The American electoral system is a holdout from another era. First-past-the-post elections, in which the top vote-getter in a single-member legislative seat wins, are now used in only two other developed countries-Britain and Canada-alongside a cadre of African, Asian, and Pacific countries, usually nations with strong ties to British colonial rule. Representative Don Beyer, a […]
Blog: CHECKS
Posted inCivil Rights in America
For Feingold, “LegitAction” Is One Way to Stave Off Threats to Democracy
Former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold has decided to jump back into the national spotlight with LegitAction, a new online political advocacy group that plans to help local grassroots organizations raise their public profiles. Relying on social media as well as traditional platforms like newspapers, the Wisconsin Democrat founded LegitAction in March to educate the public […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
New PAC Will Back Every Single Democrat Running for Congress
For the past two decades, Democratic fundraiser and operative Jonathan Zucker has been fed up with the way his party doles out funds to candidates. The problem, as Zucker sees it, is that Democrats distribute most of their funds to candidates running in swing districts that the party sees as winnable, instead of divvying the […]
Posted inCivil Rights in America
The ACLU’s New Rallying Cry: “See You in Court, and See You in the Streets.”
The day after Donald Trump’s election, the American Civil Liberties Union posted the words “See you in court” on its homepage next to an image of the incoming president. Now, the ACLU has a slightly longer message for Trump: “See you in court, and see you in the streets.” That’s the rallying cry of a […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Another First for Trump: A Policy Arm Operating Totally in Secret
Donald Trump isn’t the first president to enjoy the support of nonprofit groups that promote his policy agenda, but he may be the first whose outside backers operate entirely in secret. When Trump allies announced last week the formation of America First Policies, a 501(c)(4) issue group that will be the president’s main outside advocacy […]
Posted inEducation in America
DeVos Finally Gets Hearing — Before the Same Senators She Helped Elect
Campaign-finance questions will loom large over the Senate’s Tuesday confirmation hearing for billionaire and education lobbyist Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary. Having initially postponed the hearing, senators now face a mounting list of questions about DeVos. The latest is why she failed to disclose a $125,000 political donation, something the Trump transition […]
Posted inLaw and Justice
House Democrats Have a Plan to Go After Trump’s Conflicts
On Wednesday morning, Donald Trump held a long-awaited press conference to address how he will deal with the potential conflicts of interest posed by his massive business empire. For weeks, ethics watchdogs have called on the president-elect to fully divest from his business operations and place them in a blind trust. Trump ignored those demands, […]
Posted inEducation in America
New Jersey Public School Employees Sue Over Alleged Political Retalitation
It’s no secret that school board politics can create bitter enemies, but rarely do such battles end in actual employee firings. But nine New Jersey public school employees are claiming that a school board feud cost them their jobs, and they’ve recently filed a provocative federal lawsuit, each seeking $100,000 in damages. The former employees […]
Posted inLaw and Justice
Jeff Sessions Is Public Enemy Number One for Voting-Rights Groups
Common Cause, a nonpartisan political advocacy and watchdog group, rarely wades into political nomination battles. In its nearly half-century of existence, the group has come out in staunch opposition to just a handful of nominees it found extraordinarily hostile to its core mission. Now it will oppose the confirmation of Trump’s expected nominee for attorney […]
Posted inCivil Rights in America
Reforming Democracy in the Age of Trump
On November 10, Miles Rapoport sat down with Bob Herbert’s Op-Ed.TV to discuss what led to Donald Trump’s victory, what it means for voting rights and money in politics, and how democracy reformers should respond. Rapoport is a long-time democracy advocate who served as secretary of state in Connecticut, and president of both Demos and […]