The conventional wisdom is that August is a slow month in Washington, DC. Of course, the conventional wisdom is also that the Department of Justice serves to administer justice for all. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales turned both of those norms on their respective heads (see below). So it's been a bit livelier than usual lately, and after an absence, we bring you the latest in Common Cause news from around the country....

• North Carolina Senate passes public financing bill
• Pennsylvania Common Cause leads fight for budget deadlines and fines
• Common Cause Georgia reports on serial tardiness in filing campaign disclosure reports
• Senate Passes Sweeping Ethics Reform
• Gonzales gone!

Pennsylvania's State Legislature is taking positive steps to reform campaign finance, modify its internal rules, and expand Pennsylvania's Right-To-Know Law. Unfortunately, the Indiana Gazette Online reports that floor votes and real changes on these reform issues have been moving along at a frustratingly slow pace for months.

One of the major reforms proposed involves modifying the current Right-To-Know Law so that citizens can have access to records covering more than just accounts, contracts, minutes, or orders and decisions. If it passes, the extended Right-to-Know Law will be a significant step towards a more open political system in Pennsylvania, which is lagging far behind other states in allowing public access to government records.

I'm here not only because I care about the outcome of elections - I do - but because how we elect them matters, and what they stand for matters too.

And I'll come right out and say it: while it's exciting that a new wave of members of Congress just swept into office in 2007, I'm worried that the way campaign finance works and the rigors of fundraising will keep them-and their colleagues in Congress and in statehouses-from realizing their full potential as representatives.  So I'm here to voice my concern.  We need "clean elections," or the full public financing of elections, as a way to restore faith in the political process and to make sure that a wide range of folks can run and win.

Jason Altmire in PA-04 was featured in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story on February 5th describing his fundraising prowess since November 7.

Sounds like he's no slouch-and that's critical if he wants to remain in his seat in a battleground district.

The FCC has just released the details for its next media ownership hearing. If you live in or near Harrisburg PA, we hope you'll try to make it there to speak out against more Big Media:

What: Official FCC Hearing on Media Ownership
When: Friday, February 23 from 9:00am - 2:30pm
Where: Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Sunoco Performance Theater (222 Market Street in Harrisburg PA)

If you can't be there, you can still send a message to the FCC at www.commoncause.org/NoMoreConsolidation.

I have a couple questions for the FCC. Why is this hearing scheduled for a time when most people have work or school? Why was the time and place just announced today, less than 5 days before the hearing (the announcement on the FCC's website is dated for Friday -- but I checked the site yesterday and it wasn't posted)? Why is the Commission making it so difficult for the people of Harrisburg to learn about and attend this hearing?

As we push toward the introduction of a federal clean elections bill, we have seen a recent surge of media coverage on the issue. Though these news stories do not necessarily deal directly with the federal bill, they serve to prime people to begin thinking about the benefits of a public financing system.

A few highlights in the news this past week:

Rep. Jason Altmire, the Democrat who defeated incumbent Melissa Hart for the 4th district Pennsylvania seat, has made the news for his fund-raising prowess despite his pledge to support full public funding of campaigns. Altmire is one of the 103 representatives who signed Common Cause's "Voters First Pledge," which asked candidates running for office to publically show their support for clean elections. But don't be concerned: Altmire promises to honor his pledge:

It's a shame that someone who adamantly supports clean elections, like Altmire does, must yield to the political "game" in order to stay competitive.

More Pennsylvanians called into the 1888MYvote1 hotline than any other state, and they are still calling. As of the close of the polls the total number is 2367. A dubious distinction to be sure, much of it due to the problems with the electronic voting machines experienced by Lancaster, Allegheny and Montgomery countieswith complaints in Phildelphia and York being more varied.

Besides the voting machine issue, voters complained bitterly about; electioneering activities they felt were too close to the polls, the lack of privacy of the electronic voting booths, long lines, and aggressive campaign workers intruding on "their space." Depending on how closely the races are decided in this election, tomorrow could be rife with challanges. Below is a breakdown of the number of calls by county. I'll be sure to update this if we learn anything new in the next few hours.

Call totals by county:

LANCASTER 371

MONTGOMERY 239

ALLEGHENY 231

YORK 226

PHILADELPHIA 215

Hawaii finally gave it's ethics commission some teeth.

There's some serious geographic discrepencies between gubernatorial campaign contributions in New York.

North Carolina lawmakers are loading up on campaign contributions before a reform law goes into effect.

Is Ken Blackwell engaging in a little pay-to-play action in Ohio?

Common Cause Pennsylvania is one of the reform groups suing to decertify untrustworthy electronic voting machines across the state.

Common Cause New York released an excellent new report on the state's soft money loophole.

The campaigning in Wisconsin is so dirty it's distracting from the real issues voters care about.

The California Senate passed SCA 3, a redistricting reform bill, bringing it one major step closer to the ballot.

Matt Brix of Common Cause New Mexico brings us an update on how the Voters First Pledge campaign is going.

The Comments section is all yours to tell us about any stories in your state that we may have missed. This is also going to be the Weekend Open Thread, so post on whatever topic you feel like. Here's one idea: the five-games-in-four-days Yankees-Red Sox showdown.

Common Cause Pennsylvania has joined with several other reform groups to file a lawsuit against the state's Secretary of the Commonwealth, asking that new electronic voting machines be replaced with machines that produce a voter-verifiable paper record.

Common Cause recently named Pennsylvania as one of the most at-risk states for compromised election results.  If this lawsuit is successful, the Commonwealth can come a long way towards moving off that list.