Campaign Finance

Paul S. Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a good government group that supports a contribution match system, said limits on contributions exist to prevent corruption. “A candidate cannot be corrupted by her own spending, so it can’t be limited. By contrast, there can be corruption of a candidate by a donor giving a big check,” he said.

City leaders should move ahead with the developer donation limits “whether or not they can 100% enforce it,” Rey López-Calderón, executive director of the watchdog group California Common Cause. “It will be great when they update their systems and get a database” to track developers with pending projects, López-Calderón said. “But what they need to do right now is show the public that they’re serious about changing the culture of Los Angeles City Hall.”

Today’s vote is a defining moment for every member of the U.S. House of Representatives. History is watching as Republican Members will weigh the choice of casting a vote for their country or for their party. Amidst a growing list of witnesses testifying about shocking abuses of power by the Trump administration and the president’s inner circle and seismic shifts in public disapproval of the president’s conduct, this is the first time many Members will be asked to cast a formal vote that will put them on the right—or wrong—side of history.

In recent weeks, President Trump ran an ad on Facebook with discredited allegations about former Vice President Joe Biden's relationship with Ukraine. Despite requests from Biden's campaign to take down the ad, Facebook refused, stating the ad didn't violate its policies on political advertising. Facebook's new policy exempts politicians' political ads from third-party fact-checkers. The exemption effectively allows any politician to run ads on the platform that contain deceptive, false or misleading information. Given the president's propensity to lie, it's easy to understand why many are calling this the "Trump exemption."

With a floor vote expected later today, Common Cause and it’s 1.2 million members continue to strongly urge every member of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the SHIELD (Stopping Harmful Interference in Elections for a Lasting Democracy) Act (HR 4617). In a Monday letter to Representatives, Common Cause emphasized that the critical legislation will help safeguard our elections from the very real and ongoing dangers of foreign interference in our elections.

Last year, Common Cause, the political reform group, asked the FEC to determine whether the Trump campaign had illegally coordinated with America First and America First Policies, a related group that can raise money without disclosing its donors. The complaint alleged that the president and his campaign were improperly soliciting contributions for the two entities.