Oct 24, 2007 -- Reform Groups Urge Senators on Judiciary Committee to Vote for S.1946, the Public Prosecution Improvements Act of 2007

Enclosed for your information is a letter reform groups sent today to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging the Senators to vote for S.1946, the Public Prosecution Improvements Act of 2007, when it is considered by the committee.

The reform groups include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

According to the letter, ''The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), is essential to strengthening the public corruption laws and increasing the ability of federal prosecutors to hold public officials accountable for misuse and abuse of their office.''

October 24, 2007

Dear Senator,

Our groups strongly urge you to vote for S.1946, the Public Prosecution Improvements Act of 2007, when it is considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The organizations include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), is essential to strengthening the public corruption laws and increasing the ability of federal prosecutors to hold public officials accountable for misuse and abuse of their office.

The legislation is designed to increase the resources and strengthen the tools that prosecutors need to address public corruption problems. In particular, the legislation would increase the personnel available to investigate and prosecute public corruption cases, clarify the meaning and scope of the illegal gratuities statute and clarify the definition of "official act" as it applies to determining whether an action falls within the official responsibilities of a public official.

The legislation would also appropriately increase the statute of limitations from five to six years for public corruption crimes such as bribery, deprivation of honest services involving a public official and extortion by a public official, and increase the penalties for public corruption crimes.

The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandals demonstrated the important role that the Justice Department must play in ensuring that public officials are held accountable for public corruption and in deterring others from engaging in such illegal conduct. The legislation would help ensure that the government has the resources and authority to effectively fulfill this role and to protect citizens from corrupt acts by public officials.

Our organizations strongly urge you to vote for S. 1946 and to oppose any efforts to weaken the legislation when it is considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Campaign Legal Center
Common Cause
Democracy 21
League of Women Voters
Public Citizen
U.S. PIRG