Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Inside the messy fight over strategy among campaign finance reformers

Constitutional Convention

There hasn't been a constitutional convention since the framers drew up the governing documents. One segment of the good-government movement wants another gathering, but only to address the campaign finance system.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Marty Wulfe opened his inbox one day this fall and found an unsettling email from an old friend.

It was a dire warning from the Maryland chapter of Common Cause: Special interests in his state are pushing a "dangerous" proposal for a second constitutional convention.

But Wulfe himself was one of those special interests, because he's a board member of Get Money Out – Maryland. The organization is lobbying the General Assembly to have the state join five others calling for a convention to consider changing the Constitution to allow Congress and state legislatures to rein in money in politics.

While he and other Get Money Out leaders "had a good laugh at being labeled a special interest group," said Wulfe (who views himself as a big fan of Common Cause), the opposition from one of the most venerable voices for democracy reform is no laughing matter. Instead, the rift highlights one of the most impassioned arguments these days in the world of good-government advocacy.


At issue is the best strategy for slowing the flow of cash that's surged through the political system in the decade since the Supreme Court decided that limiting election spending by corporations, unions and advocacy groups violates the First Amendment.

The underdog faction says calling the first constitutional convention since 1787, where the high court's landmark ruling in Citizens United vs. FEC could face a significant step toward effective reversal, is the cleanest and quickest solution. The more dominant faction favors the traditional but politically difficult method for altering the Constitution — supermajorities of Congress sending language to the states for ratification — fearing a convention would open a Pandora's box that conservatives could use to advance proposals that progressives would find horrific.

Wulfe, a retired researcher from the D.C. suburb of Silver Spring, said his group has struggled for years to convince the Democrats who control Annapolis to pass a resolution calling for a convention — in large part due to Common Cause's influence on progressive lawmakers. "I think that if Common Cause were to simply stop doing this, maybe not even change their minds, but just stop attacking us, we'd get this passed."

Common Cause sounds unlikely to drop its opposition to a convention. "There's a real concern about the process and what could come out of a convention," spokesman Jay Riestenberg said. "We see what some of these groups, particularly on the right, are trying to do to roll back reforms and progress we've made over the last century. That's why we think it's so dangerous."

Wulfe's group is part of a small coalition pushing the convention approach, including allied statewide organizations in Wyoming, New Mexico and Massachusetts. By far the most prominent national player on their side of the disagreement is Wolf-PAC, which takes credit for successfully convincing five state legislatures to call for a convention specifically to address campaign finance laws.

The fear of a so-called runaway convention, stoked by Common Cause and other left-leaning groups, has hampered Wolf-PAC's efforts in other states, said John Shen, the group's national legislative director.

"It definitely has caused quite a bit of damage within, at the very least, our movement," he said. "I think we can overcome it, but it would take substantially less time if more organizations joined us in advocacy."

Prominent allies of Common Cause in this debate include the Brennan Center for Justice, the Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21 and more than 70 other national organizations. Last year, they signed a letter addressed to state legislators nationwide calling on them to oppose any and all convention resolutions.

But no group is as vocally opposed as Common Cause, which has been among the most influential good-government advocacy groups since its founding half a century ago and was a major force behind the last federal law to regulate campaign finance, in 2002. Its frequent emails to supporters about the dangers of a convention often include fundraising appeals — something that bothers those working to get a convention.

"It definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth," Shen said. "That being said, my goal is not necessarily to defeat them — we will if we have to — but we would just love them to either stop fighting us or come around to being on the right side of the fight."

It works two ways

Under Article 5 of the Constitution, Congress must call a constitutional convention if it receives applications from 34 states and the applications all address the same topic. Whatever proposed amendment comes out of a convention would require the approval of three-quarters of the states, or 38 of them, the same as if the amendment were proposed by Congress. With such a high threshold, only proposals with broad and bipartisan support have a realistic shot at getting added to the Constitution in a national political environment that's close to evenly split ideologically.

Not enough support has coalesced around one issue to call a convention but states have endorsed (and rescinded) a handful of resolutions, and at the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives is counting them.

Twenty-eight states want a convention to consider an amendment requiring the federal budget be balanced in almost all circumstances, an idea that fiscal conservatives have been pushing since the 1980s. Another conservative-led petition embraced by 15 states has a multifaceted goal. It seeks to "limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, impose fiscal restraints, and place term limits on federal officials."


