Elected politicians have proven once again that unless citizen advocacy groups apply constant pressure, we won't be seeing any ethics reform.

This reminds me of that short time period which followed the Abramoff scandal, where politicians everywhere were advocating serious ethics reform. Eventually, as time passed and the public eye turned to other issues, the government passed weak ethics legislation. It is clear as ever that our politicians will never clean up their act unless we prod them along.

Many thanks to all of you who have been calling your Senators in support of the Snowe-Dorgan net neutrality amendment.  The hearing starts tomorrow afternoon and we'll keep you posted on what happens.

In the meantime, we'd like to ask you to make one more call your Senator on the Commerce Committee.  Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is proposing a amendment to support and expand low power FM radio.  This is important because low power radio ("LPFM") is an antidote to the consolidated, corporate media.  LPFM stations are able to offer programming that truly serves the needs of communities, covering local politics, local music, etc.  They also save lives and provide essential communications infrastructure during emergency situations like last year's Hurricane Katrina.

Please call your Senator and urge support for the McCain low power FM amendment.  The phone numbers are listed here.  We're especially urging people in Louisana to call Sen. David Vitter at (202) 224-4623, and people in South Carolina to call Sen. James DeMint at (202) 224-6121.  Please let us know how the call went by leaving a comment.

You can learn more about LPFM by visiting our friends at the Prometheus Radio Project. 

During the days immediately after Hurricane Katrina, massive damage to infrastructure cut down on available telephone circuits which were further overloaded by frantic relatives trying to get in touch with their loved ones. In this trying time, telephone solicitators continued to phone persons in the affected area codes and persisted even after pleas to leave the line clear for emergency calls.

Louisiana, SB486, Jackson, expected to come up on Senate Calendar next week, requires that significant changes to the budget be detailed in policy terms. A better connection between policy and funding will improve debate of budget issues in the legislature and also allow the public to enter that discussion more easily.

Here's a quick round-up of what happened in the states this week.  Did something happen in your state that you don't see here?  Tell us about it in our Comments section.

Although over 16,000 New Orleans voters requested absentee ballots for the recent primary election, only two-thirds of those voters successfully cast ballots that were counted. In order to ensure that the voice of every displaced voter is heard in the upcoming runoff election, scheduled for May 20th, 2006, the Louisiana Voting Rights Network (LVRN) has issued a set of measured recommendations to the Secretary of State's Office aimed at correcting the problems that voters encountered with the absentee voting process.  

The coalition has identified numerous voters who were unable to cast their ballots in the primary election because they encountered a busy fax signal at the Registrar's Office. The Network also identified voters who received their ballots too close to the election but could not afford to return their ballots by overnight mail.  Finally, many voters were identified who were confused about the requirements for completing the affidavit included with their ballots.