Jack Mumby Posts

Congress has a serious PR problem, and it’s not difficult to understand why—lawmakers are increasingly serving themselves at the expense of the people who elected them. Worse yet, an apathetic public, millions in secret corporate campaign cash, and weak oversight gives our representatives little incentive to clean up their act.
Earlier this year,

Our lawsuit against filibuster abuse is finally getting its day in court, when the District Court in DC holds a hearing to decide whether minority rule can stand in our nation’s Senate.
Common Cause filed suit against the Senate in May to focus attention on the way t...

You’d think a public official whose job is to supervise free and fair elections would be focused on ensuring that every eligible voter has a meaningful chance to vote and that every vote is counted as cast. Sadly, in Ohio, you’d be wrong.

Jon Husted, Ohio’s secretary of state, is making it his business to gum up the machinery of democracy in the Buckeye state. He’s been fighting for months to limit access to early voting, which helps tens of thousands of Ohioans with disabilities, or jobs that keep them busy during normal voting hours, participate in elections.

A federal appeals court gave Montanans a welcome respite from a last minute decision throwing out the state’s longstanding campaign contribution limits and opening the floodgates for millions in outside cash to flow into Montana’s elections. Reformers in the state are now turning their efforts towards I-166, a ballot initiative affirming that corporations aren’t people and money isn’t speech, and instructing the Montana legislature to support...

Last Friday, an Ohio appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision to strike down a law that would have severely curtailed early voting rights. Now, unless the state appeals the decision to a higher court, precincts that implement early voting will have to expand that right to every eligible voter.

Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland has opened a civil rights investigation into True The Vote, a group that has been training people to challenge voters en masse.  Many of these challenges have been based on faulty & unreliable information and plans to send a million volunteers to the polls as “pollwatchers” on Election Day.

Common Cause has been shining a spotlight on voter vigilante groups’ plans to systematically challenge voters based on unreliable data, purging eligible voters before Election Day and intimidating people at the ballot box on November 6.
These groups have been holding training summits across the country, and

The “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge” (STOCK) Act’s passage last April was a huge victory for transparency. The new disclosure requirements make it a lot more difficult for lawmakers to make use the privileged insider information they receive as members of Congress to build their stock portfolios.
As Center for Responsive Politics...

Written by Scott Bomboy
A Pennsylvania commonwealth judge has issued a partial injunction on Tuesday that will likely block voter ID laws from the state’s November election. But the issue is far from over.
To be sure, the state’s Voter ID law isn’t dead, and a higher court could overturn the ruling. And there was no ruling on the constitutionality of the law.

Common Cause has been warning voters about efforts of groups that are seeking to systematically challenge voters based on unreliable data, purge eligible voters before Election Day, and intimidate people in person on November 6. Groups like True The Vote plan to place 1 million poll watchers around the country, which could mire the electoral process in gridlock.
In our recent report “Bullies At Th...

Common Cause and its partners have been at the forefront of efforts to expose the American Legislative Exchange Council’s dirty backroom dealings. ALEC had been bringing state lawmakers and corporate executives together under the guise of charity for almost 40 years, and they were getting away with it until Common Cause and allies blew the whistle.
In Wisconsin,

As the election campaign kicks into full gear this October and “independent expenditure” ads paid for by SuperPACs flood the airwaves, candidates across the country are frantically trying to distinguish themselves from their opponents in voters’ eyes.
New survey results from Public Campaign Action Fund and Democracy Corps shed s...

President Obama and Mitt Romney are scheduled to butt heads in person for the first time next Wednesday for the first presidential debate. Given that this first debate will focus on domestic issues, moderator Jim Lehrer has asked the American people to suggest questions for the debate.
One issue that hasn’t gotten nearly the attention it deserves this election season is the role of special interest money in politics. The Citizens United decision has led to an explosion of superPAC ...

Most Americans haven’t heard of the secretive American Legislative Exchange Council, but we have a right and a responsibility to know what they’re up to. After all, they’re writing laws in all 50 states, everything from rolling back environmental regulations to gutting workers’ rights.

This might shock you; after all, don’t we elect legislators to write our laws? As it turns out, many of these same elected lawmakers are members of ALEC, which means that they’re colluding with huge corporations behind closed doors, rewriting laws that restrict your rights and make your community less safe.

The legislators elected by voters are working with business moguls to draft corporate-friendly “model legislation” then bring it back to their statehouses and push it through. These cookie-cutter bills have been written start-to-finish by people we never got a chance to vote for, but now they’re the law of the land.

Membership in ALEC comes cheap for legislators, but corporations like AT&T, ExxonMobil, and Pfizer are paying big bucks for access to our lawmakers. While public pressure has led some companies, like Walmart, Kraft, and Coca-Cola to cut ties with ALEC, others still see trading cash for influence as too good a deal to pass up.

