming threat to democracy isn’t enough. The citizens of Wisconsin need to rise up and make it clear to every member of the Wisconsin Legislature that they should be expanding voting opportunities and making it easier for more Wisconsinites to be able to participate in elections. Citizens need to make it clear that any attempt to restrict election participation will not be tolerated and will be resisted to the full extent that is lawfully possible.

The nation deserved far better than Donald Trump in the White House these last four, very long years. In his final day as President, Donald Trump only continued to show his disregard for our democratic process. Overnight, he pardoned a laundry list of corrupt and convicted politicians, political fundraisers, and rich private citizens, along with still more of his inner circle. The number of Trump’s close political advisers who have been pardoned is staggering. They all join the parade of disgraced Americans and war criminals who were earlier pardoned by President Trump.

The American people expect and deserve the restoration of strong ethical standards at the White House in the wake of the abuses of the Trump presidency. President-elect Biden promised reform on the campaign trail, and Common Cause, along with our allies, urged the incoming administration to take make a strong commitment to ethics and democracy reforms.

Americans expect and deserve a strong inclusive democracy. We commend Leader Schumer, Senator Merkley and Senator Klobuchar for pledging to introduce the For the People Act as the first bill of the new Congress – S.1. The Senate now joins the House in making this bill the top legislative priority.