Birthday for Common Cause

I think we've gone hog wild in putting all our hopes on White House leadership. We have to develop other sources of drive and imagination. This is a time of interlocking revolutions. There is a very serious question as to whether our institutions can hold together under the enormous strains of those changes. Somebody has to make them work.

--John Gardner

One year ago, the former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare left the relative calm of the Urban Coalition to try an experiment in making American institutions work. John Gardner's notion was to create a citizens' superlobby called Common Cause; his dream has come true--sort of.

Common Cause claims a membership of 191,000, paying a minimum of $15 per person per annum. Gardner's liberal and determinedly nonpartisan "third force" has a projected budget for its second year of $3,800,000, of which roughly a third is earmarked for membership expansion. Aided by word-of-mouth recruitment, which already accounts for 25% of the organization's new members, the rolls could swell to more than 300,000 by next year. They could also shrink, and in that sense Common Cause faces a continued test. Says Gardner: "Our record is fairly well known now. A year ago, a membership prospect got a blueprint. Now he gets a track record."

Mailing List. Trouble is, that record is not as clear and sharp as it might be. To be sure, the effectiveness of lobbying defies precise calculation. Common Cause has concentrated most of its efforts on Congress, and new legislation has many fathers. Still, Gardner feels that Common Cause should be recognized for significant if sometimes intangible achievements.

Common Cause claims success for its efforts in behalf of the 18-year-old vote; the group sparked a heavy write-in campaign, lobbied on Capitol Hill and organized ratification coalitions and lobbies in many state capitols. Though Gardner asks for no special credit, Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin commended Common Cause for its help "in rallying opposition to the SST and winning the fight."

Gardner, a liberal Republican, has been attacked in the G.O.P. National Committee's newsletter "Monday" as "a purveyor of the radical Democratic line on virtually every issue." Gardner once had to apologize for a staff goof that permitted the Democratic National Committee to use his mailing list for fund raising. He has been vulnerable on another count: Lyn Nofziger of the Republican National Committee has charged him with creating a personality cult. That accusation is undoubtedly unfair. But it is true that John Gardner's personal prestige and organizational skill have been essential in attracting supporters to Common Cause. While he persuasively disclaims personal political ambitions, there is continued speculation that he might emerge as a sort of citizens' candidate for the presidency. In the forthcoming election, Gardner does not want Common Cause to endorse any candidate but to act as a kind of conscience. Says he: "You are going to get two candidates who are completely accommodated to a set of institutions that need to be renovated. Somebody has to have his eye on that."

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