As if this weren’t bad enough, ALEC and all its dirty work is being subsidized by us, the American taxpayers. Even though influencing legislators and promoting legislation on behalf of special interests is the very definition of lobbying, ALEC insists that its sole purpose is to promote “social welfare,” classifying itself as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.

Fortunately, a new documentary from Bill Moyers blows the lid off ALEC and exposes their backroom dealings for what they are. Entitled “THE UNITED STATES OF ALEC,” you can see it this Friday on your local PBS affiliate (find the schedule in your area). You can also sign up to host a viewing party at your house or RSVP to attend a viewing near you.

As Moyers says, ALEC wants to change America, one state house at a time. The only way we can stop them is by bringing them out in the open.

Voters in New Hampshire, like millions across the nation, have been struggling with laws that, under the guise of fighting fraud, place roadblocks to voting that disenfranchise large swaths of the population. Just last year, HB 176, which would have changed state law to prevent students from voting in the towns they attend school in was narrowly defeated in the legislature.

A court ruling yesterday, however, has struck a decisive blow to the voter suppression crowd, throwing out a new law pushed by the same shady characters behind HB 176. Up until recently, anybody registering to vote in New Hampshire had to sign this statement:

“In declaring New Hampshire as my domicile, I am subject to the laws of the state of New Hampshire which apply to all residents, including laws requiring a driver to register a motor vehicle and apply for a New Hampshire’s driver’s license within 60 days of becoming a resident.”

New Hampshire’s Governor, John Lynch, argued that this language conflates maintaining a “domicile” and being a “resident,” both of which bring different obligations and privileges. This confusion could discourage otherwise eligible voters, especially students, from voting in the upcoming election.

Concerned that the law would not adequately protect voting rights, Lynch vetoed the bill, but his veto was overruled by the state legislature. In response, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union and four New Hampshire students who intended to vote in the 2012 election sued the state, with the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups supporting their case.

Yesterday afternoon, Judge John Lewis asked the Secretary of State to issue new registration forms that struck the confusing language, and ordered local officials to switch to the updated forms. Predictably, the Governor’s office praised the decision while Republican House Speaker Bill O’Brien, who helped push this law as well as HB 176, denounced the ruling as “judicial activism.”

The only activism here, of course, is coming from O’Brien and his colleagues, who have decided to use their legislative power to make it harder and harder for people they disagree with to vote. O’Brien’s own words make it hard to see his actions as anything but partisan- while stumping for HB 176, he disdainfully described college students who vote as “basically doing what I did when I was a kid and foolish, voting as a liberal”

Regardless, this is a resounding victory for voting rights in New Hampshire, and a well-timed one at that, given that today is National Voter Registration Day. We would all do well to take cues from New Hampshire as we work nationwide to distinguish genuine reforms from the sort of shameless partisan manipulations that NHCLU, LWV, and Judge Lewis have fought to overcome.

If democracy of, by, and for the people is important to you, you know that free and fair elections are necessary to give everyone a voice. The struggle to ensure every American is heard has led to some of the defining moments of our history, but to quote Martin Luther King Jr. “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

The civil rights and women’s suffrage movement lifted many overt legal barriers to voting, and Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign engaged new segments of the population in our political process, but that’s no reason to believe we’ve reached the end of the arc just yet.

Let’s start with the numbers: Voter registration problems in 2008 meant more than 3 million people who showed up to vote weren’t able to cast ballots. A 2009 GAO study found that most polling places still have significant impediments that could prevent voters with disabilities from casting their vote. On top of all this, 51 million Americans who are eligible to vote are unregistered, that’s one in four.

This is a huge black eye for our democratic legitimacy- fortunately, we can count on our elected officials to take swift and decisive action to expand voting rights, right? Wrong. In fact, over the past four years, state legislatures have been ending same-day voter registration and shortening or removing early voting periods while they look the other way on voter intimidation and ballot bullies.

At a time when many Americans are already having a hard time voting, state and federal lawmakers have decided that the most prudent response is to make it even harder. It makes sense though, I’m sure no Senator has ever been scared away by dishonest ballot bullies, and Congresspeople get so many days off that spending a day at the DMV to register is hardly any skin off their teeth.

What about the rest of us? Don’t we all deserve a democracy that actively encourages citizen participation? Shouldn’t everyone’s voice be valued equally and fairly? Enter the Voter Empowerment Act.

Sponsored by Reps. John Lewis of Georgia and Steny Hoyer of Maryland, this omnibus bill includes a whole swath of changes to our election system focused on making it easier and not harder for eligible citizens to vote, while fighting fraud proactively, not reactively.

The Act would institute online voter registration, which many states have already successfully experimented with, across the nation. It would also give our election system the long-needed modernizations and simplifications that states and other democracies have already implemented.

Voter empowerment also means putting a stop to ballot bully groups like True The Vote, by making some of their most abusive tactics, like voter caging, illegal, and by enacting federal laws that prohibit politically motivated voter intimidation. The Voter Empowerment Act does all of this.

