News Clips

The Civil Beat Editorial Board spoke on Tuesday with the program director of Common Cause Hawaii. Camron Hurt said the organization under his leadership will focus on elections, voting access, government transparency and campaign finance reform. Hurt began by explaining what Common Cause does.

However, Stephen Spaulding, vice president for policy at the group Common Cause, said this would put even more pressure on the health of democracy in current political environment. "This opens up a significant risk to the perception that the winners and losers of an election are not determined by voters, but by those who stand to gain financially," he said. Common Cause has sent a filing to the commission, asking that it reject the proposal. Leadership with the House Task Force on Strengthening Democracy issued a similar request. Rep. Marc Pocan, D-Wis., is on the task force but declined comment.

"I'm shocked every time I see how much money is being spent," said Joanne Antoine, executive director of Common Cause Maryland. The nonprofit group does its own lobbying for "good government" bills, like those that expand ethics laws or transparency around money in politics. Antoine said the disclosures can help the public "connect the dots" on how both major institutions and grassroots advocates affect legislation. "Unfortunately, this is where they have the advantage over organizations like ours," Antoine said. "They do have a lot more influence and a lot more access than we do, and it's because of the amount of money they have."

Adding partisan labels “encourages the candidates and voters to think about these justices as partisan actors,” said Common Cause Ohio’s Catherine Turcer. “And that's a real problem when it comes to wanting an independent, impartial judiciary.”

Common Cause interim co-president Marilyn Carpinteyro on Tuesday sent a letter to all members of Congress on behalf of her group and its more than 1.5 million members and supporters "in strong support of the Freedom to Vote Act and in strong opposition to the 'American Confidence in Elections' (ACE) Act," which was introduced by House Republicans earlier this month. "The ACE Act is a giant step backward and would silence the voices of everyday Americans by putting up barriers to voting and by allowing millions of dollars more in secret money to infiltrate our political system," Carpinteyro wrote. "To strengthen free and fair elections and help get big, secret money out of politics, Congress must instead pass the Freedom to Vote Act."

“There’s a clear contrast here between the two visions for what each party views for going forward with American democracy,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, a nonpartisan nonprofit. “One party wants to make it harder for Americans to vote and wants there to be more big money in politics, and the other party wants to make sure that all eligible Americans can vote and wants to make sure big money does not dominate politics.”