Common Cause Minnesota spent an exciting summer recruiting our board members, establishing our local office, and contacting legislative candidates to learn about their views on issues that matter most to our members. In fact, over the last six months we have built a solid foundation for our state chapter. We were thrilled to have Common Cause President Bob Edgar visit Minnesota in June as we kicked off our foundation-building summer. Please view Bob's message to Common Cause supporters here -

The Washington Post calls for a federal redistricting reform measure at the federal level.

Meanwhile, in California, Common Cause and a coalition of groups have put a major redistricting initiative on the ballot in November and are now urging voters to vote Yes on Prop 11, the California Voters FIRST Initiative.

One of the hopes of the Citizens Election Program is that more people will participate - more  candidates, greater diversity, fewer unopposed races, more citizens getting involved in the process.   Another hope is that the races will be competitive.  Connecticut's primaries are over, and we can get a glimpse of how public financing is working.  Connecticut is the land of steady habits.   In our case, steady habits have meant that over the past several decades, incumbents in the legislature are among the safest in the nation.  While that can work well in many cases where the incumbents do a great job, democracy thrives on competition.  If incumbents feel too safe, they can lost their sense of being accountable to the people they represent.  Healthy competition insures that candidates strive for re-election, and spend time with their constituents.

How has the Citizens Election program faired over the first batch of primaries?  Quite well, it would appear.  Normally Connecticut sees at most a dozen primaries in the legislative races.  This year there were 18.  While incumbents remained somewhat safe, one challenger prevailed in Bridgeport, and several party endorsed candidates were defeated.  As well, the number of unopposed races has dropped fairly dramatically.  According to numbers from the Secretary of State's office show the number dropping from 71 unopposed races in 2006, to 60 this year.  At least 70% of the candidates running in Connecticut will use the program, and many of them have indicated overall satisfaction with the Citizens Election Program so far.

I've spoken with at least five candidates who said they never would have thought of running for office if CEP weren't available.  From single moms and retired bankers, to a retired cop living in the poorest of neighborhoods, folks from all walks of life are stepping up and offering their skills and ideas to the people of Connecticut.  Many candidates, incumbents and challengers alike, are thrilled with the time they have free from fundraising that they can spend attending community events and walking neighborhoods.  People who are facing tight budgets can give five dollars to their candidate and know they made a real difference.  

It's summer time and the living in easy.  But not in Connecticut.  In Connecticut, Democracy is hard at work.

Connecticut is a cute little state with lots to recommend it.  We have miles of shoreline, the best pizza on the planet (honest!), fabulous universities, proximity to both New York and Boston (makes for some interesting baseball discussions at times), quaint white churches, and many other delights.  Why then, did the "Land of Steady Habits" gain the habit of corruption?  Mayors had problems with cocaine, sex crimes, taking bribes, you name it - and  then Governor Rowland excelled in corruption and accepting hot tubs from contractors.  So much went wrong in such a small state. Perhaps the corruption had its roots in the contrast of the extraordinary wealth of Fairfield County with the stark poverty present in Bridgeport and Waterbury.  

The true reasons why may never be elucidated, but the entrenched corruption did no favors to Connecticut's residents.  This is why the ethics reform passed last week is so remarkable.  For Connecticut to become one of the leading states in ethics reform took major efforts on both the part of the legislature and the advocacy groups that strive every day to protect the citizens in our fair state.  Both legislators and activists have wrestled for years to try and enact reform that would be fair and comprehensive.  One issue that was especially difficult to grapple with was the issue of pension revocation.  There were heated arguments on both sides of this issue which searched for middle ground.  Finally, reform was passed that included pension revocation, but left it up to the court's discretion on whether to remove a pension in response to wrong doing by a state employee.  With some wiggle room left for discretion and compassion, the legislation was able to move forward with supporters on all sides, but it took a great effort and much debate to get there.

Connecticut Common Cause played a major part in getting the ethics reform bill passed.  For years we worked with GAE committee leaders on drafting pension revocation language that was both effective and judicious.  This year, we tried to facilitate communications between the House and Senate in adopting a ethics bill that was acceptable to all.  Finally, Common Cause held a joint press conference with legislative leaders on the legislation to shore up public support and ensure that the Governor would back the bill.  Our efforts paid off, and Connecticut will face the future with a clean face and a fresh start.

Imagine getting a note from your bosses' go to guy requesting a donation - to a favorite charity, to the bosses' bonus fund, to his or her kid's school.  The note said, "You'd better pony up for this!"  What would you do?  Well, in all likelihood, you would whip out your checkbook and start writing.  In this economic climate especially, no one wants to put their job in jeopardy.

But how would it make you feel?  Somewhat used, I imagine.  Perhaps resentful.  What if your boss was an elected official, and the chief of staff was hitting you up for a contribution to the bosses' campaign fund?  You can't say no and expect to get a good job review ever again, and your boss gets a guaranteed flow of funds into his or her campaign coffers.  Oh well, that's the way the game is played, right?

In an article in The Denver Post yesterday, Aldo Svaldi laid out some interesting information about the reasons why our newspapers are slowly consolidating into a few large hands.

The second part of this story is the impact this kind of change has on democracy. As our newspapers, radio stations and TV stations have gone from many to few, so have the perspectives that are critical in a democracy.

Since 1995, the number of companies owning TV stations has gone down 40%. Since the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Clear Channel has been able to go from the previous 40 radio station limit to owning over 1,200 stations nationwide.

The result has been infotainment, less local news and much of the same pre-packaged content being consumed all over the country.

Although there are real economic reasons for these vast changes, diversity in media ownership has to be a priority.

Ownership limits have to be restored and communities need to find innovative ways to create and maintain local media.

Common Cause continues its efforts to hold power accountable.

Abuse of Power: Forging the Path to Recovery

Common Cause hosted a distinguished panel on June 10 to discuss the widespread abuse of power engaged in by the current Administration. The Administration has disregarded the rule of law through over-broad assertions of executive power, abuse of signing statements, and policies that arguably flout the Constitution regarding interrogation, detention, and intelligence gathering. The Congress has repeatedly failed to perform its constitutionally mandated oversight duties in each of these areas.

The panelists were charged with examining these disturbing trends and with considering how best to restore the constitutional constraints that have served our country well since its inception.