Common Cause

This article is about the U.S. lobbying group. For the alliance of commonwealth republican groups, see Common Cause (Commonwealth).

Common Cause is a U.S. nonpartisan lobbying group (both professionally on Capitol Hill and grassroots advocacy in the states). According to the website, its mission is to, "strengthen public participation and faith in our institutions of self-government; to ensure that government and political processes serve the general interest, rather than special interests; to curb the excessive influence of money on government decisions and elections; to promote fair elections and high ethical standards for government officials; and to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans."

Common Cause was founded in 1970 by John William Gardner, who was the U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson.

Common Cause is a nationwide membership organization with approximately 300,000 members and supporters. It has 36 state chapters which lobby their legislatures as well as an active Washington, D.C. federal lobbying team.

Chellie Pingree, a former Democratic state senator from North Haven, Maine who ran an unsuccessful campaign to unseat U.S. Senator Susan Collins in 2002, is the immediate past president of the organization. She stepped down in January 2007, and is considering a possible Congressional run in her home state of Maine.[1] [2] Jon Goldin-Dubois is the interim president. Novelist Richard North Patterson is the chairman of the national governing board.

History

John Gardner, a Republican, came to Washington, DC to serve as the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat. Gardner later became chair of the National Urban Coalition, a group advocating for poor, minority, and working-class residents in urban areas.

During his time in the nation's capital, a city teeming with special interest groups, he observed "everybody's organized but the people." That thought formed the seed of Common Cause, which Gardner established in August 1970 to represent citizens' interests in Washington. Within six months, the organization had more than 100,000 members, many of them joining to oppose the Vietnam War.

The Issues

Common Cause works with its members and activists and in coalition with other advocacy organizations (Public Campaign, Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG) towards forwarding its stated goal of making government more accountable to the people. Common Cause has led efforts for campaign finance reform, ethics and accountability in government, as well as transparent government practices at the national, state, and local levels. It has partnered with coalitions fighting for civil rights legislation, ending what they have considered to be wasteful weapons programs, and working for progressive reforms of the United States system of voting.

For an official complete list of these issues, click Here.

In the past, Common Cause worked with others to ban soft money contributions. In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act was enacted and a year later a historic U.S. Supreme Court decision, McConnell v. FEC, upheld the law, thus effectively banning soft money contibutions.

The organization currently has 4 major priorities: public financing of elections; open and democratic media that strengthen democracy; promoting ethics at all levels of government; and improving voting machines. Common Cause also works on DC voting rights, redistricting, net neutrality, open government, protecting whistleblowers, and Electoral College reform.

Current Projects

Voters First Pledge Campaign

The Voters First Pledge campaign is a Common Cause campaign designed to clean up American government and elections, according to the principles listed above. Common Cause asked all candidates for federal office in 2006 -- around 1300 candidates across the nation -- to sign the Voters First Pledge.

Get It Straight by 2008

Common Cause's Get it Straight by 2008 campaign seeks to require voter-verified paper trails and audits of voting machines.

HR 550, "The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2005," introduced by Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ), would have required a voter-verified paper record as well as audits. Common Cause unsuccessfully lobbied the House to pass the bill.

Media and Democracy Coalition

Common Cause spearheads and acts as fiscal sponsor for the Media and Democracy Coalition. According to its website, the coalition consists of 25 groups and is "committed to amplifying the voices of the public in shaping media and telecommunications policy."

External links

• Common Cause's website
• Common Cause's blog
• History of issues undertaken by Common Cause
• Common Cause's fight against media consolidation
• OpenTheGovernment.org
• The Government Accountability Project (GAP)
• Common Cause's page on whistleblower protection
• Common Cause page on voter suppression
• Information on Net Neutrality
• Common Cause's "Save Our Elections" Petition