Common Cause Weekly Update - June 11, 2008
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.
Feinstein is key
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Fri Jun 06, 2008 at 04:01:39 PM EST
Rob Arnow posts on Sen. Feinstein and the Fair Elections Now Act at the California Progress Report. Right here in California, we have a tremendous opportunity, and responsibility, to affect the outcome of this bill. The bill begins its journey in the Rules and Administration Committee in the Senate, of which Dianne Feinstein is the Chair. She hasn't taken a position yet, and the opinions of other elected officials, activists, businesspeople, and regular citizens will be very important to her in how she comes down on the issue. Citizens' Elections Program takes off in Connecticut
By Andy Sauer
Posted on Wed Jun 04, 2008 at 04:28:25 PM EST
Gov. M. Jodi Rell. (CT News Junkie)
The Connecticut Citizens' Election Program handed the first election grants to qualified candidates at a press conference Tuesday that included some of the state's most prominent elected officials. Gov. M. Jodi Rell, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, House Majority Leader Rep. Chris Donovan, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz and many other officials were on hand to celebrate the arrival of the long-awaited campaign finance reform. "We expect that we will be changing the face of the elections in CT for good and yes forever. These reforms make Connecticut a national leader in electoral reforms and in fact I believe we are a model for the rest of the nation." So far, according to the State Elections Enforcement Commission, 145 candidates have opted into the program, though that number is expected to significantly increase in the coming weeks. CT News Junkie wrote: Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz said it's estimated that 70 to 80 percent of candidates will participate in public financing this year, which is historic when compared to Maine and Arizona where the participation rate was about 30 percent in the first year. She said a federal survey a few years ago found that over time both Maine and Arizona experienced significant increases in the amount of candidates contesting races in both primaries and general elections. And voter participation in these two states has risen about 10 percent since public financing was enacted, Bysiewicz noted. CT News Junkie, June 3, 2008
All over the map: Arizona small donor study
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Thu May 29, 2008 at 07:11:58 PM EST
What kind of impact does Clean Elections have on the participants in our democracy? A big one -- even greater than what we previously knew, thanks to Public Campaign's new study out this week, " All Over the Map: Small Donors Bring Diversity to Arizona's Elections." They looked at the donors in statewide races covered by the state-level Clean Elections program in Arizona and compared them to the donors in federal races for Senate, which have the same statewide electorate but currently have no public funding or Clean Elections option.
The difference is striking: from race and ethnicity to economic and geographic levels, the Clean Elections donors represent a much wider and more representative mix of citizens. Again, the executive summary is here. FEC, lobbyists, campaign reform
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Fri May 23, 2008 at 03:07:36 PM EST
Two Post editorials today on campaign finance and election issues. The first criticizes the recent attention to lobbyists within the Obama and McCain campaigns, and includes a strong argument for public financing. My take: the Post is mostly right. They're wrong to dismiss the lobbyist question entirely--it IS a powerful illustration of how power players and powerful influences move within Washington and through federal campaigns--but they're right that it's not a long-term prescription for change. This is, as we suspect both candidates know, a silly exercise. Lobbyists are a symptom of a larger problem that can't be fixed by turning them into political pariahs. The real problem is the distorting influence on public policy of moneyed interests; lobbyists are merely a particularly efficient delivery vehicle for the money that candidates need to satisfy their fundraising habits. The most effective cure would be to free lawmakers of this addiction by providing for public financing of campaigns, a solution that is, admittedly, a long way off. The second piece takes a look at the FEC -- or lack thereof -- and highlights one of the most egregiously partisan nomination maneuvers in an agency that is defined by partisan maneuvers. Corruption in the judiciary
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Thu May 15, 2008 at 10:26:58 AM EST
West Virginia's Chief Justice of the Supreme Court lost his primary race this week in the wake of scandal. West Virginia is Big Coal country, and Chief Justice Elliott Maynard was found to have cavorted in Monaco and on the French Riviera with Don Blankenship, CEO of a major energy company that just so happened to be a defendant in a $50 million suit that the WV Supreme Court later dismissed with Justice Maynard casting the deciding vote for the defense. Can I hear an AMEN for clean elections?
By Kim Hynes
Posted on Wed May 07, 2008 at 01:05:32 PM EST
This morning I was privileged to address the Connecticut State Convention of Missionary Baptists. There, in a room of about 200 people, I was the lone white person - talking to a huge crowd who came to the convention to discuss their religion, praise God, and commune with fellow Baptists. I was nervous beforehand. Would these good people really want to listen to a white activist talking about something that had nothing to do with their convention or mission? I had confidence that I would be politely received, but was unsure whether I could generate any enthusiasm for the program.
Deafening silence
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 04:14:03 PM EST
The big public financing bill failed in Maryland this session under relentless opposition from the Senate President, Mike Miller. But a bill to give Montgomery County permission to enact Clean Elections also failed, despite no public opposition whatsoever. The Washington Post today condemned this mysterious and disappointing fate: Practically every delegate and state senator from the county itself backed the bill, which would have established a voluntary system of public financing for qualifying candidates for county executive and the nine seats on the County Council. No lawmaker in either chamber of the Maryland General Assembly publicly opposed it. In the House of Delegates, the measure sailed to passage by a vote of 137 to 0.
In the Senate, where the bill was assigned to the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, a single witness testified on the bill (council member Phil Andrews), explaining its merits and encountering nothing but favorable reactions from the senators who were present. And then, mysteriously, the bill never came up for a vote. Call it death by silence. (A similar bill to establish a statewide system of public financing for elections also died in the legislature, for at least the sixth time in the last decade.)
It's unclear who administered the coup de grace to the Montgomery bill. Some suspect Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), an opponent of campaign finance reform at the state level -- but he denies it. Perhaps it was the committee chair, Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore), who didn't return our phone call. If so, she didn't tip her hand to other members of her committee. Read more on the flip.
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