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Increasing Democracy

New Latino Voters May Change Political Map

Nathan Newman on April 25, 2006 - 7:11pm
"Today we march, tomorrow we vote!" - the chant at the recent immigration rights rallies -- may translate into a changed electoral landscape in many states across the country. Traditionally, even latino citizens have had low turnout rates at elections -- just 6 percent of U.S. voters in 2004 were latino.

Cleaning Up Our Statehouses




Cleaning Up Our Statehouses

Working Families Party: A Progressive Success Story

Nathan Newman on April 20, 2006 - 4:43pm
The American Prospect has a wonderful profile of New York's Working Families Party:
[The] Working Families Party (wfp), based in New York, has become that rare thing in American politics: a progressive success story.

IL: Culture of Corruption Lands Former Governor Behind Bars

Matt Singer on April 17, 2006 - 5:40pm
Georgia10, one of the front-page writers at dKos, has an apt summary of what went down in Illinois today, where former Governor George Ryan has been convicted of multiple counts regarding years of corrupt behavior. One of the most important items in the post is the emphasis on how the corruption impacted people. Ryan's corrupt operation allowed unqualified truck drivers "earn" driving licenses through bribes. One of those truck drivers had an accident that killed six children.

CO: National Popular Vote Bill Moves Forward

Matt Singer on April 14, 2006 - 6:38pm
The Colorado Senate has approved on second reading a bill that would award Colorado's Presidential electors to the winner of the national popular vote, providing enough states to determine the winner do the same. The bill is one of several being advanced nationally by National Popular Vote advocates. The bill had bipartisan support and was sponsored by Senators Entz (R), Evans (R), Gordon (D), and Groff (D).

FL: "Pay to Play" Privatization Under Fire

Nathan Newman on April 14, 2006 - 8:54am
In Monday's Stateside Dispatch, we detailed the problems of corruption in the state, including the problems when state contract out public services to the corporate allies of politicians. In Florida, another example has embroiled the state's Attorney General, Charlie Crist, in charges by a judge that Crist is undermining a court investigation into charges that the global firm Convergys illega

States Demanding a Voter Paper Trail

Nathan Newman on April 7, 2006 - 9:11am
After a first rush towards all-digital voting machines after the 2000 voting debacle, state laws have been established in 26 states that require either a paper receipt from digital machines or a paper balloting system -- with another thirteen states considering bills requiring a paper trail for voters. The most complete all-paper system is in Oregon, whose vote-by-mail system has been

Trade Talks Put State Powers on Chopping Block

Nathan Newman on March 30, 2006 - 3:30pm
Every state and local official should be paying more attention to the global trade talks at the World Trade Organization, since local power to regulate services such as health care, mass transit and a range of other public services are on the chopping block. New proposals in a part of global trade law known as the General Agreement on Trade in Services could give global corporations the right under international law to challenge a host of state and local regulations, as Public Citizen details in this backgr

9 Wolves: How the Telcos Use Astro-Turf to Push Dereg

Matt Singer on March 28, 2006 - 4:34pm
Common Cause has produced an important new report "Wolves in Sheep's Clothing" (HTML | PDF) looking at how big telecommunications companies have created a network of biased think tanks and astroturf (fake grassroots) organizations to push their agenda. They offer specific profiles of 9 organizations:

OR: Looking For New Ideas

Matt Singer on March 27, 2006 - 3:55pm
Our friends at Blue Oregon recently started a discussion about ideas for new policy changes. One idea for changing leadership elections has now been front-paged and is drawing some lively discussion. If you've got another idea worth considering, give it to them or post it here in comments.