Made with Flourish


Legal experts disagree on whether, once a convention is called, issues other than its original purpose can be considered. Wolf-PAC has produced a white paper saying the convention's agenda could be limited to a single topic. Common Cause has produced its own white paper drawing the opposite conclusion.

"We don't believe this kind of radical plan that is completely untested, and no one knows how it would work, is the right way of going about fixing that," said Common Cause's Riestenberg.

Not all the groups pushing to revive tighter regulation of campaign finance are committed to one of the two camps. American Promise, which has gained prominence with its campaign for what it assumes would be a 28th Amendment to limit money in politics, is among several that support the use of whatever mechanism works fastest.

"We don't know the pathway that's going to work in the end, but we know the danger if we don't fix this problem," said the group's president, Jeff Clements, who is confident the requirement of three-quarters of the states for ratification is a guardrail against radical plans getting added to the Constitution.

"Do I lose sleep about a convention? No, I don't lose sleep."

Read More

Understanding the Debate on Health Secretary Kennedy’s Vaccine Panelists

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., January 29, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)

Understanding the Debate on Health Secretary Kennedy’s Vaccine Panelists

Summary

On June 9, 2025, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), dismissed all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Secretary Kennedy claimed the move was necessary to eliminate “conflicts of interest” and restore public trust in vaccines, which he argued had been compromised by the influence of pharmaceutical companies. However, this decision strays from precedent and has drawn significant criticism from medical experts and public health officials across the country. Some argue that this shake-up undermines scientific independence and opens the door to politicized decision-making in vaccine policy.

Background: What Is ACIP?

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is a federal advisory group that helps guide national vaccine policy. Established in 1964, it has over 60 years of credibility as an evidence-based body of medical and scientific experts. ACIP makes official recommendations on vaccine schedules for both children and adults, determining which immunizations are required for school entry, covered by health insurance, and prioritized in public health programs. The committee is composed of specialists in immunology, epidemiology, pediatrics, infectious disease, and public health, all of whom are vetted for scientific rigor and ethical standards. ACIP’s guidance holds national weight, shaping both public perception of vaccines and the policies of institutions like schools, hospitals, and insurers.

Keep ReadingShow less
MQ-9 Predator Drones Hunt Migrants at the Border
Way into future, RPA Airmen participate in Red Flag 16-2 > Creech ...

MQ-9 Predator Drones Hunt Migrants at the Border

FT HUACHUCA, Ariz. - Inside a windowless and dark shipping container turned into a high-tech surveillance command center, two analysts peered at their own set of six screens that showed data coming in from an MQ-9 Predator B drone. Both were looking for two adults and a child who had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and had fled when a Border Patrol agent approached in a truck.

Inside the drone hangar on the other side of the Fort Huachuca base sat another former shipping container, this one occupied by a drone pilot and a camera operator who pivoted the drone's camera to scan nine square miles of shrubs and saguaros for the migrants. Like the command center, the onetime shipping container was dark, lit only by the glow of the computer screens.

Keep ReadingShow less
A Trump 2020 flag outside of a home.

As Trump’s second presidency unfolds, rural America—the foundation of his 2024 election win—is feeling the sting. From collapsing export markets to cuts in healthcare and infrastructure, those very voters are losing faith.

Getty Images, ablokhin

Trump’s 2.0 Actions Have Harmed Rural America Who Voted for Him

Daryl Royal, the 20-year University of Texas football coach, once said, “You've gotta dance with them that brung ya.” The modern adaptation of that quote is “you gotta dance with the one who brought you to the party.” The expression means you should remain loyal to the people or things that helped you succeed.

Sixty-three percent of America’s 3,144 counties are predominantly rural, and Donald Trump won 93 percent of those counties in 2024. Analyses show that rural counties have become increasingly solid Republican, and Trump’s margin of victory within rural America reached a new high in the 2024 election.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hands Off Our Elections: States and Congress, Not Presidents, Set the Rules
white concrete dome museum

Hands Off Our Elections: States and Congress, Not Presidents, Set the Rules

Trust in elections is fragile – and once lost, it is extraordinarily difficult to rebuild. While Democrats and Republicans disagree on many election policies, there is broad bipartisan agreement on one point: executive branch interference in elections undermines the constitutional authority of states and Congress to determine how elections are run.

Recent executive branch actions threaten to upend this constitutional balance, and Congress must act before it’s too late. To be clear – this is not just about the current president. Keeping the executive branch out of elections is a crucial safeguard against power grabs by any future president, Democrat or Republican.

Keep ReadingShow less