Common Cause Blog

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

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.

Common Cause Weekly Update

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.

Media, Democracy and Justice Summit in Pasadena a Huge Success!

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 Launches Redistricting Initiative to Put Voters First

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.

States roundup

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....

Wanted: Finance Reform for Local Elections

The North County Times, a California newspaper serving San Diego and Riverside Counties, reported that money can talk, especially in San Bernardino County, at all levels of government. San Bernardino's Bill Postmus spent an outrageous $2.4 million dollars on his campaign to win the seat of county assessor in his local 2006 election.

In California, where the majority of its 58 counties and 478 cities do not cap individual contributions to candidates running for local offices, special interests such as developers and casino-operators are spending thousands to buy political influence at the expense of the community.