North Carolina Senate passes public financing bill - In early August, the North Carolina State Senate follow the House's lead and passed a public financing bill that the Governor is expected to sign. The bill expands the states' voluntary public campaign financing program, which already included judicial races. In 2008, candidates for state auditor, state insurance commissioner and state superintendent of public construction will have the option of qualifying for full public financing for their campaigns. Common Cause played a leading role in the bill's passage, which should continue to limit the undue influence of big money in North Carolina politics. Congratulations and nice work to Bob Phillips and CC-NC!

Pennsylvania Common Cause leads fight for budget deadlines and fines - This year, for the fifth straight year, the Pennsylvania state budget was late.  Because of the tardiness, some state parks and non-essential government offices were closed for one day.  Common Cause/PA criticized the lawmakers and proposed strict deadlines and $100-per-day fines for lawmakers who miss these deadlines, a proposal modeled after a similar 1991 Common Cause proposal, which came after a state employees worked without pay for a month.

Common Cause Georgia reports on serial tardiness in filing campaign disclosure reports - Common Cause Georgia's work on Money Watch provided much of the background for James Salzer's front-page article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on August 10, making the case that too many office holders in state government are ignoring filing deadlines on disclosure and contribution reports. Commission records show that former Atlanta Representative Douglas Dean was late filing campaign disclosure reports, detailing his personal finances and campaign contributions, 43 times since 1998. Senate Committee Chairman Don Balfour filed his reports late 34 times. Balfour remarked that because he had no opponent it shouldn't matter that his report was a week late. Common Cause Georgia's reply: "If you had no opponent, why did you feel you need to raise $400 thousand?"

Senate Passes Sweeping Ethics Reform - On Thursday, right before the summer recess, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a strong ethics reform bill, 83-14.  The bill bans gifts from lobbyists to Senators, creates new rules to disclose bundlers for Senate campaigns, requires sponsors to disclose earmarks and certify they have no financial stake in each earmark, increases the amount of years from one to two that a Senator can be out of office before becoming a lobbyist, and enacts several other important changes.  Read the full summary in our press release.  "We're going to know a lot more about what goes on under the Capitol Dome," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar.  "This bill will change business as usual in Washington by shining a light on how Congress conducts itself and how legislation is made. The scope and depth of the reforms is striking."

Gonzales gone! - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation, effective September 17, after Common Cause and a host of other organizations and elected officials had pressured him to resign and after Common Cause had called for his impeachment.  Common Cause generated thousands of phone calls and petition signatures to the AG's office as well as to House offices to stir impeachment support.  The embattled AG is gone, but he won't be forgotten.  "The politicization of the Justice Department under the leadership of Alberto Gonzales was a national travesty," said Edgar, who added, "We will continue to press for answers as to why these respected career prosecutors were fired without reason.  But the top priority for now is to ensure that we have new leadership and integrity at the Justice Department that will protect justice for all."