Note: this advisory reflects new speakers added to the conference, John Aloysius Farrell, longtime journalist and author currently working on a biography of President Nixon; Al Hunt, executive Washington editor for Bloomberg News and political talk show host and analyst; Brooks Jackson, longtime Washington journalist, founder, FactCheck.org, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, ranking member, House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, John Nichols, Washington correspondent, The Nation.

Anlässlich des 40. Jahrestags der Watergate-Affäre beruft Common Cause eine zweitägige Konferenz im National Press Club ein

Watergate-Persönlichkeiten, Politikexperten, Reformer und Journalisten untersuchen die Lehren aus der Situation und ihre heutige Bedeutung

Forty years after the Watergate scandal exposed the corrupting power of secret money and tested America’s commitment to the rule of law, Common Cause is convening a two-day conference in March to examine Watergate’s lessons and their relevance to 21stcentury American politics.

An der Konferenz „Lessons of Watergate“ vom 13. bis 14. März nehmen wichtige Persönlichkeiten der Watergate-Ära, Politiker, Journalisten und Befürworter politischer Reformen teil. Es werden Gruppendiskussionen und Breakout-Sitzungen abgehalten, die sich mit der Frage beschäftigen, wie wir mithilfe unserer Vergangenheit die heutigen Herausforderungen meistern können. Alle Sitzungen finden im National Press Club statt.

Zu den Hauptrednern gehören:

– William S. Cohen, ehemaliger US-Senator und Verteidigungsminister unter Präsident Bill Clinton. Als Mitglied des Justizausschusses des Repräsentantenhauses gehörte der damalige Abgeordnete Cohen einer Gruppe gemäßigter Republikaner an, die sich über Parteigrenzen hinwegsetzten und bei der Ausarbeitung von Anklagepunkten für ein Amtsenthebungsverfahren gegen Präsident Nixon halfen.

– Elizabeth Holtzman, eine ehemalige Staatsanwältin und demokratisches Mitglied des Justizausschusses, erwies sich während der Anhörungen zum Amtsenthebungsverfahren als eine der am besten vorbereiteten und unermüdlichsten Ermittlerinnen des Gremiums.

– Daniel Ellsberg, the courageous military analyst who helped writeThe Pentagon Papers, a Defense Department study that concluded the Vietnam War was unwinnable, and ultimately leaked it to The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers. The leak sparked the Nixon administration to create a “plumbers” unit that later carried out the Watergate break-in.

– Russ Feingold, ehemaliger US-Senator, der gemeinsam mit Senator John McCain den Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act von 2002 verfasste, das letzte große Gesetz zur Wahlkampffinanzierung nach der Watergate-Affäre.

– Robert Reich, Vorsitzender des nationalen Verwaltungsrats von Common Cause und Arbeitsminister unter Präsident Clinton.

Other confirmed Watergate-related speakers include Jill Wine-Banks, prosecutor during Watergate hearings who questioned secretary Rose Mary Woods about 18- minute gap in Nixon tapes; Terry Lenzner, staff member on the investigating Senate Watergate Committee;Timothy Naftali, historian and former director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; Richard Ben-Veniste, Watergate special prosecutor; George Frampton, Watergate special prosecutor and co-author with Mr. Ben-Veniste of Stonewall: The Real Story of the Watergate Prosecution; Francis O’Brien, chief of staff to Rep. Peter Rodino, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974; Scott Armstrong, who served on the staff of the Senate Watergate Committee and founded the National Security Archives.

Additional confirmed speakers include Barbara Arnwine, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Marge Baker, executive vice president for policy and program at People For the American Way; Danielle Brian, executive director of Project On Government Oversight; Eliza Newlin Carney, staff writer covering lobbying and influence at CQ Roll Call; DavidCohen, senior congressional fellow at the Council for a Livable World and past president of Common Cause; Larry Cohen, president of Communications Workers of America; Michael J. Copps, former member of the Federal Communications Commission and now senior advisor to Common Cause’s Media and Democracy Reform Initiative; Bob Edgar, president and CEO of Common Cause; Stuart Eizenstat, chief domestic policy adviser in the Carter administration; Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch; John Aloysius Farrell, longtime investigative journalist, working on biography of Richard Nixon; Matea Gold, staff writer covering money and politics forThe Los Angeles Times; Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; MortHalperin, senior advisor to the Open Society Institute, expert on civil liberties and foreign policy and who served in the Nixon Administration; Al Hunt, executive Washington editor for Bloomberg News; Brooks Jackson, longtime Washington journalist, founder, FactCheck.org; Ben Jealous, president and CEO of NAACP; Celinda Lake, pollster and political strategist; Chuck Lewis, professor and executive editor, Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, founder, Center for Public Integrity; Rep. Jerrold Nadler, ranking member, House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution;John Nichols, Washington correspondent, The Nation; Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign; Spencer Overton, law professor at George Washington University, served as principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Policy in the Department of Justice;Trevor Potter, founder and general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center; Alicia Shepard, author, journalist and expert on the work and lives of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein; Frederick A.O “Fritz” Schwarz Jr., chief counsel of the Brennan Center for Justice; Don Simon, campaign finance and election law attorney; Amanda Terkel, senior political reporter and politics managing editor at The Huffington Post; Jonathan Turley, writer, commentator, legal analyst and George Washington University Law School professor; Fred Wertheimer, founder and president of Democracy 21, nationally recognized expert onmoney in politics issues; Michael Winship, senior writer of Moyers & Company on public television, senior writing fellow at the policy and advocacy group Demos, and president of the Writers Guild of America, East.

Diese Liste wird in zukünftigen Hinweisen aktualisiert. Weitere Informationen sind hier auf der Website von Common Cause verfügbar.

Zum Programm gehört auch ein Empfang am Abend des 13. März zu Ehren derjenigen, die den Mut hatten, der Macht die Wahrheit zu sagen.

All sessions of “The Lessons of Watergate” conference are open to print, broadcast and online coverage. Seating is limited however and advance registration is required. Click on the “Register Today!” button and fill-out the conference registration form.