States roundup
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 01:53:19 PM EST
It's been awhile since an update, so there's more Common Cause news than can fit here. But as state legislatures reopen for the 2008 session, and as the country follows a much-anticipated and closely-fought presidential race, here's a sampling of some highlights from our work making our democracy function more like it should....
"Clean Elections" for judges gets big boost from Wisconsin Supreme Court
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Thu Dec 13, 2007 at 04:18:50 PM EST
Nothing says, "We need to publicly fund judicial elections" like the state Supreme Court endorsing it. And that's exactly what just happened in Wisconsin. On the eve of a special session on campaign finance called by Gov. Jim Doyle, the seven justices of the Wisconsin Supreme Court sent a letter to the governor and the state Legislature supporting "the concept of realistic, meaningful public financing" for Supreme Court elections.
"A cornerstone of our state is that the judiciary is fair, neutral, impartial and non-partisan," wrote Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson and the six other justices. "The risk inherent in any non-publicly funded judicial election for this Court is that the public may inaccurately perceive a justice as beholden to individuals or groups that contribute to his or her campaign. Judges must not only be fair, neutral, impartial and non-partisan but also should be so perceived by the public." The justices can't endorse a particular bill, but they clearly explained why the concept of public funding--fairness, appearance of impartiality, unfettered by special interests--makes so much sense.
As wealthy special interests make larger and larger "investments" by giving huge sums to judicial candidates, the movement to reform how judicial races--and legislative races--are funded continues to gain steam around the country.
States roundup
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Wed Nov 14, 2007 at 05:41:10 PM EST
Common Cause is leading the charge on redistricting in California, campaign finance reform in Wisconsin and Nebraska, watchdogging in Georgia, and more. Check out the fruits of our ongoing labor around the country....
States roundup
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 04:18:07 PM EST
Should citizens in the capital of the United States be represented in Congress? Should we be able to confirm that votes are counted correctly? If you thought those were easy questions, well, you haven't been paying close enough attention to the inner workings of our Congress. Common Cause is pushing for a "yes" on both of those counts and holding elected officials accountable, in Washington and around the country....
States roundup
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 09:19:06 AM EST
Unpacking from your Labor Day vacation? Cleaning up after the barbecues? We'll continue to unpack some tasty Common Cause tidbits from around the country, skewered to perfection and served---well, you get the idea. Here's the latest...
States Roundup
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Fri Jun 22, 2007 at 10:47:51 AM EST
We just passed the summer solstice--the longest day of the year--so here's hoping that you're staying out late, enjoying the sunshine, and then ending your day with this, the latest Common Cause news from around the country...
State Round-Up and Open Thread
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Fri Aug 18, 2006 at 04:51:37 PM EST
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.
Some advice for the Badger State gubernatorial candidates
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu Aug 17, 2006 at 01:04:11 PM EST
Man, it sure does seem like we're talking about Wisconsin a lot these days; but that's to be expected with the campaigning that's going on and the ongoing ethical scandals involving state officials. There's a lot going on, and it's all keeping the Wisconsin reform community - especially Common Cause Wisconsin's Jay Heck - very busy.
Today, though, I want to highlight an editorial I came across from the Wausau Daily Herald. It's message is straightforward: "Mudslinging drowns out good ideas."
The story of this year's gubernatorial campaign will not be Mark Green's plan to reformulate the state's school-funding structure.
It will not be Gov. Jim Doyle's efforts to position Wisconsin as a leader in stem cell research and application.
It will not be about health care reform or rebuilding the University of Wisconsin System or tax relief or any of the myriad issues confronting residents of this state.
It instead will be about this election being the dirtiest and most expensive in history -- unless both major-party candidates and their supporters clean up their acts.
This year's governor's race is estimated to cost $35 million; much of that will be spend on attack ads - indeed, it's already happening.
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