In common: CC pushes Congress and President Clinton for quick action on campaign finance reform - Common Cause

Common Cause Magazine, Spring, 1993 by Peter Montgomery

After the November elections, Common Cause shifted its attention from asking congressional candidates to make a commitment to support campaign finance reform to ensuring that those campaign promises are translated into quick action on comprehensive reform legislation.

Members of Congress who came to Washington for party caucuses in early December were greeted by a full-page ad in Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress. The ad included a reprint of the Anti-Corruption Campaign commitment that Common Cause members had asked congressional candidates to sign, and listed the representatives publicly on record in support of real campaign finance reform, reminding them, "It's time to make the change Americans are looking for."

Also in December, a broad coalition of 48 national organizations, including Common Cause, sent a letter to President Clinton urging him to act quickly and take the steps necessary to ensure that real campaign finance reform legislation is enacted at the outset of the new Congress in 1993.

"We believe your public leadership is essential to enacting real campaign finance reform and to ensuring that it is effective for the 1994 congressional races," said the letter. "In order to be successful, it is critical to avoid the six-month delay that ended up killing campaign finance reform in 1977 under remarkably similar circumstances following the election of President Jimmy Carter. ... Any delays will only play into the hands of those out to kill or gut real campaign finance reform."

Common Cause and its allies in the campaign finance reform coalition are seeking other state and local organizations to endorse the letter to President Clinton. Readers active in, or aware of, any organizations that might endorse such a letter should call Common Cause collect at (202) 833-1200, and ask for Tom Dehner or Claudia Malloy.