These are the goals that we and our parent organizations, Common Cause and Democracy Matters, work toward in general. For information on current specific campaigns we are working on, see Current Campaigns.

Summary

At the national level, we work on:

• Ending the influence of money in politics
• Reducing the power of lobbyists
• Increasing transparency in government
• Restoring confidence in our leaders and our institutions through ethics reform and electoral reform

At the state level, we work on:

• Fostering bipartisanship in the legislature
• Ending the gridlock in Sacramento
• Reforming the initiative system

Detailed Description

Common Cause / Democracy Matters of Berkeley works on two different sets of issues, one at the national level and one at the state level. Both are non-partisan and have support in both major political parties. At the national level, we are fighting for:

• Ending the influence of money in politics. We believe that the tremendous amount of special interest money in American politics leads our elected leaders astray and results in public policy that serves those with deep pockets instead of everyday citizens. We support campaign finance reform that will put an end to “politics as usual.” That means public financing of elections, stronger campaign fundraising disclosure requirements, and an empowered Federal Elections Commission that can more effectively regulate our national elections. For more on Common Cause’s campaign finance agenda, please click here
• Reducing the power of lobbyists. In addition to tempting politicians with millions of dollars in campaign donations, special interests also use armies of lobbyists to get what they want out of Capitol Hill. We support stronger disclosure requirements for lobbyists, so we know exactly who they are meeting, when, and for what purpose. We also support more severe revolving door restrictions, so elected officials and their aides can’t quit their posts in the government, go to work for K Street firms, and use their contacts and influence for the benefit of private clients.
• Increasing transparency in government. We should be able to see what the government is doing; after all, it belongs to us. Every earmark funding request ought to be made public and carry the name of the requester and a detailed justification. Additionally, every earmark should be subject to competitive bidding. The Freedom of Information Act should be strengthened so that citizens can more easily ask questions of their government. Federal agencies and departments ought to make all non-sensitive data available to the public online, in a downloadable and searchable format.
• Restoring confidence in our leaders and our institutions. We support a strong and active Office of Congressional Ethics. We support the non-partisan administration of elections and the non-partisan drawing of all legislative district lines. We support making voting easier, through proposals like vote by mail, and making registering to vote less onerous, through ideas like same-day registration.

In California, we support a different slate of issues. It includes:

• Fostering bipartisanship in the legislature. At current, California’s legislative districts are so severely gerrymandered that they elect very strong partisans. Once elected, these officials have only a few years in office before they are removed by some of the nation’s harshest term limits. The result is a body of lawmakers with neither the patience for nor the interest in building coalitions. We support the non-partisan creation of legislative districts (a change that is hopefully forthcoming in California) and a modification or elimination of term limits. We hope that with these changes bipartisanship may actually occur.
• Ending the gridlock in Sacramento. The intensely polarized legislature described above faces a uniquely difficult set of circumstances. California law requires two-thirds approval in the legislature for raising new revenues or passing any annual budget. This leads to inaction and missed deadlines every budget season, and declining faith in our elected leaders. Common Cause / Democracy Matters of Berkeley ran a student campaign called Restore the Majority in 2010 in support of Prop 25, which reduced the requirement to pass budgets to a simple majority. This we feel is a resounding victory for good government in California that will lower fees for students.
• Reforming the initiative system. While California’s initiative system has had some positive results, it has frequently made the work of our elected officials much, much harder. It foists unfunded mandates upon the legislature. It eliminates all flexibility in the budget – useful in difficult economic times – by insisting on often unreasonable minimum and maximum spending requirements in certain areas. Common sense reforms can be enacted that would preserve the proud tradition of direct democracy in California while making governance easier.

The combined result of all of these ideas is a government that is more ethical, more open, and more accountable. We believe that if the changes proposed here are made, policy of all kinds will be better able to serve the public interest.