Democracy Reforms Are Advancing, Even In the Trump Era

Even as partisan knives get sharper in Washington and the White House and the majority party in Congress continue their offensive against sensible controls on big money in politics, campaign finance reformers are making important progress in states coast-to-coast, Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn asserted today.

In a forum at the Washington, D.C. offices of the Brookings Institution, Hobert Flynn noted that as President Trump scored an unexpected victory in last November’s election, 14 critical democracy reform measures were winning voter approval at the state level.

The victories included redistricting reform measures, automatic voter registration, small dollar donor-based campaign finance systems, limits on campaign contributions and others, Hobert Flynn said. “And many of these measures move with Republican and Democratic support.”

Other speakers included Norm Eisen and Richard Painter, who served as ethics advisers to former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, respectively, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM; and U.S. Rep. David Price, D-NC.