Take Action

Get Common Cause Updates

Get breaking news and updates from Common Cause.

Take Action

Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy.

Volunteer

Join the thousands across the country who instantly rally when there is a threat to our democracy.

Donate

Make a contribution to support Common Cause today.

Find Your State

Congressional Ethics

  • Filter by Issue

  • Filter by Campaign

Bergen Record/NorthJersey.com: If he doesn't resign, could indicted Bob Menendez be expelled from the Senate?

Impeachment has generally been held for civil officers and members of the judiciary and the executive branch, said Stephen Spaulding, vice president at Common Cause, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group.  “Anything can move quickly in the Senate if senators want to,” Spaulding said.  The punishment granted in Article I, Section 5, of the Constitution has been rare: The Senate has expelled 15 members since 1789, and the 14 cases other than Blount's occurred during the Civil War for support of the Confederacy.  “It’s a high bar,” Spaulding said. 

Money & Influence 09.13.2023

Associated Press: Santos misses extended deadline to file financial disclosure, blames fear of a ‘rushed job’

Stephen Spaulding, the vice president of policy at Common Cause, a watchdog group, described Santos’ reasoning as “nonsensical,” noting there was no reason that his federal tax obligations should prevent him from filing the necessary disclosure. “He is thumbing his nose at transparency requirements, his constituents and the public,” Spaulding said. “All the more reason to strengthen these penalties.” While it is not uncommon for representatives to file their disclosures late, few of them blow past the extended deadlines, according to Spaulding. “Everyone else seems to know how to comply with this,” he said. “It’s not onerous.”

Raw Story: Sold! Wealthy N.Y. congressman dumps up to $37.1 million in stocks and bonds amid pressure to divest

“When elected officials are trading stocks at a time when they’re supposed to be overseeing companies, we need to make sure that the public has the faith and confidence that elected officials are doing the bidding of the public interest and not trying to line their pockets and do what’s in their private interest,” Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, a nonpartisan government reform organization, said at the time.

Raw Story: ‘Aren’t we a little more grown up than that?’: Ex-lawmaker rips Congress for ‘dog ate my homework’ excuses

To date, those consequences are “essentially a slap on the wrist,” Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at nonprofit government watchdog Common Cause, told Raw Story earlier this month.

McClatchy: Comer places FBI Director in contempt crosshairs over Biden informant document

“The former President’s own Attorney General William Barr already declined to pursue this investigation several years ago,” said Aaron Scherb, the senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause. “FBI Director Christopher Wray is a lifelong Republican and member of the Federalist Society. This committee vote to hold him in contempt is yet another example of congressional Republicans trying to weaponize the federal government when they disagree with the outcome.”

CBS: Rep. George Santos pleads not guilty to 13 federal charges including using campaign donations for personal expenses, including designer clothes and cash

"Mr. Santos' breathtaking scope of lies has left his constituents -- and all New Yorkers -- gasping for air and calling for accountability. Now that the Eastern District of New York has appropriately indicted him, Mr. Santos should resign. It's been clear for a long time that the voters have been defrauded, and Mr. Santos' seat in Congress is tantamount to an ill gotten gain: he should not be allowed to profit from the fruits of his deception. Voters deserve a representative who doesn't lie and deceive their way into power, and unfortunately they have waited too long for Mr. Santos to do the right thing and resign," Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY said.

Join the movement over 1.5 million strong for democracy

Demand a democracy that works for us. Sign up for breaking news and updates.