News Clips

Julia Vaughn, the policy director for the political watchdog group Common Cause Indiana, has routinely criticized Indiana law on matters concerning lawmakers’ conflict of interest for its vagueness and because it allows individual lawmakers to determine their need for an ethics hearing. "Ultimately I think Sen. Perfect's constituents should be able to decide if this is outside the boundaries, or if it's not," she said, arguing transparency is the most important aspect of the process.

Aaron Scherb, the legislative affairs director at the nonprofit government watchdog Common Cause, said a comprehensive review of the program is long overdue especially in light of the Trump administration's decision to pull American troops out of countries like Afghanistan and Syria. "I think a GAO audit on the effectiveness of the program as well as a potential Department of Defense inspector general report would go a long way to determine how necessary and useful this program is, as the U.S. military continues to draw down in certain countries and regions around the world," Scherb said.

These heady times at the Capitol have some of New York’s liberals pinching themselves. Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a reform group, said she was recovering from shock after watching Democrats in the first hours of the new legislative session enact voting reforms that had been stymied for years. “It’s whiplash,” Ms. Lerner said. “Is there more to do? Yes. But today, we’re celebrating.”

House watchers suggest that the 116th Congress might also have a chance at denting public corruption. House Resolution 1, the first bill introduced this year, is a sweeping proposal aimed at money in politics, voting reforms and ethics. Those issues have broad bipartisan support in many states and localities, according to Aaron Scherb, legislative affairs director at government watchdog Common Cause. “I think a lot of the reforms at the national level will help advance the ball for when there is a more favorable political climate after 2020,” he says. 

“When lawmakers draw their own lines, they lose all of their philosophical ideals and they become ugly monsters that are willing to cut out competitors, punish people from the other party and try to draw the most protective district for themselves so they don’t have to face serious competition for the next 10 years,” said Kathay Feng, national redistricting director at the good government group Common Cause, which championed the creation of California’s commission.

"It's really an apples and oranges comparison," added Paul Ryan, the top lawyer at Common Cause, a watchdog group. Common Causes' January complaint with the Federal Election Commission prompted Cohen to publicly admit making a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. "We are not talking about minor, technical violations," Ryan said of the allegations against Cohen. "The Obama civil penalty was consistent with the types of fines that most big campaigns end up paying after an election for reporting errors," he added.