It also sets up a nationwide hotline to report voter irregularities and sets higher standards for voting machine audits. It also ensures there are no repeats of what happened to Ohio in 2004, with lines stretched around the block at understaffed and overcapacity polling places by expanding poll worker programs and re-establishing the Election Assistance Committee.

There are so many more great things in the Voter Empowerment Act that it would take hours to list them all. Controversial voter ID aren’t included in the measure, in hopes that this important bill can gain the bipartisan support it needs to pass through Congress in time for the election. After all, time is of the essence- if this Act is made law, it will repair so much of the damage that’s been done to our democracy the last two or three years.

Click here to find out your Representatives and let them know you want voter empowerment now, and click here to read the full Act!

Common Cause NY released a report today that exposes just how much money casino, racino, and other gambling interests have spent on politics over the past decade. The report, entitled “Stacking The Deck: The Gambling Industry’s Political Spending In New York State,” details the big bets that casino owners have made on elected officials, and how those bets have paid off.

In New York State alone, the gambling industry has spent over $50 million on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past seven years. This is much more than what larger and more critical sectors of the economy, such as the energy or telecommunications industry, spend on politics.

Written by Bill Wahrer

Common Cause’s own Bob Edgar recently wrote an insightful article in NONPROFIT QUARTERLY, examining the influx of big money in campaigns and  the rising public unrest with the fact that these big donors get to stay anonymous.

As Mr. Edgar rightfully points out, it is hard to conceive of someone who would donate millions of dollars to a candidate without expecting something in return. That means the public has a right to know who is trying to influence their elected officials.

We’ve already made it loud and clear what we want- 88% of Americans think that all campaign contributions and spending should be publicly disclosed. So why don’t we have transparency yet?

Unfortunately Congress is siding with big money against the public. That’s why organizations like the Common Cause have gotten the issue of money in politics on the ballot in states like Montana and Colorado, calling for an Constitutional amendment that would limit political spending.

Mr. Edgar remains hopeful that these initiatives will provide an opportunity to bring much needed reform in favor of the public.He also discusses the issue of whether nonprofit political spending groups will cast a shadow on the entire nonprofit community. The vast majority of 501(c)(4) groups are earnestly dedicated to social welfare, but as ProPublica reports, groups like Crossroads GPS abuse their nonprofit status to funnel anonymous tax-deductible donations to their chosen candidates.

Scholars disagree on what effect the rise of political (c)(4)s  will have on ordinary nonprofits, but most agree that the increased exposure of political (c)(4)s could open the door for all nonprofits being asked to disclose their donors.

As Dr. Leslie Lenkowsky, Professor of Public Affairs and Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University, says one possible solution “might [be] to let (c)(4) groups keep their donors private but limit their political activity in the weeks or months leading up to an election.”

No matter the circumstances, Mr. Edgar reiterates that the Common Cause remains committed to giving all citizens a voice and making our officials accountable.

To read the whole article click here.

Bill Wahrer is a student at the College of the Holy Cross. He is a double major in Political Science and Psychology, with a particular interest in political psychology. At school, Bill is part of the law journal and is also a member of the College Democrats. Bill is currently working as an intern with the Common Cause’s national office.

Commemorating the one year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement this past Monday, activists and community organizers re-occupied NYC’s Zucotti Park for the first time since the encampment was cleared by NYPD last November. With a message of  populism and egalitarianism, the folks who make up the Occupy Movement hope to shift the national dialogue towards how to best redress political, social, and economic inequality in the United States.

Occupy certainly accomplished that goal last year, but these issues need to be addressed over the long term, so Occupy’s organizers are making a renewed call to action this autumn. People are  returning to the public square to be heard, and solidarity events are being organized cities across the country, but in a news cycle dominated by the presidential horse race, foreign policy, and a lagging economy, is there anything Occupy has to say that’s worth looking at? Demos thinks so:

The protesters seeking to “occupy” the financial district in New York and other cities have been widely depicted in the media as having no coherent rationale for their protests. In fact, though, these protesters have chosen the right target: a set of institutions and actors who not only played a central role in creating the financial crisis, but have worked to foster a more unequal U.S. economy and democracy over recent decades – with the effect of undermining America’s middle class

The origins of the financial crisis and efforts to reform Wall Street have been overshadowed in the past year by other issues, particularly the jobs crisis and the push to reduce budget deficits. But the ongoing protests offer a good occasion to step back and consider the broad ways in which the financial industry – and thefinancialization of the U.S. economy – have worked at odds with the interests of ordinary Americans and broad, sustained economic growth in the real economy.

According to Demos, if you’re looking for a symbol of how our most powerful institutions have failed the average American, you couldn’t find a better target than Wall Street. Shining a light on the close relationships between big money and our democratic institutions is a necessary first step in cleaning up our government.