Karl Rove, long time senior advisor to George W. Bush, is speaking later today at a Sacramento forum.  He maintains a high profile presence on Fox News Channel as a commentator.  Sometimes, he even takes questions.

Yet Rove refuses to answer a congressional subpoena or answer questions under oath about his role in the firing of U.S. Attorneys and the politicization of the Department of Justice, despite a recent court ruling that dismissed the premise of his claim to "absolute immunity."

It's absurd both that Rove continues to thumb his nose at Congress with no legal grounding whatsoever and that Congress has yet to fully assert its authority, as a coequal branch of government, by compelling Rove to testify.  We've called for a full vote of contempt by the House, we've called for inherent contempt, but the bottom line is: if Congress wants to learn how the Department of Justice was turned into a political weapon for the White House, if it wants to restore the core values of our democracy, if it wants to join us in Recapturing the Flag, Congress. Must. Do. Something.

We know that some folks want to see it happen -- they want accountability -- but with a week before Congress leaves town for the season, will enough of them step up?  

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.

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.

Here's a recap of Common Cause's work over the past two weeks. We're celebrating hard-won victories regarding the FEC and FCC and highlighting other important work throughout the country.

Federal Election Commission (FEC): We Stopped The White House Again!
On May 16 controversial White House nominee Hans von Spakovsky withdrew his name from consideration for a position on the FEC. Common Cause, working with a coalition of voting rights and reform groups, had opposed von Spakovsky because of his work at the Justice Department rolling back voting rights laws.

On Saturday, March 29th, about 150 Californians came together on a beautiful sunny day in Pasadena to discuss how the media impacts their community.

The event was called Media, Democracy and Justice - A Southern California Regional Summit and featured a couple dozen expert speakers and panelists. There was discussion about how journalists are impacted by media consolidation, how communities of color lose their voice in our corporate media system, how the loss of net neutrality would hurt our democracy and many other subjects.

There was also considerable discussion about improve the state of the media and take it into our own hands by such means as Low Power FM radio, supporting alternative press, taking advantage of social networking systems, and coming together to create a media justice movement.

The best thing to come out of the day was that there was a clear sense that people want to stay involved and continue the fight for improving the media. Common Cause will make sure people will stay connected and have a forum in which to work together.

Some photos of the event are available online here.

Many thanks to all who attended, sponsored, and participated in the event!

California Common Cause has worked for years to change the process by which politicians currently draw their own political districts -- a process that in effect allows politicians to choose their voters before voters can choose among politicians.

These efforts took a big step forward today with the official launch of the Voters FIRST initiative.  This ballot question, filed by Common Cause, AARP, and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, will appear on the November 2008 ballot if enough Californians sign petitions to support it by next April.
Read the full text of the initiative here.

Today, the campaign received a big boost in receiving endorsements from the California League of Women Voters and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.