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Voting & Elections 09.6.2022

Insider: Out of 18 pro-democracy bills in 2022, the US Senate filibuster torpedoed 17 of them: report

Common Cause also ranked individual members of Congress on their pro-democracy efforts, with 101 members — all Democrats — earning a perfect score. That's a more than 70% increase over the number of members of Congress who had perfect scores (58) in the 2020 Democracy Scorecard. Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn cited the legislative filibuster as the roadblock to pro-democracy reform.  "In the end, with high levels of support in Congress and an overwhelming outpouring of public support, Congress ran into one of the reasons our democracy needs to be modernized: the filibuster," she wrote in the report.

Voting & Elections 09.6.2022

Common Cause Scorecard Charts Lawmaker Support for Pro-Democracy Bills in 117th Congress in Wake of January 6th

As the January 6th Select Committee is reportedly set to hold more hearings this month, and less than two years since January 6th, Common Cause is releasing its 2022 Democracy Scorecard, which tracks the positions of every Member of Congress on issues vital to the health of our democracy during the 117th Congress. Throughout this Congress, members of the House and Senate were notified that various votes on key democracy issues – including many related to January 6th and its aftermath - would be counted in the Scorecard, which will be distributed to our 1.5 million members, as well as to state and national media.  

Money & Influence 08.10.2022

The Oregonian (Op-Ed): The leadership that money can’t buy

Our communities face urgent issues. Across Oregon, we struggle with the disparate impacts of an ongoing pandemic, wildfire displacement, economic hardship, racism and more. We desperately need elected leaders who understand these struggles firsthand – those who come from impacted communities themselves and who share our lived experiences. But who can afford to run for office? And if elected, who can afford to serve in office?

Money & Influence 06.28.2022

Washington Post: Baker paused his bid, rivals sought his endorsement. Why hasn’t it come?

Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said Baker also faces another dilemma: If he withdraws, he would be required to return the matching funds he received. So far, he has received nearly $1 million from the state. Baker wants more officers hired to ‘stop the slaughter’ in Baltimore “That may be why he chose to suspend without shutting it down, because he would need to return that money,” said Antoine, whose group is a proponent of the state’s public financing program and has worked on legislation to strengthen it. Antoine said Baker ending his campaign and possibly endorsing another could be seen as a candidate being “given money and indirectly using their visibility and support to help someone who is not in the program. … I do think it’s unclear as it relates to endorsements and we urge against it.”

Voting & Elections 05.4.2022

Washingtonian: Washington DC’s 500 Most Influential People

Aaron Scherb Common Cause Director, Legislative Affairs: Scherb co-led an umbrella advocacy group made up of 240 organizations to push for passage of the For the People Act, a comprehensive voting-rights package that Republicans opposed.

Money & Influence 03.15.2022

Business Insider: How more than $407 million in taxpayer money got locked away in a forgotten government fund — and lawmakers won't spend it or return it

The For the People Act "represents the boldest democracy reform since Watergate, and any funds currently available for the old system should be used for the new system of federal citizen-funded elections, which must pass so we can get big money out of politics," Beth Rotman, the director of money in politics and ethics for Common Cause, said prior to the bill's stall-out.

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