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Common Dreams: 'Political Deepfake Moment Is Here': NH Robocall Sounds Like Biden

Also on Monday, Public Citizen and Common Cause submitted petitions urging state election officials in Alabama, Louisiana, and Wisconsin to regulate deepfakes in political campaign communications. "AI deepfakes represent a very clear and present danger to our democracy," said Ishan Mehta, director of Common Cause's media and democracy program. "The opportunity for deceiving and misleading voters has never been so acute as it is today with the vast improvements in fake computer-generated images and voices." "And ultimately if voters later realize that they have been duped by false and misleading—yet very convincing—campaign ads, they are going to lose even more confidence in the value of elections," Mehta warned.

Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer: $15k on tickets. $2k/month on meals. Inside a Cleveland-area House rep’s campaign spending

Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, which advocates for better government ethics laws and transparency in campaign finance, reviewed Patton’s audits. She said the most obvious aggrieved party to questionable campaign spending would be the donors. But in a less-direct way, she said problems arise in a representative democracy when public officials can enrich themselves in the process via interested donors. “Campaign cash is not a slush fund,” she said. “It is intended to be spent to get yourself elected.” Moreover, she questioned why five audits spanning two secretaries of state (some occurred under now-Lt. Gov. Jon Husted). She said they seem to have caught on to something wrong 10 years ago but declined to take any action on a troubling pattern. “It doesn’t look like they truly took the next step to do a little more digging,” she said. “You shouldn’t leave an audit with more questions than you started. And how would they not have more questions.”

Money & Influence 01.12.2024

Texas Tribune/San Antonio Express-News: Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi backed a group with white supremacist ties — while working for its billionaire funder

Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of the watchdog group Common Cause Texas, said Rinaldi’s legal representation of Wilks was “shocking,” especially in light of the ongoing scandals involving Defend Texas Liberty that Rinaldi has been involved in. “We all know money equals power in Texas politics and billionaires like the Wilks use their wealth liberally to bend public policy to their liking all the time,” he said. “But it's still pretty shocking.”

Money & Influence 01.10.2024

Raw Story: Revealed: Donors foot the bill for Marjorie Taylor Greene's election law violation

“If I was one of her donors, I wouldn’t want my donations to be paying fines for when she did something wrong,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, a nonprofit watchdog organization that filed an initial FEC complaint against Greene. “There’s a little bit of an optics issue.”

Money & Influence 01.5.2024

The Daily Beast: Marjorie Taylor Greene Hit With Federal Fine for Illegal Fundraising

Common Cause, a D.C. watchdog group that, according to its website, works to “ensure that every vote counts, that every eligible voter has an equal say, that our elections represent the will of the people, and that our government is of, by, and for the people,” filed a complaint in May 2021, alleging that Greene violated the “soft money” ban in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971 for “soliciting unlimited contributions.” The group declared that under federal campaign finance law, federal candidates and officeholders are not allowed to “solicit… funds in connection with an election for Federal office… unless the funds are subject to the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting requirements” of the FECA. They added that Greene was only permitted to request on behalf of the super PAC up to $5,000 from an individual donor, and no corporate or union funds.

Money & Influence 12.31.2023

Honolulu Civil Beat: Dark Clouds And A Little Sunshine: Here’s The Forecast For Legislative Reform in ’24

“We’re going guns blazing for (public) campaign financing,” said Camron Hurt, program director for Common Cause Hawaii, calling it the organization’s top legislative priority. Common Cause won’t be alone. The State Campaign Spending Commission also plans to seek expansion of public financing of campaigns.

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