Cross-posted at the Albany Times Union.

There is only one solution to the state senate meltdown: the personal touch.

Each senator should pick one senator of the opposing party from a different part of the state from his or her own district and quietly and personally reach out to that senator. Make a phone call, send an email, have a mutual friend reach out - heck, even send a hand-written note. And then, meet in person. Quietly. Off-the-record, somewhere out of the way or behind closed doors. Air your grievances, try to understand the other's point of view - but stick with it, keep talking. Build the relationships that are necessary to break the deadlock, but are also necessary for effective legislating.

Governor Patterson is following the right approach, forcing the senators to stay in Albany. But, as the old adage says, "You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." Senators should break the tedium of their enforced stay in Albany to break out of the existing echo chambers that they seem trapped in.

Seven years after McCain-Feingold, poll after poll reveals that Americans continue to resoundingly endorse campaign finance reform. In October 2008, with the nation in the grips of a historic election, a USA Today/Gallup poll found that 57% believe there must be limits on spending by presidential candidates, including 66% of independents and 64% of Republicans.

It is rather unfortunate that philosophical opposition to campaign finance reform by three members of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the very agency charged with administering and enforcing campaign finance legislation, appears to be muzzling momentum for taking the big money out of our broken political system. According to Talking Points Memo, three Republicans on the six-member FEC, led by no less than Tom DeLay's former ethics lawyer, have repeatedly voted as a block against the agency's performance of its basic regulatory functions.

Be it George Soros's failure to report a whopping $272,000 spent on advertising an anti-Bush book during the 2004 presidential campaign or the conservative Americans for Limited Government's misuse of FEC disclosure reports to discourage donors from making contributions, the three commissioners have turned a blind eye to violations of election law on both sides of the aisle. Now, that's not the kind of bipartisanship we need in Washington.

In our fight for a more open and accountable government, the challenge of moving forward comprehensive campaign finance legislation in Congress is hard enough. The least the American people can expect from their commissioners on the FEC is that they leave their politics out the door and instead fulfill their obligation to faithfully enforce our nation's campaign finance laws.

Cross posted from Huffington Post.

What if, instead of sentencing Bernie Madoff today to spend the rest of his life in prison, a judge decided that we should let the criminal mastermind "move forward" and enjoy his golden years? After all, he's already been publicly disgraced, no one will ever trust him with their investments again, so what harm could possibly come from freeing him?

There would rightfully be a public outcry of the first degree if such a thing came to pass. We are a nation of laws. We believe in justice for all - not just for some. Madoff bilked thousands of Americans out of billions of dollars, and he must answer for that.

After dinner with some family and friends last night in Dupont Circle, we took a little stroll. It was a nice, warm night, and save for the couple walking by with their dog, the streets were silent. It didn't take long for conversation to shift from the state of the economy to Governor Sanford's five days in Argentina to - yes, you guessed it - the health care debate heating up in Washington.

I mentioned the big health care rally on the Hill I attended yesterday and the public option included in recently proposed legislation.

My Canadian friend said, "Two options? Let me tell you, we only need one option, and it's summed up in three words: The Canadian System. The propaganda that's out there is completely false. There is only one option, and that's the government option."

Suddenly, a woman, evidently on our heels and eavesdropping, chirped, "That would NEVER work! We have the best health care system in the world. The private sector is critical and spurs innovation..."

She squeezed right between me and my friend and took him on, one-on-one. I figured they're neighbors; they must do this all the time. The conversation continued as we walked down the street, and eventually the rest of my family caught up, joining in the heated debate. This lady just wouldn't give up!

I couldn't help but ask her, "So, what are you, an HMO lobbyist?"

"Well, I have a master's in public health and have been in the industry for four years," she responded, continuing to rant and ultimately losing the debate (in our wise opinion, anyway).

Maybe my friend was right: now they've conscripted lobbyists for popular consumption, too. The more awkward and unexpected the meeting, the better.

"We can't wait!  Health care now!" shouted tens of thousands of grassroots supporters from across the country at Upper Senate Park on the south side of the capitol yesterday.  Beginning at 11:30 a.m., nurses, union members, doctors, health care advocates and many other Americans joined together and called for quality, affordable health care for all people at the Health Care '09 rally and lobby day sponsored by Health Care for America Now.  The event's strong labor presence--including large and vocal groups of AFL-CIO, SEIU, and CWA members--revealed how important health care is to American workers.

Speakers including actress Edie Falco, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Governor Howard Dean, Congressman Xavier Becerra (D-CA), National Physicians Alliance President-Elect Valerie Arkoosh, and AFSCME President Gerry McEntee addressed the crowd, urging people to stand up to members of Congress and demand health care reform.

The rally's message ties closely to Common Cause's continuing work on exposing the power that special interests have over lawmakers--especially when it comes to critical issues such as health care.  "Legislating Under the Influence," a report just released by Common Cause's deputy program director, Josh Zaharoff, alarmingly points out that "major health care interests have spent $1.4 million per day this year lobbying Congress."

The Health Care for America Now rally was an important step towards repairing our broken health care system.  The event, which drew people from all over the country, demonstrated that growing numbers of everyday Americans are fed up with the status quo.

As health care reform ramps up to be the hot issue this summer, it's no surprise that money pouring into Washington from the health care industry will be a major factor stalling - or watering down - any sort of reform.

A new report by Common Cause finds that major health care interests are spending more than $1.4 million a day to lobby Capitol Hill so far this year, and that those same health care interests have significantly ramped up campaign contributions, donating about $373 million to Members of Congress since 2000.

Some highlights of the report include:

* Health industries - including health insurance, pharmaceuticals and health products, hospitals and HMOs, and health professionals - have contributed over $372 million in campaign contributions to members of Congress since 2000.

* Political spending by the health industries has increased 73 percent since 2000.

* Members serving on committees and subcommittees with jurisdiction over health care reform in the House and Senate received the lion's share of health industries' largesse. Committee members raised $178 million from the industries this decade - roughly half of the industries' contributions to the entire Congress.

* The industries engage in "switch-hitting" - shifting campaign contributions between Democrats and Republicans to win access with the party in power.

* The major health interests have spent an average of $1.4 million per day to lobby Congress so far this year and are on track to spend more than half a billion dollars by the end 2009.

The full report is available at http://www.commoncause.org/HealthCare2009

Executive Director of Colorado Common Cause , Jenny Rose Flanagan, recently wrote an article explaining the work her office is doing to monitor American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spending. Common Cause Colorado is currently working with other state groups to ensure that Colorado stimulus funds are invested in an accountable and transparent manner.  Read more after the jump.

PrincetonDem over at DailyKos posted this short clip of Nobel Laureate and New York Times op-ed writer Paul Krugman responding to a question about a single-payer health care system to a packed house at Common Cause New Jersey's event last Thursday in Princeton.

Krugman concluded his comment, saying:

The economics of health care are easy; it's only the politics that are hard.

Agreed. One of the biggest impediments to comprehensive health care reform is the hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying money and campaign contributions doled out by the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. By changing the way campaigns are funded, the big money influence of the for-profit health care industry will be limited, allowing our elected officials to work for us, their constituents, rather than the special interests who fund their campaigns.

Learn more about Common Cause's efforts to end the pay-to-play system through citizen-funded elections by passing the Fair Elections Now Act.