Common Cause Checking Out Alaska

Seems like our best known export after oil - political corruption stories - has made some people believe that a chapter of Common Cause might be welcomed here.

Paul Brown, one of the driving forces behind the Alaska Repertory Theater back in the late 70s and 80s has been in town for a couple of weeks scoping out the viability of establishing a state chapter of the public interest non-profit in Alaska. A friend asked if I'd be interested in meeting with him and I said, "Sure." So, uncertain about how messy the streets might be on a bike, I drove a car for the first time in three months to our meeting.

Common Cause was founded in 1970 by John Gardner. A PBS webpage on Gardner says:

Common Cause became one of the staunchest advocates of campaign finance reform. In 1971, they sued both the Democratic and Republican parties for violating campaign fundraising and spending limits, and began to push federal and state governments to open up legislative hearings and governmental decision-making. Common Cause's crusade did not go unnoticed. After the group sued President Nixon's re-election campaign, John Gardner was put on his infamous "enemies list." After the Watergate scandal and various abuses of power by the Nixon Administration came to light, Common Cause was instrumental in getting the landmark campaign finance reform legislation of 1974 passed which put in place limits on contributions and disclosure requirements for campaigns.

According to the Common Cause website, today they are working to:

• Advance campaign reforms that make people and ideas more important than money
• Make certain that government is open, ethical and accountable
• Remove barriers to voting and ensure that our voting systems are accurate and accessible
• Increase the diversity of voices and ownership in media, to make media more responsive to the needs of citizens in a democracy and to protect the editorial independence of public broadcasting
• Uphold the rule of law by opposing any attempts to undermine the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights,
• Increase participation in the political process.

I knew the name - Paul Brown - sounded familiar but it wasn't til he started giving me some of his Alaska background that I realized who he was. I'm guessing that the Rep's high artistic standard back then is partly responsible for the high quality of theater we have in this small town far from the center of the arts universe.

We had an interesting discussion about lots of things including his mission here. There are a lot of non-profits here already, many doing overlapping work. The trick will be to work with them and not duplicate efforts. But it seems Paul has talked to most of the related organizations I could think of.

[I'd note that some of my friends have joked about not talking to me after they've seen my blog. I want to assure them and readers that when I meet with someone like I did yesterday, I get their permission before doing a post.]