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Money & Influence 04.26.2021

USA Today: Supreme Court to debate whether nonprofits must reveal donors despite threat of violence

"Even though they're saying the case had nothing to do with elections and is not about public transparency, if there's a bad ruling here it could be leveraged to expand these exemptions from transparency in election spending," said Beth Rotman, national director of money in politics and ethics at Common Cause. "If you're going to expand those exemptions so broadly, then you're going to really take away a lot of the transparency that we have in political disclosure laws." 

New York Times: Voting Rights Standoff Stalls Trump-Inspired Ethics Measures

“It’s critically important that the For the People Act remain big, bold and together,” said Aaron Scherb, the director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, one of several groups working with Democrats on the bill, adding, “People don’t want piecemeal solutions to comprehensive problems.”

Money & Influence 04.23.2021

Missouri Independent/Kansas City Star: Medical marijuana firms awarded licenses by Missouri are raising money for Gov. Parson

“When someone sees industry leaders are able to, not even have a seat at the table but actually pay for the table, that doesn’t speak well for how policy decisions are going to be made,” said Beth Rotman, director of money in politics and ethics for Common Cause.  Pointing to next week’s fundraiser for Parson, Rotman said things don’t have to be illegal or corrupt in order to be problematic. “In many instances it’s clear,” she said, “to get the face time, to get the phone call returned, to get the one-on-one conversation, it requires these campaign contributions.”

Money & Influence 04.13.2021

New York Times: Wall Street Is Donating to This D.A. Candidate. Is That a Problem?

“It’s very difficult to see how a Manhattan D.A. candidate can accept really large and numerous donations from people who are involved in industries who could easily be the subject of that office’s attention,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a government reform group.

Money & Influence 04.12.2021

Associated Press: Wake County won't pursue criminal complaint of Louis DeJoy

The review was prompted by a complaint filed by advocacy group Common Cause NC with the State Board of Elections. “We filed our complaint with the State Board of Elections in light of a fundraising scheme allegedly perpetrated by Mr. DeJoy that has the appearance of illicitly bypassing North Carolina’s campaign finance limits,” Bob Phillips of Common Cause said in an email statement Monday. “We have full confidence that the State Board of Elections will conduct a thorough investigation into these serious allegations against Mr. DeJoy, and we look forward to learning the results of that investigation when it is concluded,” the statement said.

Money & Influence 04.9.2021

The Fulcrum (Op-Ed): Are health care and a living wage too much for congressional candidates to ask?

When working-class Americans embrace the possibilities born of democracy, it often highlights that our government of, by and for the people is a work in progress. This is certainly the case when it comes to empowering working-class Americans to compete for a congressional seat. Just ask Nabilah Islam. Islam ran for Congress in Georgia last year without a living wage or medical insurance.

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