Common Cause Blog

The Cable TV Industry: Hardwiring Influence in New York State

Common Cause New York this morning released a new report titled, "The Cable TV Industry: Hardwiring Influence." The report brings together New York State lobbying and campaign finance data for the first time to demonstrate how the cable television industry has used its financial resources to fight for industry self-interest at the expense of New York cable subscribers, who Common Cause deems to be the ultimate "Loser" in the report.

Hardwiring Influence (and its additional background) documents the veritable "army" of lobbyists employed by the cable TV industry, which paid more than $24 million for these lobbying efforts in recent years, as well as $4.3 million in campaign contributions made to politicians, their political parties, and party slush funds.

Use the Internet!

This Senate this week is considering a simple, 4-page Administration proposal to fix Wall Street and the nation's finances.� Here's another simple proposal - file campaign finance reports electronically.� As a NY Times editorial says, "Just Click Send":

As hard as it is to believe, the Senate is still cynically mired in the dark age of paper filings. Candidates submit required reports on political money and donors via paper sheaves that wend through slow-mo typing, re-typing and mailing, ensuring that full disclosure only occurs sometime after Election Day.

Pledge for Change NY

The gridlock in New York's state capitol has gone on for way too long. It is becoming increasingly clear that working in Albany to bring about change in the way Albany operates is not enough. This election year, which may bring historic change to the State Senate, provides us with a perfect opportunity to use the election and campaign events to move reform issues back to the center of political discussions in New York. We have to show our elected officials that the issues that we work on to bring effective and accountable state government to New York are supported by ordinary New Yorkers throughout the state. We can't do that simply by lobbying officials once they've arrived in Albany. We have to move the discussion into districts throughout the state. The Pledge for Change campaign is designed to do precisely that.

FEC History: Wayne Hays

My former colleague, Meredith McGehee, has a scathing, incisive piece on the pathetic Federal Election Commission in Roll Call today ($$ - but an excerpt here from Josh Z).� In it she says:

But the stalemate is a symptom of the underlying problem intentionally built into the statute. The FEC was designed for deadlock.

Who was a key player in the design of the FEC 30+ years ago?� A US Rep long forgotten to history, but a�fearsome power�in the House at the time.� Wayne Hays chaired the House Administration Committee and the DCCC, wielding power over everything from�campaign laws to campaign money and office furniture -- and abusing his power to a degree that would make Tom Delay envious.

When Hays�did not succeed in blocking reform legislation entirely, he made sure that the FEC would not be able to enforce the law.

He was brought down in a scandal - hiring a "secretary", Elizabeth Ray,�who later said, "I can't type, I can't file, I can't even answer the phone."� But part of his legacy, the FEC, lives on.

Not entirely a "Do Nothing" session

It turns out a good defense does make a pretty good offense.

The Connecticut Legislature wrapped up its 2008 session early Thursday morning. Although it was generally dubbed a "Do Nothing" session, Connecticut Common Cause was able to pass one essential bill and make sure a number of other bills aimed at either turning the clock on reform didn't head to the governor's desk.

Sure, it's easier to kill a bill than push a bill, but in the crush of the final days of session it is always possible to sneak a rat into�a marginally related bill.�Connecticut Common Cause checked�every bill passed by the Legislature. While we chuckled at�"An Act Concerning Beer Cooler Accessibility," which passed both chambers unanimously, we found nothing that would�chisel�away at any hard-fought reforms.�

That said, there were a number of bills that didn't make the cut this year and a few that did. For�a short session where only supposedly essential are to be called, it was a good year.

End of CT legislative session: The home stretch

The Connecticut General Assembly concludes its 2008 legislative session at midnight tonight, and for the first time in a long time, Connecticut Common Cause is playing defense as opposed to trying to shoehorn a reform at the last minute (in 2006, a critical campaign finance reform bill passed in the last two minutes.)

Bills that we were pushing for have either passed and been enacted into law, been tied down on the calendar with no hope of salvation or caught in internecine feuds between the House and Senate.

Now, we have to make sure that the so-called "Do Nothing Session" does nothing to turn back the clock on important reforms.

Desperately Seeking an FEC

Today, the WaPo highlights the continuing embarassment to our democracy - or, at least, one of those embarassments: no agency to enforce campaign finance laws.

The stalemate over the Federal Election Commission's nominating process, which already has crippled the agency's ability to uphold existing campaign laws, is indefinitely delaying the implementation of a new rule designed to shine more light on fundraising by lobbyists for members of Congress and presidential candidates.

Of course, the hangup is still the highly controversial FEC nominee Hans von Spakovsky.� We've asked the presidential candidates and the Senate leaders to end the deadlock over the FEC nominees.� No movement.� No enforcement of campaign finance laws in a year with record-busting amounts of money being raised.