Common Cause

Common Cause, national citizens' lobby, organized in 1970 by John W. Gardner, former secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Its purpose was to reform campaign financing to end political corruption, to improve the internal workings of the federal and state governments, and to protect the environment. With some 280,000 members, it monitors the work of Congress, recommends legislative reforms to its members, files lawsuits, and engages in lobbying at the federal, state, and local levels.