CommonBlog

Today, Common Cause Minnesota field two major complaints against the American Legislative Exchange Council’s activities in Minnesota. The first complaint was filed with the Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson and alleges that ALEC has engaged in false and deceptive practices. The second complaint was filed with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board alleging [...]

Major corporations – Coca-Cola, Kraft, PepsiCo, Intuit – cut ties with controversial group As major corporations cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Common Cause Minnesota today is calling on Minnesota corporations and legislators to do the same and terminate their memberships with the controversial group. In recent days, six corporate giants — [...]

Corporations funded effort to pass Shoot first/Castle Doctrine bill in Minnesota As protests occur in Washington DC, Minnesota, and other places around the country around the “justifiable homicide” of Trayvon Martin, new information is coming to light about how this legislation spread from Florida to Minnesota. According to documents reviewed by Common Cause Minnesota, the [...]

Report finds that Minnesota ethics laws lack teeth; Awards D+ The State Integrity Investigation project released a national report evaluating “transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in all 50 states.” The report awarded Minnesota a D+ for failing to keep pace with reform laws that have been implemented around the country. The report gave Illinois and [...]

Common Cause Minnesota is calling on Senator Chris Gerlach (R – 37) to publically disclose the client list for his direct mail firm, Capitol Direct. On Friday, it was reported that a direct mail firm that Sen. Gerlach owns was paid to develop and distribute mailings to lobby Minnesota state senators in support of a [...]